Software accounts for more than half the development cost for a complex system-on-chip (SoC) platform at the 45nm process node or below. The availability of fundamental software such as compilers, debuggers, operating systems and industry-specific middleware determines the success or failure of a chip design. In simple terms, if there is little or no software […]
SystemC AMS extensions introduce new language constructs for the design of embedded analog/mixed-signal systems. This paper presents the novel modeling language for analog and mixed-signal functions that supports design and modeling of telecommunications, automotive and imaging sensor applications at various levels of abstraction. A simple example illustrates how new features facilitate a design refinement methodology […]
For the sake of clarity and sanity, let me first point out that you are reading an article written in the fall of 2008. The importance of this will become obvious when I reveal my topic: parallel programming for the multicore age. You thought I was about to claim first-past-the-post on a new technological challenge […]
From its inception, the OCP standard was designed to address the advent of heterogeneous processors and multicore SoC development. Since the OCP-IP organization opened for business in December 2001, it has established eight technical working groups (WGs) to develop tools, technologies and products that support the standard, leading in turn to the release of a […]
Justin Rattner will this year mark 35 years with Intel. His career with the technology giant has seen him collect numerous accolades, particularly for work in areas such as high performance computing (HPC). He was Intel’s first principal engineer and was its fourth member of staff to be named a fellow (he is today a […]
Electronic system level (ESL) is typically defined as design above the register transfer level (RTL). When applied to hardware design, ESL is the process of describing hardware functionality at higher levels of abstraction to increase designer productivity and enable greater degrees of exploration. With ESL, hardware designers no longer spend most of their time designing […]
The Design Automation and Test in Europe (DATE) conference is a comparatively young event—it reached only its 11th edition this March. Nevertheless, it has now firmly established itself on the EDA calendar and this year significantly extended its scope to become the world’s most important electronic systems design automation conference. At the same time, it […]
Electronic system level (ESL) design is moving to a new stage in its development, advancing from a proof-of-concept environment to one that is seeing its adoption and deployment at the forefront of design. The article terms this shift ‘ESL 2.0’. The reason for this goes beyond mere marketing hype. Inherent in the transition defined above […]
The headline number in the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) latest market forecast contained a few devils in the detail, although the sector does seem poised to defy more pessimistic views of the economy’s prospects. The projection of 6.1% growth for 2008 is robust, giving just over $171bn in US factory door sales (Figure 1).Meanwhile, GDP […]
Although no EDA company counts among its membership (for good practical reasons), it is fair to describe the US Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) as one of technology’s most broadly representative trade bodies. From retailers and brand holders to the hardware and software companies that directly supply components for CE products, the CEA has a position […]
