Articles – Page 256

An Independent Analysis of Altera’s FPGA Floating-Point DSP Design Flow

September 12, 2011

Altera has developed a new floating-point design flow intended to streamline the process of implementing floating-point digital signal processing algorithms on Altera FPGAs, and to enable those designs to achieve higher performance and efficiency than previously possible. BDTI performed an independent analysis of Altera’s floating-point DSP design flow. BDTI’s objective was to assess the performance that can be obtained on Altera FPGAs for demanding floating-point DSP applications, and to evaluate the ease-of-use of Altera’s floating-point DSP design flow. This paper presents BDTI’s … Read More → "An Independent Analysis of Altera’s FPGA Floating-Point DSP Design Flow"

Implementing Floating-Point DSP in an FPGA

by Bryon Moyer

September 12, 2011

Are you finding it challenging to efficiently implement floating-point digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms? Learn how Altera’s new floating-point design flow makes it easy and enables your designs to achieve high performance and efficiency.

Watch this 30-minute webcast to find out about:

How Altera^® FPGAs solve floating-point challenges
Altera’s model-based tool flow using our DSP Builder Advanced Blockset … Read More → "Implementing Floating-Point DSP in an FPGA"

Extreme Exposure

EUV Seems to be Coming Around

by Bryon Moyer

September 12, 2011

EUV is one of those topics that people have been talking about for a long time, and there’s been a long list of challenges in getting it to work. So imagine my surprise on watching a Semicon West session and learning that EUV is actually being deployed – with caveats – today. That got me wanting to go back and figure out what the issues have been and how they’ve been addressed.

But let’s back up a second to make sure everyone’s on the same page. We’ve … Read More → "Extreme Exposure"

Cell-Aware Fault Models for IC Production Test Outperform Gate-Exhaustive Fault Models

by Kevin Morris

September 8, 2011

Physical defects within ICs, such as shorts and opens, can occur during manufacturing at any step along the fabrication process because of the complexity of modern CMOS technology nodes. The conventional approach to test for these physical defects includes structural tests using classical fault models such as stuck-at (SA), bridging [1,2], and transition faults [3]. This approach has efficiently addressed defects between standard cells and defects at input and output ports of library cells.

However, stuck-at fault models are insufficient for detecting faults and defects within cells [5,6]. Conventional stuck-at/transition test methods as well as the slow-speed … Read More → "Cell-Aware Fault Models for IC Production Test Outperform Gate-Exhaustive Fault Models"

You Get What You Ask For

Beware the Echo Chamber of Your Own Research

by Jim Turley

September 7, 2011

I’m mad at GE.

You know, General Electric. The company that makes jet engines, dishwashers, locomotives, and medical scanners. The company that brought us Jack Welch and The GE Way (not to be confused with The HP Way).

I had a problem with my new GE dishwasher and needed it repaired. So I called the retail store where I bought it and told them my tale of woe. They said they don’t actually service the appliances they sell (no surprise there), but, since they already had all my information, … Read More → "You Get What You Ask For"

V=IR

Practical Laws for Social Engineering

by Kevin Morris

September 6, 2011

I am an engineering god.

…a technology savant, an electronic wizard, a mathematical master, an understander of epic proportions… at least as far as my non-technical friends and family members are concerned.

They prove this to me almost on a daily basis – enlisting my help in solving every kind of engineering challenge from pop-tarts that won’t pop to radios that won’t receive to websites that aren’t behaving as expected. And, in most cases, I deliver:

“Let’s try plugging in the toaster – now, doesn& … Read More → "V=IR"

A Sweetener for Research Labs

Rhomap Tries to Simplify Magneto-Transport Measurement

by Bryon Moyer

September 5, 2011

For many people, the arrival of the fall holiday season means that treats are on the way. And, for that extra bit of fun and “I made this myself” pride, there’s nothing like making candies and fudges and other confections at home.

But working with sugar can’t be taken lightly. In order to get good, consistent results, it takes a steady hand and – most importantly – good temperature control.

So imagine if your family candy-making project started like this: before you could whip out the sugar and fruit … Read More → "A Sweetener for Research Labs"

The Union of Engineers

Firmware Engineers of California (FECal) On the Doorstep

by Jim Turley

September 1, 2011

Earlier this year the Wall Street Journal ran an article that contained this sentence:

“The United Auto Workers union said it is prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in a bid to organize hourly factory workers at foreign-owned car plants in the United States.”

As I see it, there are at least five things wrong with that sentence.

First, why does the UAW even have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend? The UAW—ostensibly a nonprofit organization—is probably bigger than the … Read More → "The Union of Engineers"

The Match Game

Netlogic Speeds DPI by Accelerating Text Pattern Matching

by Bryon Moyer

August 31, 2011

Chester was a real stickler for grammar. It started innocently enough: he would review his own memos a couple of extra times to make sure they were right. Then he started cracking down on his staff: he wanted them all to be as careful about their prose as he was about his. And he was reviewing their stuff. And that worked, more or less.

But the problem was, he was kind of OCD about everything he read. A memo might come in describing an incredible new bonus program that was going to net him … Read More → "The Match Game"

Dibs!

The Odd World of Property of the Mind

by Kevin Morris

August 31, 2011

“It was a team effort!”

The group assembled nods in agreement. Most human accomplishment today is the product of some form of collaboration. Even those of us who like to envision ourselves as super-self-sufficient independents would find ourselves immediately faced with the severity of our solo limitations if dropped into the wilderness naked without tools or supplies. Everything we do is on the shoulders of others, or the shoulders of shoulders of shoulders of others. This applies to ideas as well as to the physical world. Every “original& … Read More → "Dibs!"