When Is a Good Time to Start Using High-Level Synthesis?

When Is a Good Time to Start Using High-Level Synthesis?
by Paul McLellan on 08-07-2013 at 12:42 pm

Of course if you are in the business of selling high-level synthesis (HLS) tools then the obvious answer is immediately. Start at 9am tomorrow morning. But a more realistic answer is when you are having to do something completely new. If you are working on a legacy design, perhaps with pre-existing IP, then moving the design up to … Read More


High and Low: High Level Synthesis and Low Power

High and Low: High Level Synthesis and Low Power
by Paul McLellan on 02-26-2013 at 2:39 pm

It is so widely accepted that it is already a cliche to say that “power is the new timing.” With more and more chips, the major challenge is not so much to meet timing but to meet timing without blowing out the power budget. Otherwise, you could just crank up the clock rate.

I’m going to be lazy so you can insert your … Read More


Sanjiv Kaul is New CEO of Calypto

Sanjiv Kaul is New CEO of Calypto
by Paul McLellan on 02-04-2013 at 11:15 am

Calypto announced that Sanjiv Kaul is the new CEO. I first met Sanjiv many years ago when he was still at Synopsys when I interviewed for a position there around the time I transitioned out of Compass and went back to the parent company VLSI. I forget what the position was. Then about three or four years ago when I did some work for Oasys… Read More


SystemC vs C++ for High Level Synthesis

SystemC vs C++ for High Level Synthesis
by Paul McLellan on 12-04-2012 at 4:00 pm

One of the decisions that needs to be made when using high-level synthesis (HLS) in general and Catapult in particular is what language to use as input. The choice is C++ or SystemC. Of course at some level SystemC is C++ with added libraries and templates, but in fact the semantics of the two languages end up being very different.

The… Read More