Verifying Warm Memory. Virtualizing to manage complexity

Verifying Warm Memory. Virtualizing to manage complexity
by Bernard Murphy on 09-24-2020 at 6:00 am

Verifying warm memory

SSD memory is enjoying a new resurgence in datacenters through NVMe. Not as a replacement for more traditional HDD disk drives, which though slower are still much cheaper. NVMe storage has instead become a storage cache between hot DRAM memory close to processors and the “cold” HDD storage. I commented last year on why this has become… Read More


Bug Trace Minimization. Innovation in Verification

Bug Trace Minimization. Innovation in Verification
by Bernard Murphy on 09-22-2020 at 6:00 am

innovation min

A checker tripped in verification. Is there a bug trace minimization technique to simplify manual debug? Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I continue our series to highlight all the great research that’s out there in verification. Feel free to comment.

The Innovation

This month’s pick is Simulation-BasedRead More


Anirudh CadenceLIVE Plays Up Computational Software

Anirudh CadenceLIVE Plays Up Computational Software
by Bernard Murphy on 09-17-2020 at 6:00 am

Anirudh min

Cadence has clearly found its groove with Intelligent System Design, something that Lip-Bu reinforced in the CadenceLIVE kickoff keynote on Tuesday, August 11th. Anirudh Devgan, president of Cadence, continued to discuss the theme in his keynote on Wednesday, August 12th with his equally consistent subtitle—”Strength… Read More


AI in Korea. Low-Key PR, Active Development

AI in Korea. Low-Key PR, Active Development
by Bernard Murphy on 09-15-2020 at 6:00 am

korea ai min

Based on press coverage and technical paper volume, you could be forgiven for thinking that Korea had decided to take a pass on AI mania, or maybe just to dabble a little here and there to stay abreast of trends. But you’d be wrong. Korea is very active in AI; they don’t feel a need to trumpet what they’re doing from the rooftops. If you … Read More


Emulation as a Service Benefits New AI Chip

Emulation as a Service Benefits New AI Chip
by Bernard Murphy on 09-10-2020 at 6:00 am

Emulation as a Service

It’s no secret that innovation in AI chip architectures is on a tear. When you put together the spatial complexity of highly parallelized algorithms with the need to localize memory accesses on-chip to the greatest extent possible, we’re seeing a proliferation of all kinds of domain-specific architectures. Which in the normal… Read More


Combo Wireless. I Want it All, I Want it Now

Combo Wireless. I Want it All, I Want it Now
by Bernard Murphy on 09-08-2020 at 6:00 am

Mixed wireless

When we think of wireless it is natural to wonder “which one – cellular, Wi-Fi, BLE?” Our phones support everything but those are pricey devices. What if we wanted the same combo wireless option in a low-cost IoT device, maybe something that only need to send a small amount of data periodically? Logistics applications are a good example.… Read More


Lip-Bu Hyperscaler Cast Kicks off CadenceLIVE

Lip-Bu Hyperscaler Cast Kicks off CadenceLIVE
by Bernard Murphy on 09-02-2020 at 6:00 am

Lip Bu min

Lip-Bu (Cadence CEO) sure knows how to draw a crowd. For the opening keynote in CadenceLIVE (Americas) this year, he reprised his data-centric revolution pitch, followed by a talk from a VP at AWS on bending the curve in chip development. And that was followed by a talk by a Facebook director of strategy and technology on aspects of… Read More


Data Management for the Future of Design

Data Management for the Future of Design
by Bernard Murphy on 08-31-2020 at 6:00 am

IP evolution min

Data management is one of those core technologies which is absolutely essential in any professional design operation. You must use a data management system; you just want it to be as efficient as possible. Most of us settled on one of a few commercial or open-source options. The problem seemed more or less solved. As usual in chip Read More


Quick Error Detection. Innovation in Verification

Quick Error Detection. Innovation in Verification
by Bernard Murphy on 08-27-2020 at 6:00 am

innovation min

Can we detect bugs in post- and pre-silicon testing where we can drastically reduce latency between root-cause and effect? Quick error detection can. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Jim Hogan and I continue our series on novel research ideas. Feel free to comment.

The Innovation

This month’s pick is Logic Bug DetectionRead More


Netlist CDC. Why You Need it and How You do it.

Netlist CDC. Why You Need it and How You do it.
by Bernard Murphy on 08-25-2020 at 6:00 am

netlist cdc min

The most obvious question here is “why do I need netlist CDC?” A lot of what you’re looking for in CDC analysis is really complex behaviors, like handshakes between different clock domains, correct gray coding in synchronizing FIFOs, eliminating quasi-static signals and the like. Deeply functional, system-level intent stuff.… Read More