Articles – Page 230

Targeting Internal-State Scenarios in an Uncertain World

August 23, 2012

Verifying internal design states is the unheralded bugbear of chip design today. Even the preliminary step of identifying and exercising the panoply of operating modes is fraught, largely due to design complexity. As an extreme example, transistor counts for Intel’s newest chips now top 1.4 billion. (See: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4818/counting-transistors-why-116b-and-995m-are-both-correct.)

The introduction of random test methodology several years back helped ease the burden of creating sufficiently comprehensive tests. However, few would leave the task of verifying critical cases strictly … Read More → "Targeting Internal-State Scenarios in an Uncertain World"

Is ARM a Choice or Isn’t It?

One Architecture, Many Vendors

by Jim Turley

August 22, 2012

Flip a coin. Will it come up heads, tails, or edge?

Earlier we talked about how the CPU and MCU choices are boiling down to just two: ARM and x86. Lately it seems that most programmers and engineers are choosing one or the other for their next project, while perfectly good alternatives such as PowerPC, MIPS, AVR, and others fall by the wayside.

There are good reasons for this. Rallying around one architecture (or a very few) has its advantages, both for individual engineers and for engineering as a whole. Popular architectures get better development … Read More → "Is ARM a Choice or Isn’t It?"

Don’t Rush to Judgment

The Dark Side of Convergence

by Kevin Morris

August 21, 2012

Mahler’s Symphony #9 is a masterpiece of symphonic literature. Written in 1909-1910, it was Mahler’s last symphony, and it was considered by many to be his greatest achievement. When Mahler died in 1911, he had never heard it performed, as its premiere was in 1912 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Unlike many symphonies, the final movement of Mahler’s Ninth – “Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend” – does not end with bombastic brass and acoustic fireworks. Instead, it fades slowly into silence – thought by some to be a reference to the composer’s impending death, as he had … Read More → "Don’t Rush to Judgment"

Municipal Clock Design

by Bryon Moyer

August 20, 2012

Picture yourself living in a big city with lots of traffic. That could be anywhere in the world. Now picture that city with a robust subway/rail system (in other words, not busses that also have to contend with traffic). Admittedly, that narrows things down (to places mostly outside the US, but never mind… work with me here.)

In this city, you have a choice. When you want to go from your home to your work (both within the city), you could drive the entire distance. Or, if you were lucky, you could take public transit the … Read More → "Municipal Clock Design"

Testing This Web Page

In Which the Sys Admin Posts a Test Article

by Bryon Moyer

August 18, 2012

This is very pithy test content. It will be deleted as soon as I’ve confirmed pages work correctly.

… Read More →

Does the World Need a New Verification Technology?

by Dick Selwood

August 15, 2012

Verification is one of those perennial problems. I long ago lost count of the white papers I have read and the presentations I have sat through that discuss the issues of testing (roughly translated as “does this work?”) and verification (roughly translated as “does this do what the system architect or whomever intended?”). Accompanying this are always graphs showing the increasing percentage of the project lifecycle that is taken up by test and verification. And the same arguments are rolled out for chip-, software- and system-development.

Now a new British company, Coveritas, has come up with another … Read More → "Does the World Need a New Verification Technology?"

The Secret

Hidden Holes in our Engineering Expertise

by Kevin Morris

August 14, 2012

“…It works the same as assertions in System Verilog,” he said.

I quickly nodded my head — maybe too quickly. “Oh, OK, I see,” I replied, almost before he had finished his sentence.

I wanted to give him confidence that the message was received so he would move on in the conversation. If I looked puzzled, perplexed or confused – if I showed weakness or hesitation, he might linger in the lounge of this idea. He might hang around here in the vicinity of trouble. He might catch the scent of fear and decide to dally in … Read More → "The Secret"

Electromechanical Interlocutor

SoftMEMS Facilitates IC/MEMS Co-design

by Bryon Moyer

August 13, 2012

Let’s say you form a group in the United States with the purpose of setting up “offices” or camps in various impoverished foreign countries for the purposes of helping the local denizens. You know, an NGO kind of thing.

If you’re gathering a team of typical Americans (well, typical except for their willingness to go live in harsh foreign conditions), then it’s unlikely that you’ll be blessed with large numbers of people speaking obscure Amazonian or Khoisan or Altaic languages. So if you all just hop on a plane one day and go … Read More → "Electromechanical Interlocutor"

Does Local Mean Sustainable?

by Bryon Moyer

August 9, 2012

Last year I covered a small local company run by Adam Wegener that makes small, portable speakers that appeal in particular to youthful types. Called TrashAmps, the speakers are housed in re-purposed soda or beer cans.

The issue last year was whether their message of sustainability could command a price premium or whether, instead, they’d have to go offshore to compete, potentially sacrificing their sustainability message and differentiation. I had promised to revisit the situation in a year, and so I have. And … Read More → "Does Local Mean Sustainable?"

A Two-Horse Race

ARM or Intel, Intel or ARM; Take Your Pick

by Jim Turley

August 8, 2012

They say competition improves the breed. In free markets, startup companies can compete with massive corporations. In sport, young self-trained upstarts from little-known backwater nations can compete with all-stars from Western superpowers. In engineering, clever new ideas can push out old established ways of doing things. Engineering is pure and unadulterated. May the best solution win.

Yeah, sure, that’d be nice. Wake me up when it happens.

The world of microprocessors and microcontrollers has been churning and heaving with innovation and change for the last 20 years or so. But now that bubbling hot cauldron … Read More → "A Two-Horse Race"