ISO 26262: Feeling Safe in Your Self-Driving Car

ISO 26262: Feeling Safe in Your Self-Driving Car
by Daniel Nenni on 04-11-2022 at 10:00 am

ISO 26262

The word “safety” can mean a lot of different things to different people, but it’s a word we hear frequently when the topic involves automobiles. In contrast, “functional safety” has a long-established meaning in the design of electrical and mechanical systems: an automatic protection mechanism with a predictable response … Read More


Experimenting for Better Floorplans

Experimenting for Better Floorplans
by Bernard Murphy on 03-24-2022 at 6:00 am

Repartitioning min

There is sometimes an irony in switching to a better solution in design construction or analysis. The new approach is so much better that you want to experiment to further optimize the design. Which then exposes another barrier to enjoying that newfound freedom. SoC design teams often find this when switching from crossbar interconnect… Read More


Webinar: Beyond the Basics of IP-based Digital Design Management

Webinar: Beyond the Basics of IP-based Digital Design Management
by Daniel Payne on 03-08-2022 at 10:00 am

Digital Design Flow

According to the ESD Alliance, the single biggest revenue category in our industry is for semiconductor IP, so the concept of IP reuse is firmly established as a way to get complex products to market more quickly and reducing risk. On the flip side, with hundreds or even thousands of IP blocks in a complex SoC, how does a team, division… Read More


An Ah-Ha Moment for Testbench Assembly

An Ah-Ha Moment for Testbench Assembly
by Bernard Murphy on 02-28-2022 at 10:00 am

Forest Trees min

Sometimes we miss the forest for the trees, and I’m as guilty as anyone else. When we think testbenches, we rightly turn to UVM because that’s the agreed standard, and everyone has been investing their energy in learning UVM. UVM is fine, so why do we need to talk about anything different? That’s the forest and trees thing. We don’t … Read More


Future of Semiconductor Design: 2022 Predictions and Trends

Future of Semiconductor Design: 2022 Predictions and Trends
by Kalar Rajendiran on 02-07-2022 at 6:00 am

IP Management Tools Survey

Predictions and trends create the forces that accelerate innovations and keep the industry moving forward. We are all used to hearing of important issues and challenges, usually in the context of solutions offered by various vendors. The SemiWiki forum plays its role in bringing awareness of all of the above to its audience. For… Read More


Waymo Collides with Transparency

Waymo Collides with Transparency
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-03-2022 at 10:00 am

Waymo Collides with Transparency

Anyone looking to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to forthrightly assert a path-setting policy vision to guide autonomous vehicle development in the U.S. during his CES 2022 keynote was sorely disappointed. There was no guidance from the Secretary.

The issue has gained new urgency now that Waymo has sued the California… Read More


Why It’s Critical to Design in Security Early to Protect Automotive Systems from Hackers

Why It’s Critical to Design in Security Early to Protect Automotive Systems from Hackers
by Mike Borza on 02-03-2022 at 6:00 am

Figure 2 Automotive Security Diagram

Remember when a pair of ethical hackers remotely took over a Jeep Cherokee as it was being driven on a highway near downtown St. Louis back in 2015? The back story is, those “hackers,” security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, approached vehicle manufacturers several years before their high-profile feat, warning… Read More


Apple and OnStar: Privacy vs. Emergency Response

Apple and OnStar: Privacy vs. Emergency Response
by Roger C. Lanctot on 01-30-2022 at 8:00 am

Apple and OnStar Privacy vs. Emergency Response

In the season 6 premiere of Showtime’s “Billions,”, financier Michael Prince and his lieutenant are remotely monitoring Wags’ heart rate thanks to an Oura-like smart ring as he works out on a Peloton stationary bike. The remote observers conclude Wags is having a heart attack and dispatch emergency medical technicians to his… Read More


Business Considerations in Traceability

Business Considerations in Traceability
by Bernard Murphy on 01-25-2022 at 6:00 am

nuclear power control room min

Traceability as an emerging debate around hardware is gaining a lot of traction. As a reminder, traceability is the need to support a disciplined ability to trace from initial OEM requirements down through the value chain to implementation support and confirmed verification in software and hardware. Demand for traceability… Read More


Musk: Colossus of Roads, with Achilles’​ Heel

Musk: Colossus of Roads, with Achilles’​ Heel
by Roger C. Lanctot on 01-23-2022 at 8:00 am

Elon Musk Achilles Heel 1

For Tesla, 2021 was an amazing year. A blindspot looms in 2022.

Critics cheered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for opening multiple investigations into fatal and near fatal Tesla crashes.  Legislators decried the de facto beta testing of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta on public roads. And in December,… Read More