Obtaining Early Analog Block Area Estimates

Obtaining Early Analog Block Area Estimates
by Tom Simon on 07-13-2021 at 6:00 am

Animate Preview Area Estimation

I’ve written before about Pulsic’s Animate Preview software, which is extremely helpful in completing placement in analog blocks so that they are ready for routing. Analog design automation has always been a tough proposition, but Animate Preview looks like a promising tool, with practical benefits. Obtaining DRC clean placement… Read More


Analog Sensing Now Essential for Boosting SOC Performance

Analog Sensing Now Essential for Boosting SOC Performance
by Tom Simon on 06-03-2021 at 6:00 am

analog sensing

In today’s System-on-Chip (SOC), analog blocks are used in many places such as I/O cells for communication, PLLs for generating clocks, LDO’s for converting supply voltage to internal rail voltage, Sensors for qualifying external characteristics such as temperature, light, motion, etc. However new advanced designs now require… Read More


Webinar: Challenges in creating large High Performance Compute SoCs in advanced geometries

Webinar: Challenges in creating large High Performance Compute SoCs in advanced geometries
by Daniel Nenni on 05-17-2021 at 6:00 am

Sondrel Webinar 1

When we think about Compute and AI SoCs, we often focus on the huge numbers of calculations being carried out every second, and the ingenious IPs that are able to reach such high levels of performance. However, there also exists a significant challenge in keeping the vast quantities of data flowing around the chip which is solved … Read More


Automatic Generation of SoC Verification Testbench and Tests

Automatic Generation of SoC Verification Testbench and Tests
by Daniel Nenni on 12-23-2020 at 6:00 am

Agnisys QEMU

Last month, I blogged about a webinar on embedded systems development presented by Agnisys CEO and founder Anupam Bakshi. I liked the way that he linked their various tools into a common flow that spans hardware, software, design, verification, validation, and documentation. Initially I was rather focused on the design aspects… Read More


Digital Design Technology Symposium!

Digital Design Technology Symposium!
by Daniel Nenni on 10-07-2020 at 6:00 am

Synopsys Digital Design Symposium 2020
Virtual events are coming fast and furious. Even though we are sheltering there is still the need to pick and choose carefully because time really is big money inside the semiconductor design ecosystem, absolutely. 

Synopsys virtual events are high on my list for three reasons:

  1. They are very well organized and professionally
Read More

WEBINAR: Design Adaptive eFPGA IP

WEBINAR: Design Adaptive eFPGA IP
by Daniel Nenni on 09-18-2020 at 10:00 am

Menta Adaptive Design eFPGA Webinar 1

Since the start of PROMS, PLDs and FPGAs we have learned the importance of programmability in modern semiconductor design. Today we have eFPGAs for “design adaptive” embedded programmability and that is what this webinar is all about.

Several key points are discussed starting with the Law of Accelerating Returns as it applies… Read More


Can you really meet your SoC design schedule without a good GUI?

Can you really meet your SoC design schedule without a good GUI?
by Daniel Nenni on 08-31-2020 at 10:00 am

flow3 1

Talk to the members of a digital design team and you will always find two types of users. One who likes using the GUI while working on his design and the other who is passionate about using scripts and the command line options. This is akin to the two camps of users who either love either good old Vi/Vim or the ever versatile Emacs editor.… Read More


Who is Driving This Car Anyway?

Who is Driving This Car Anyway?
by Roger C. Lanctot on 01-01-2020 at 10:00 am

Who is Driving This Car Anyway

My Lyft driver in San Jose thought his Hyundai had “autopilot,” alluding I suspected, to Tesla Motors’ feature of the same name which has placed that company at the forefront of driving automation development and the focal point of fatal crash investigations. Before either of us got hurt I gently disabused my driver of his dangerous… Read More


Free webinar – Accelerating data processing with FPGA fabrics and NoCs

Free webinar – Accelerating data processing with FPGA fabrics and NoCs
by Tom Simon on 10-14-2019 at 10:00 am

FPGAs have always been a great way to add performance to a system. They are capable of parallel processing and have the added bonus of reprogramability. Achronix has helped boost their utility by offering on-chip embedded FPGA fabric for integration into SoCs. This has had the effect of boosting data rates through these systems… Read More


WEBINAR: Generating and Measuring IP Security Threat Levels For Your SoCs

WEBINAR: Generating and Measuring IP Security Threat Levels For Your SoCs
by Daniel Nenni on 10-09-2019 at 6:00 am

IPs have an attack surface that indicates how they can be compromised in real world scenarios. Some portions of the attack surfaces are well known, others are discovered during analysis, testing or out in the field. SoCs that use large collections of IPs need a systematic and reliable way to determine the various security vulnerabilities… Read More