Springtime in the SoC
Audio IP, Static Analysis and Board Member Switch-a-roo
In honor of the Design Automation Conference that is less than a month away, I take a little foray into the mysterious land of tools. First up, I chat with Henk Hamoen (Synopsys) about how Synopsys is working its way into audio IP, and then it's an interview with Mark Zarins of GrammaTech about static code analysis and why your level of comfort in dealing with abstraction is important to them. Finally, I have a special “News You May Have Missed" segment about some recent rumblings on the Mentor Graphics Board of Directors.
Also this week, I have a brand new nerdy giveaway (a TI MSP-EXP430FR5739 Experimenter Board) courtesy of Mouser to throw your way, but you'll have to tune in to find out how to win.
I, Robot 101
School Uses Robotics to Teach Engineering and More
Okay, it’s now officially the Twenty-First Century: They’re teaching robotics in school.
I, for one, welcome our robot overlords, especially if they’re like the ones coming out of a small Arizona high school. Last week, I had a nice talk with Enrique Santa Cruz, the Robotics & Automation instructor at Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, Arizona. (I’ll save you the trouble: it’s a town of 25,000 souls about 15 miles due south of Tucson. You’re welcome.)
Verifying Today’s SoCs Requires a New Approach
As is well known, the system-on-chip (SoC) verification problem grows faster than design size, so it takes more time and effort to verify a complete SoC than an individual IP block. However, the problems with SoC verification are deeper than just the increase in size.
The biggest new wrinkle introduced by today’s large multicore SoC is the greater number of shared resources, sometimes called “points of convergence” by verification engineers.
Is Agile Invading Embedded?
It’s widely accepted that embedded programmers don’t use agile programming methodologies. Hard deadlines mean hard commitments and none of this wishy-washy, hippie-talk, “It’ll be done when it’s done” nonsense.
Which may raise two questions in your mind. Most fundamentally, what does “agile” mean? And, perhaps more critically, is this truism actually true? There was a session covering this at DesignWest (or ESC), and it’s funny how process can get in the way of progress, even for processes that purport to value progress over process.
Breaking the System
Good Pieces Don’t Always Make a Good Whole
It’s seductive logic. If the pieces are good, then the whole, which is but an assemblage of known-good pieces, must be good.
I used that same logic as a kid. Orange juice is good; Cheerios are good. Ergo, using orange juice instead of milk should provide a delicious breakfast.
Wrong. That was a lesson I remember to this day. I could never quite put my finger on exactly why those two things didn’t work together – there was no obvious reason; they just didn’t.
Coming Back for Seconds
Design West 2012 Part Two
In this week's Fish Fry, I look into two ever-present themes at this year's Design West Expo: power and software. On the software side, I interview David Kleidermacher (Green Hills Software - CTO) about embedded security, virtualization, and even Green Hills's collaboration with Nintendo. On the power side, I chat with Infinite Power Solutions about energy harvesting and find out why they don't call themselves "Limited Power Solutions".
Spring into Action
Calypto’s Power Optimization and the Find Amelia at Design West Contest
In this week’s Fish Fry, I dig into the multi-layered world of power optimization with Shawn McCloud (Vice President, Marketing - Calypto). Shawn and I discuss the problems surrounding power reduction in today’s smaller geometries, and why he thinks power optimization is ignored by many designers. I even grill Shawn about why he has a ban on high heels at his house. Also this week, I unveil the details of EE Journal’s first conference contest called “Find Amelia at Design West” and even throw out a couple super secret hints on how you can find me and win a MAX V CPLD Development Kit (courtesy of Altera) right there at the show.
The Return of Alchemy
XMOS Turns Software Into Hardware – Presto!
Subtle definitions can make a difference. The old song title, “What Is This Thing Called Love” is a lot different than asking your spouse, “what is this thing called, love?”
So it is with XMOS’s new chip, the XS1. Is it an FPGA or a microprocessor? Perhaps it’s the much-touted system-on-a-chip? Maybe an ASIC replacement? Or possibly something entirely different? By the time you’ve finished the 15-second elevator pitch, you’re already confused. What is this thing, how does it work, and how do I use it in my design?
Getting Your Verification Ducks in a Row
Look out! A new way to verify is coming your way. In this week’s Fish Fry, I check out Synopsys’s new Verification IP announcement with a special in-depth interview with Neil Mullinger from Synopsys. Neil and I discuss the details of this new verification platform, what markets it's destined for, and why whipping up your own verification IP may be a thing of the past. Also this week, I look into a new development in transistor technology headed up by a team at the University of Tel Aviv and why it may or may not involve deli meat.
Are RTOSes Dead?
The world no longer needs RTOSes. Linux can do it all.
Or so it was suggested at the recent RTECC conference, where none other than renowned embedded Linux booster Jim Ready of MontaVista (now Cavium) gave a presentation suggesting that, at this point, there is really no need for anything but Linux.
While that seemed more extreme than I had been thinking, this coincided with some mulling I had been doing as to whether the role of RTOSes was changing. It provided a perfect opportunity to check in with a couple of RTOS guys to see if they agreed that their days were numbered. You might think you know their answers – yet you might be surprised.