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We have been hearing for some time about the Synopsys HAPS-70 and how they have co-created the hardware and software architecture for FPGA-based prototyping with their customers. Now, we see details published by Synopsys on how they collaborated with Imagination on the design of the PowerVR Series6XT GPU.
The first thing to come… Read More
Several months ago we had suggested that we were concerned that Apple’s A9 processor would wind up being 20nm planar (maybe 14nm planar) rather than the expected 14nm FinFET. As we are now under 9 months from a likely launch time for Apple’s next gen IPhone the timing for getting a 14nm FinFET processor on board the phone… Read More
The origin of ARM’s success in mobile phone space is largely traced to Symbian’s decision to exclusively support the ARM Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). This in turn was the consequence of a mid-1990s decision by Texas Instruments to use ARM in its mobile phone ASICs for Nokia, the driving force behind the inception of the Symbian… Read More
This month I upgraded my TV at home with a 40″ LED set from Samsung, Denon AV receiver and Samsung Blu-ray player. Also being a Google fan I bought a Chromecast device.
At CES there were multiple announcements from Intel, and one that caught my eye was the Intel Compute Stick because it reminded me of the Google Chromecast device… Read More
After knowing about the challenges involved in validating multicore systems and domains of system and application level tracing as explained by Don Dingee in his article “Tracing methods to multicore gladness” which is based on the first part of Mentor Embedded multicore whitepaper series, it’s time to take a deeper insight … Read More
SemiWiki blogger Eric Esteve does an excellent job writing about all of the semiconductor IP available, and the popularity of IP is only growing more each year. Here’s a projection from IBS about semiconductor IP showing revenues of $4.7B by 2020:
Analyst Gary Smith divides IP into three broad categories: Functional, Foundation… Read More
One of the big challenges in a modern SoC is doing an accurate analysis of the power nets. Different layers of metal have very different resistance characteristics (since they vary so much in width and height). Even vias can cause problems due to high resistance. Typically power is distributed globally on high-level metal layers,… Read More
My first experience with logic synthesis was at Silicon Compilers in the late 1980s using a tool called Genesil. Process technology since that time has moved from 3 um down to 20 nm, so there are new challenges for RTL synthesis. Today you can find logic synthesis tools being offered by the big three in EDA: Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor… Read More
My PhD thesis is titled The Design of a Network Filing System. Yes, that was a research topic back then (and yes, we did call them filing systems not file-systems). One big chapter was on access controls. There are several problems with designing an access control system:
- it needs to be possible to implement it efficiently
- it needs
…
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Debate rages about which approach is better for SoC design: simulation, or emulation. Simulation proponents point to software saving the need for expensive hardware platforms. Emulation supporters stake their claims on accuracy and the incorporation of real-time I/O. A few years back, some creative types coined the term SEmulation,… Read More
Should the US Government Invest in Intel?