June 2010

Knowing where your application is consuming resources is a crucial step in minimizing energy usage. The article describes a toolset developed by high-profile ARM-based microcontroller (MCU) start-up Energy Micro that helps to achieve this overarching goal within the context of a parallel move to 32bit MCU resolution.

The demands of manufacturing closure at advanced process nodes make the traditional design-then-fix flow unmanageable. At 28nm and below, designers need a solution that can address manufacturing issues at any point in the design process, enabling a true correct-by-construction methodology. An effective solution must provide design-rule-check and design-for-manufacturing analysis using the actual foundry-approved signoff rules [...]

GateRocket's RocketDrive facilitates integration of an FPGA into an HDL simulator to provide a "native" execution of a design on its target FPGA device. The companion RocketVision tool provides software-debugging capabilities that directly identify and enable the rapid resolution of bugs. This article considers the use of these tools in a "device native" verification and [...]

The limited cell count of standard cell libraries is restricting the performance that designs can achieve without resorting to expensive and time-consuming techniques. This article describes the addition of extended cell libraries and novel synthesis tools to a traditional RTL-to-GDSII flow in a new methodology that helps to overcome this performance brake. The technique is [...]

The analysis of important power and temperature metrics for chip design is becoming increasingly inefficient when attempted at the register-transfer level. The article proposes the fundamentals of a system-level modeling strategy that will shrink design times, provide more opportunities for architectural exploration, and deliver significant power savings.

System Modeling Language (SysML) is a Unified Modeling Language (UML) profile that allows the creation of standard descriptions of a system. However, this profile is too generic to address embedded and real-time system design. The Modeling and Analysis for Real-Time and Embedded Systems (MARTE) UML profile attempts to fill this gap by providing elements from [...]

Product engineering services can be efficiently outsourced and even the biggest players are doing it, says Michel Villemain

We talked to Mentor Graphics CEO Wally Rhines about the solutions that already exist to combat increasing design complexity.

Disneyland might be next door, but DAC 2010 is stressing a real-world perspective on chip design. We spoke to general chair Sachin Sapatnekar.

We look at some of the findings analyst group iSuppli had hoped to present at a recent summit before a Finnish volcano intervened.