Emulation from In Circuit to In Virtual

Emulation from In Circuit to In Virtual
by Bernard Murphy on 11-08-2018 at 7:00 am

At a superficial level, emulation in the hardware design world is just a way to run a simulation faster. The design to be tested runs on the emulator, connected to whatever test mechanisms you desire, and the whole setup can run many orders of magnitude faster than it could if the design was running inside a software simulator. And … Read More


Wi-Fi Standards Simplified

Wi-Fi Standards Simplified
by Bernard Murphy on 11-01-2018 at 7:00 am

In the world of communications, the industry fairly quickly got a handle on a naming convention for cellular technology generations that us non-communication geeks could understand – 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G, (though some of us could never quite understand the difference between 4G and LTE, at least as those terms are widely and no … Read More


The Cloud-Edge Debate Replays Inside the Car

The Cloud-Edge Debate Replays Inside the Car
by Bernard Murphy on 10-25-2018 at 7:00 am

I think we’re all familiar with the cloud/edge debate on where intelligence should sit. In the beginning the edge devices were going to be dumb nodes with just enough smarts to ship all their data to the cloud where the real magic would happen – recognizing objects, trends, need for repair, etc. Then we realized that wasn’t the best… Read More


ARM Turns up the Heat in Infrastructure

ARM Turns up the Heat in Infrastructure
by Bernard Murphy on 10-18-2018 at 7:00 am

I don’t know if it was just me but I left TechCon 2017 feeling, well, uninspired. Not that they didn’t put on a good show with lots of announcements, but it felt workman-like. From anyone else it would have been a great show, but this is TechCon. I expect to leave with my mind blown in some manner and it wasn’t. I wondered if the SoftBank … Read More


One Less Reason to Delay that Venture

One Less Reason to Delay that Venture
by Bernard Murphy on 10-11-2018 at 7:00 am

Many of us dream about the wonderful widget we could build that would revolutionize our homes, parking, health, gaming, factories or whatever domain gets our creative juices surging, but how many of us take it the next step? Even when you’re ready to live on your savings, prototypes can be expensive and royalties add to the pain. … Read More


Accellera Tackles IP Security

Accellera Tackles IP Security
by Bernard Murphy on 10-04-2018 at 7:00 am

I recently learned that Accellera has formed an IP security working group. My first reaction was “Great, we really need that!”. My second reaction was “But I have so many questions.” Security in the systems world is still very much a topic in its infancy. I don’t mean to imply that there isn’t good work being done in both software and… Read More


Mesh Networks, Redux

Mesh Networks, Redux
by Bernard Murphy on 09-27-2018 at 7:00 am

It isn’t hard to understand the advantage of mesh networking (in wireless networks). Unlike star/tree configurations in which end-points connect to a nearby hub (such as phones connecting to a conventional wireless access point), in a mesh nodes can connect to nearest neighbors, which can connect to their nearest neighbors… Read More


Supporting ASIL-D Through Your Network on Chip

Supporting ASIL-D Through Your Network on Chip
by Bernard Murphy on 09-20-2018 at 7:00 am

The ISO 26262 standard defines four Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASILs), from A to D, technically measures of risk rather than safety mechanisms, of which ASIL-D is the highest. ASIL-D represents a failure potentially causing severe or fatal injury in a reasonably common situation over which the driver has little control.… Read More


Webinar: Multicycle Vectorless Dynamic IR Signoff for Near 100 Percent Coverage

Webinar: Multicycle Vectorless Dynamic IR Signoff for Near 100 Percent Coverage
by Bernard Murphy on 09-18-2018 at 7:00 am

Check this webinar out – Mediatek will share a novel approach to early IR drop estimation. Competition in system design has become even more intense because potential markets are huge and there are more players with deep pockets chasing those markets. Wherever you are in those value chains, you want to shift everything left to accelerate… Read More


Easing Your Way into Portable Stimulus

Easing Your Way into Portable Stimulus
by Bernard Murphy on 09-13-2018 at 7:00 am

The Portable Stimulus Standard (PSS) was officially released at DAC this year. While it will no doubt continue to evolve, for those who were waiting on the sidelines, it is officially safe to start testing the water. In fact it’s probably been pretty safe for a while; vendors have had solutions out for some time and each is happy to … Read More