Machine Learning Optimizes FPGA Timing

Machine Learning Optimizes FPGA Timing
by Bernard Murphy on 08-04-2017 at 7:00 am

Machine learning (ML) is the hot new technology of our time so EDA development teams are eagerly searching for new ways to optimize various facets of design using ML to distill wisdom from the mountains of data generated in previous designs. Pre-ML, we had little interest in historical data and would mostly look only at localized… Read More


Cloud-Based Emulation

Cloud-Based Emulation
by Bernard Murphy on 08-02-2017 at 7:00 am

At the risk of attracting contempt from terminology purists, I think most of us would agree that emulation is a great way to prototype a hardware design before you commit to building, especially when you need to test system software together with that prototype. But setting up your own emulation resource isn’t for everyone. The … Read More


Synopsys Opens up on Emulation

Synopsys Opens up on Emulation
by Bernard Murphy on 07-31-2017 at 7:00 am

Synopsys hosted a lunch panel on Tuesday of DAC this year, in which verification leaders from Intel, Qualcomm, Wave Computing, NXP and AMD talked about how they are using Synopsys verification technologies. Panelists covered multiple domains but the big takeaway for me was their full-throated endorsement of the ZeBu emulation… Read More


A Functional Safety Primer for FPGA – and the Rest of Us

A Functional Safety Primer for FPGA – and the Rest of Us
by Bernard Murphy on 07-27-2017 at 7:00 am

Once in a while I come across a vendor-developed webinar which is so generally useful it deserves to be shared beyond the confines of sponsored sites. I don’t consider this spamming – if you choose you can ignore the vendor-specific part of the webinar and still derive significant value from the rest. In this instance, the topic is… Read More


Virtualizing ICE

Virtualizing ICE
by Bernard Murphy on 07-25-2017 at 7:00 am

The defining characteristic of In-Circuit-Emulation (ICE) has been that the emulator is connected to real circuitry – a storage device perhaps, and PCIe or Ethernet interfaces. The advantage is that you can test your emulated model against real traffic and responses, rather than an interface model which may not fully capture… Read More


Webinar: Ansys on Multi-Physics PDN Optimization for 16/7nm

Webinar: Ansys on Multi-Physics PDN Optimization for 16/7nm
by Bernard Murphy on 07-22-2017 at 12:00 pm

On the off-chance you missed my previous pieces on this topic, at these dimensions conventional margin-based analysis becomes unreasonably pessimistic and it is necessary to analyze multiple dimensions together. People who build aircraft engines, turbines and other complex systems have known this for quite a long time. You… Read More


IP Diligence

IP Diligence
by Bernard Murphy on 07-20-2017 at 12:00 pm

I hinted earlier that Consensia would introduce at DAC their comprehensive approach to IP management across the enterprise, which they call DelphIP (oracle of Delphi, applied to IP). I talked with Dave Noble, VP BizDev at Consensia to understand where this fits in the design lifecycle.


IP management means a lot of different things.… Read More


Why Ansys bought CLKDA

Why Ansys bought CLKDA
by Bernard Murphy on 07-18-2017 at 7:00 am

Skipping over debates about what exactly changed hands in this transaction, what interests me is the technical motivation since I’m familiar with solutions at both companies. Of course, I can construct my own high-level rationalization, but I wanted to hear from the insiders, so I pestered Vic Kulkarni (VP and Chief Strategist)… Read More


Checking Clock Gating Equivalence the Easy Way

Checking Clock Gating Equivalence the Easy Way
by Bernard Murphy on 07-14-2017 at 7:00 am

Synopsys just delivered a Webinar on using the sequential equivalence app (SEQ) in their VC Formal product to check that clock-gating didn’t mess up the functional intent of your RTL. This webinar is one in a series on VC Formal, designed to highlight the wide range of capabilities Synopsys has to offer in formal verification. They… Read More


Rob Bates on Safety and ISO26262

Rob Bates on Safety and ISO26262
by Bernard Murphy on 07-12-2017 at 7:00 am

Most of us would agree that safety is important in transportation and most of us know that in automotive electronics this means ISO26262 compliance. But, except for the experts, the details don’t make for an especially gripping read. I thought it would be interesting to get behind the process to better understand the motivation,… Read More