SoC QoS gets help from machine learning

SoC QoS gets help from machine learning
by Don Dingee on 07-29-2016 at 4:00 pm

Several companies have attacked the QoS problem in SoC design, and what is emerging from that conversation is the best approach may be several approaches combined in a hybrid QoS solution. At the recent Linley Group Mobile Conference, NetSpeed Systems outlined just such a solution with an unexpected plot twist in synthesis.

The… Read More


The Emerging Importance of Parallel SPICE

The Emerging Importance of Parallel SPICE
by Tom Dillinger on 05-15-2016 at 7:00 am

SPICE simulation is the workhorse tool for custom circuit timing validation and electrical analysis. As the complexity of blocks and macros has increased in advanced process nodes — especially with post-layout extraction parasitic elements annotated to the circuit netlist — the model size and simulation throughput… Read More


From Simulation to Emulation: 3 Steps to a Portable SystemVerilog/UVM Testbench

From Simulation to Emulation: 3 Steps to a Portable SystemVerilog/UVM Testbench
by Hans van der Schoot on 05-02-2016 at 7:00 am

If your team is building large, complex designs that require millions of clock cycles to fully verify, you need both simulation and emulation.

Using emulation with simulation accelerates performance for dramatically reduced run times.Read More


Webinar alert – Taking UVM to the FPGA bank

Webinar alert – Taking UVM to the FPGA bank
by Don Dingee on 04-08-2016 at 4:00 pm

UVM has become a preferred environment for functional verification. Fundamentally, it is a host based software simulation. Is there a way to capture the benefits of UVM with hardware acceleration on an FPGA-based prototyping system? In an upcoming webinar, Doulos CTO John Aynsley answers this with a resounding yes.… Read More


Webinar: A Tool for Process and Device Evaluation

Webinar: A Tool for Process and Device Evaluation
by Tom Simon on 03-24-2016 at 12:00 pm

Not only are foundries continuing to introduce processes at new advanced nodes, they are frequently updating or adding processes at existing nodes. There are many examples that illustrate this well. TSMC now has 16FF, 16FF+ and now 16FFC. They are also announcing 10nm and 7nm processes. In addition, they are going back to older… Read More


Design units come to faster Riviera-PRO release

Design units come to faster Riviera-PRO release
by Don Dingee on 03-11-2016 at 4:00 pm

For the latest incremental improvements to its Riviera-PRO functional verification platform, Aldec has turned to streamlining random constraint performance. The new Riviera-PRO 2016.02 release also is now fully supported on Windows 10 and adds a new debugger tool.… Read More


HW Emulator Apps Open Doors to Entirely New Uses

HW Emulator Apps Open Doors to Entirely New Uses
by Tom Simon on 02-28-2016 at 7:00 am

When the topic of hardware emulation comes up, thoughts of big iron customarily come to mind. However, hardware emulation has evolved significantly and now there are other important traits that distinguish the offerings in this area. For a very long period of time emulators provided primarily a method to accelerate gate level… Read More


Synopsys’ New Circuit Simulation Environment Improves Productivity — for Free

Synopsys’ New Circuit Simulation Environment Improves Productivity — for Free
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-07-2016 at 12:00 pm

When technology advances, complexities increase and data size becomes unmanageable. Fresh thinking and a new environment for automation are needed to provide the required increase in productivity. Specifically in case of circuit simulation of advanced-node analog designs, where precision is paramount and a large number… Read More


Finding under- and over-designed NoC links

Finding under- and over-designed NoC links
by Don Dingee on 11-24-2015 at 12:00 pm

When it comes to predicting SoC performance in the early stages of development, most designers rely on simulation. For network-on-chip (NoC) design, two important factors suggest that simulation by itself may no longer be sufficient in delivering an optimized design.

The first factor is use cases. I think I’ve told the story … Read More


A moment of IoT silence before we disrupt

A moment of IoT silence before we disrupt
by Don Dingee on 11-08-2015 at 12:00 pm

As I sat down in the SEMI Arizona Chapter breakfast meeting a few weeks ago, a moment of semiconductor history flew right before my eyes before the IoT sessions started.

We were seated in the cafeteria of Freescale Building 94 on Elliot Road in Tempe, a place I’d been many times before, except this time may have been the last. NXP is consolidating… Read More