We like to blog about how technology changes our lives and will continue to do so. And, it is exciting to see Synopsys leading the semiconductor industry and pioneering new solutions.

For many years System on Chip (SoC) integrators have faced the challenge of packing more and more features into their designs, of course using fewer resources and within a shorter time frame. Synopsys has lead the way offering a broad range of SoC IP cores. We are now taking the next step with the introduction of the Industry’s First Complete Audio IP Subsystem that enables designers to cope with the continued increase in SoC design and audio complexity.

Talking with customers we found that what really drives system complexity is software. There is a lot of software in SoCs today, and the amount is growing. This is increasing the design task and in many ways making the hardware IP implementation almost easy by comparison. Of course, all of this software has to be integrated into the applications software that is running on the host-processor, and then everything has to be verified. From the chart below you can see that the number of IP blocks per SoC is growing rapidly, and will continue to do so. What the chart doesn’t tell you is that the amount of software required to support all of these IP blocks is growing even faster. Certainly, the number of IP blocks in SoCs has lead to a lot of discussion in the press about subsystems. What you don’t often see is the real motivator behind the trend to subsystems, and that is software and the integration of the software to make an SoC. A subsystem is more than IP cores and has to include the full software solution, or it will be of limited value.

We have developed the SoundWave Audio Subsystem in response to customer requests and the changing conditions that we see in the IP market. The SoundWave Subsystem is a complete audio subsystem solution. It includes all of the hardware IP blocks and all of the software that is needed to implement a broad range of audio solutions for SoCs.

The hardware IP includes: 32-bit ARC audio processors, digital I2S and S/PDIF interfaces for off-chip audio connections as well as high-bandwidth on-chip connections to interfaces like HDMI. ARM® AMBA® 3 AXI™/AHB protocol system interfaces ease integration into the SoC infrastructure. Analog audio codecs provide high-quality audio connections for line inputs and outputs, microphones, loud speakers and headphones. An easy-to-use configuration tool allows designers to quickly select options such as number of channels and number of audio interfaces, enabling a complete audio subsystem to be configured in hours instead of weeks if done manually.

The software included with the SoundWave Audio Subsystem is a complete, ready-to-use environment including an integrated media streaming framework, an RTOS, a broad portfolio of codecs and post-processing components, and a plug-in to the host application software. This is a complete software stack that includes everything that is needed to create great audio solutions for SoCs. The software is fully integrated with the hardware, it is configurable, and it is verified. We also have support for virtual and FPGA prototyping to make the software integration easier.

The SoundWave Audio Subsystem is the first complete subsystem (hardware, software, prototyping) to be offered by any company. All of the hardware and all of the software needed to implement a broad range of audio solutions for SoCs is included and ready to use. With the release of the SoundWave Subsystem Synopsys is leading the way and defining what a subsystem is for the market.

I few months ago, I posted a blog (“Bringing Order to Chaos”) about the inherent power of our hyper-connectivity to bring order to potentially chaotic situations. This hyper-connectivity is the result of the dramatic increase in processing power that we are realizing with microprocessor technology and is giving us the tools we need (we know where you are, how many are in an area, and can get you information at the push of a button) to instantly modify behavior through the proliferation of information.

On a recent trip to visit Synopsys customers in Israel, I saw this all come to life in real-time, maybe not completely bringing order to chaos, but certainly reducing chaos. What is more chaotic than your daily commute? It’s likely many of you reading this already know about and are using this crowd sourcing tool, Waze? “When you download Waze, you not only get free navigation, but also become part of the local driving community in your area, joining forces with other drivers nearby to outsmart traffic, save time and improve everyone’s daily commute.”

Waze leverages the powerful (and expensive) computing, navigation, connectivity, display, and battery power of your smart phone. But what about other opportunities for data collection and information sharing where a phone won’t fit or can’t be plugged in daily to recharge batteries? This is where tiny, power efficient microprocessors, like the ARC EM family come in. Wireless sensor products based on the ARC EM processor cores could go without the need to ever change (or charge via plug-in) batteries, or without batteries all together. Maybe this is in asset tracking, under a tag, or simply, built into a product. Maybe this is in clothing, measuring and reporting body temperatures and heart rates. They could be embedded in the rubber in your car’s tires, monitoring pressure and temperature. The applications, and the benefits, are endless.

The ARC EM 32-bit processor core was introduced to the market last year, and at less than 10,000 gates this processor consumes 0.01mm2 of silicon area in 28nm and draws just 2uW/MHz of current. Oh, and although it is 8-bit in size, the performance is flat out 32-bit. The ARC EM delivers a whopping 1.52 DMIPS/MHz and 2.29 CoreMark/MHz. That’s best in class performance for low gate count 32-bit processors.

The low gate count and efficient sleep modes means your leakage current is kept to a minimum. The real-time performance efficiency means you can wake up, process fast, and get back to sleep, to minimize power on time. With microprocessor like this you can create a long lasting, low-maintenance sensing node that can go just about anywhere.

In a few years sensor nodes will be everywhere and will be possible everywhere because of the advances that are being realized in 32-bit microprocessor architectures. The extreme performance efficiency of processors like the ARC EM cores is changing our world and bringing to life capabilities that up until now only seemed possible in science fiction. The increased access to data and connection to the cloud that results will bring us all closer together and with the data available analyzed, shared, and distributed in intelligent ways, like Waze has done with the smart phone, will change the world we live in.

When we have a choice to pick a name for something, it usually reflects some meaning for us. For example, I chose my daughter’s name as Abigail because I once saw a Mike Leigh play called ‘Abigail’s Party’ (the video below is a clip from the play). But, I also chose it because the name means ‘Father’s Joy’. Similarly, my name is Allen. It is of Scottish and Irish origin and it means ’handsome’. So, now you know why my parents chose to call me Allen.

Recently, we were battling with what to call our new partner program for the DesignWare ARC processor cores. We could have just called it the ARC Partner Program or the ARC Alliance Program or the ARC Community Program. But, I really wanted the name to have meaning.

I started by thinking about what the objectives of the program are:
• To broaden embedded industry support for the ARC Architecture and cores
• To partner with leading embedded software and hardware vendors to provide compelling ARC-based solutions
• Finally, to increase the awareness of ARC-based solutions

While these are important & noble objectives, nothing jumped out at me for choosing a name. So, I then thought about what the program means for our customers.
• Develop your ARC-based embedded processor solutions faster by leveraging compatible products from leading embedded industry vendors
• Reduce your project risk by taking advantage of design solutions pre-ported and tested for the DesignWare ARC architecture
• Save on development costs and resources by using products optimized for ARC-based designs

These are all good things. Develop faster. Reduce Risk. Save costs. I could call it the ARC Faster Reduce Risk Save Cost Program or ARC FRRSC Program. But, I thought better of that.

What to do? Thinking about what the program’s objectives and meaning for customers was not getting me to a name. That’s when I thought about how we are going to do this. We will work with partners by providing them access to ARC software & hardware development tools and provide support so that that they can optimize their product for the ARC Architecture. This, in turn, will give our customers access to a broad array of industry solutions. Eureka! Did you spot the operative word? Access. We’re providing access for our partners and, in turn, providing access for our customers.

It’s the ARC Access Program!

And so it came to be. The program launches with many valued companies: Alango Technologies, Ashling Microsystems, Embecosm Ltd., Express Logic, Green Hills Software, Interniche, Lauterbach, MiSPO, QSound Labs and SoftRISC Communications. We look forward to working with more leading embedded industry vendors to provide compelling solutions for the ARC Architecture.

P.S. The actual reason I was called Allen is because it was my mother’s maiden name. I was not given a middle name, so that my full name is the combination of each of my parent’s last names. As I said, there’s always a reason why we name things the way we do!

P.P.S. Although the play was called ‘Abigail’s Party’, we never get to see Abigail or her party.

There was a time when you got your new computer home it was likely to be an HP and it ran Microsoft Windows on an Intel processor. You knew what to expect. Well, not anymore. At Microsoft’s BUILD conference for developers in Southern California, they unveiled their next operating system on a machine that didn’t have an Intel processor inside. At the same time, a few hundred miles north in San Francisco, Intel was unveiling a software partnership for an operating system – and it wasn’t with Microsoft! A few weeks ago, HP said it was spinning off or getting rid of its PC business, or not. What’s going on! Can’t we trust the status quo anymore? What happened to the Old Order?

Microsoft’s announcement of Windows 8 is showing a Windows that doesn’t look much like the old Windows we know and love. It has ‘tiles’ and ‘charms’ and ‘snapping’, but not much in the way of actual windows. Applications run full screen. It works on desktop PCs, laptops and tablets. Interestingly, Intel’s announcement with Google wasn’t for a PC operating system, but one for smart phones and tablets. It was Android, of course.

In the more strictly embedded world, we‘re used to seeing a multitude of processors and operating systems. There was a seismic shift to Linux a few years ago and one, more recently, to Android, in all kinds of devices. But, changes like this, in the PC world, are not common. Intel is working hard to re-invigorate the PC market with their Ultrabook™ category. These are sleek, lightweight, but powerful laptops that will be manufactured by companies such as Samsung and Acer. They are very cool.

So, the next few years will be very exciting for the new devices that we’ll all be using every day. PC’s, phones and tablets with new form factors and new (and new-looking) operating systems. And what has caused all this disruption to our lives? The one company I haven’t mentioned: Apple.

We are moving from the “Mobile Revolution” – the revolutionary advance that is allowing everyone on the planet to connect to everyone else, all the time – to the “Internet of Things.” This latest revolution will be profound because not only will we be connected to each other, but our stuff will be connected too. Our cars, refrigerators, light switches, cameras, and every other device we interact with will become intelligent and will connect seamlessly to other intelligent devices to make life easier without our even having to pay attention.

Just as the Mobile Revolution required a new type of processor, new types of processors are emerging to handle this new task. These processors put less emphasis on the ability to run a human-interactive OS and more emphasis on even lower power (even drawing power from their environment), lower cost, and smaller size. These processors, along with the devices they control, need to disappear into the background and do their job without bothering us.

These deeply embedded processors will be shipped in the billions. To meet that need, we’ve seen an explosion of new small processors. Synopsys is supporting many designs using innovative new processors from IP companies like ARM, MIPS, and Tensilica, plus in-house embedded processors from traditional IDMs like Renesas/NEC. We have also updated our own ARC family to bring the traditional strengths of the ARC architecture – configurability, very low cost, and excellent power/performance – to this new deeply embedded market. The 32-bit ARC ARC EM4 and ARC EM6 processors are small, starting at less than 10K gates, but they deliver over 1.5 DMIPS/MHz. At 28nm they can be clocked at more than 950MHz, delivering 1425 total DMIPS while consuming as little as 2.3uW/MHz.

What are the interesting places where these new 32-bit processors are likely to start showing up? Of course, there are the typical applications, such as sensors, actuators, 8- & 16-bit replacement, portable devices, power management, offload processing, and so on… However Merriam Webster defines “embed” as:

1a: to enclose closely in or as if in a matrix

b: to make something an integral part of

With these new processors “embedded processing” can take on a new meaning. For example, in Minneapolis the St. Anthony Falls Bridge is being built with a network of 323 sensors which will monitor the span for corrosion in the concrete, strained joints, or other structural weaknesses. An anti-icing system will track the roadway’s temperature and spray potassium acetate before ice begins to form. There’s also a traffic monitoring system, which detects the speed and volume of cars on the span. If there’s an accident that blocks the roadway, information can be relayed to central command so drivers can be alerted or rerouted. In other words, intelligence is being embedded right into the bridge’s concrete and steel.

Where else will these new deeply embedded processors go? Will they be in everything that we interact with? Will they be in our clothes? Will they even be in products that you use once and then throw away? Time will tell, but with the “Internet of Things we can expect to find deeply embedded microprocessors everywhere, in everything, and in places previously out of reach, literally.

Texas is experiencing one of the worst known droughts in its history this year. Drought brings fire, and the fires have certainly arrived. Wildfires have destroyed nearly 1,400 homes so far this year in Texas, and the fires continue to burn. “Some residents needed no urging to leave because they saw the flames lapping at the trees. Others heard from friends and neighbors, while still others found a sheriff’s deputy at their door or heard firemen rolling down the street with bullhorns. In most cases no one had to be told twice” according to CBSnews.com

In our age of microprocessors, hyper-connectivity and social media, is that what it still comes to: word of mouth and the sheriff at the door? “Information” is more than at our fingertips; it is often pushed to us whether we ask for it or not. Is there a better way to get people out of harm’s way? Sure there is, I suspect you have it next to you right now – your smart phone.

Proposals to push emergency information to phones are gaining traction in hurricane areas, such as Florida. The federal government has taken steps to establish such a system as well; the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act, or WARN Act. The general idea here is that if a geographic area is in danger; a warning message can be pushed to all the cell phones in that area. Sounds great? A bit like Twitter on steroids? “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Back to those Texas fires …. One particularly interesting challenge that individuals and emergency management professionals faced recently while fighting the Texas fires occurred just outside of Austin – a fire burning completely out of control in an area with 4,000 homes, but only one road out.

In this case, and I suspect in nearly all emergency cases, we need something smarter than geography-based panic inducing SPAM. What happens when you simultaneously inform masses of people that they are in harm’s way? Chaos.

Can technology and science bring order to chaos? Sure. Here’s an example not so different (but instead of people rushing a single exit, they squeeze through a single entrance). Jason Steffen, a particle physicist at Fermliab, has used his expertise of complex systems and motion to develop an airplane boarding procedure that proves more efficient than those currently in use.

The hyper-connectivity that is resulting from the dramatic increases that we are realizing with microprocessor technology is giving us the tools we need (we know where you are, how many are in an area, and can get you information at the push of a button) to instantly notify people. The next step is to help them respond in a way that limits the chaos. Microprocessors and connectivity are again combining to help in the form of auto-to-auto networks. Not only will they make driving safer and easier, but they will be useful in situations like this in Texas in the future to maximize traffic flow through the bottleneck, and bring order to the chaos.

Touch screens and the associated gesture control as introduced in smart phones and tablets have changed the way we interact with our devices. Tap-and-swipe touch-screens are fun and addictive to use, but touching tends to make the screen smudgy, and there are rising concerns on health and hygiene aspects. After all we want to be able to and do use our devices everywhere and anytime, right?

What we need is the ability to control the device with gestures, without actually needing to touch the display. Like in the 2002 Sci-Fi film Minority Report, where we got a glimpse of a distant future mind-blowing holographic wall that Tom Cruise used as an advanced computer interface by making sweeping gestures in the air using special gloves. Little did we know at that time that this distant future technology would arrive at our doorsteps – or even better, in our pockets – less than 10 years later.

Touch-less Gesture Control obviously is the next big thing. Industry leading companies like TI and Qualcomm make no secret of the fact that this is key strategic technology. TI has implemented gesture recognition as part of its “natural user interface” set of technologies in the OMAP 4 platform, and has partnered with XTR to develop a next generation touch-less gesture control technology. And, Qualcomm just announced the acquisition of the Sunnyvale based company GestureTek, which specializes in gesture recognition technology, for integration into its Snapdragon processors.

Today’s advanced 32-bit microprocessors already provide the processing power that is required to process the images captured by the front-facing cameras of today’s smart-phones. And they are so small that you can pack many of them on an SoC, so it’s all about the software. Little more than a week ago, Yonac Software released the first touch-less gesture controlled music application for iOS, named AirVox, which is available to you for a mere $2.99 USD from the iTunes store for the iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPod Touch 4th Gen. And it is only a matter of time before this kind of app is available for Android as well.

If you think this is all play and no work, think again. This technology is finding its way from your pocket and living room to Hospital operating rooms. Some hospitals are applying the Xbox 360 Kinect technology for in-surgery image manipulation. Previously, doctors that needed to take a closer look at an image during surgery had to leave the sterile operating space to use the computer, then wash up again before going back in, which often requires up to 20 minutes of precious time. But now they can call up and manipulate complex images while they are in surgery without leaving the sterile environment and conditions.

The future is coming closer every day thanks to cutting edge microprocessors and software. Who knows, one day this technology that was developed to keep your touch screen from getting smudgy, may actually save your life.

For the automobile industry, the year 1908 was a landmark, with the introduction of the Model T. Henry Ford made automobiles affordable for the middle class in the US, soon to be followed by the rest of the world. The Model T was in production from 1908 – 1927, with more than 15 million cars sold.

The most commonly known innovation for the Model T was the use of an assembly line, versus hand-crafted autos by individual mechanics/engineers. With this new way of production the company was able to keep cost low (large consumer market) and ramp up volumes. Production could even be spread around the globe with manufacturing sites eventually in Europe, South America and Asia.

More interesting is Henry Ford’s marketing concept: “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”: Henry Ford made this statement in 1909, only a year after production of the Model T started. What is little known is that it took him until 1914 to actually implement this. From 1908–1914 the T-Ford was available in grey, red, green and blue. In 1914 he managed to have this specification change (reduction in available options) implemented, and the Model T was finally only available in black.

Like cars semiconductors were once handcrafted pieces of art. Over time libraries of transistors were introduced (compared to each designer making his own), for the same reason that Ford created the assembly line (cheaper, repeatable quality, etc.). Later this was replaced by the standard cells, and following that with RTL design and 3rd party IP cores. I still recall senior design engineers complaining that they had lost their creative freedom. As they used the more advanced capabilities and IP they became much more productive, and could build large complex SoCs and microprocessors. They no longer needed to alter transistor parameters, change standard cells, manually create netlists, or design each IP core. But rather than a restriction they found that even though they felt that they had less flexibility they could actually do more.

The availability of subsystems will be the next productivity improvement in semiconductor design, with IP suppliers providing solutions that are not only pre-integrated and tested, but also optimized for the end application, providing more value. With the availability of subsystems focus will shift away from hardware to software and ease of integration into the application. SoC designers will be able to directly integrate complete hardware and software functions into their design saving them time, increasing quality and enabling them to build even bigger SoCs.

Of course, unlike the Model T, subsystems will have to be flexible and available with a range of options so that users can tailor them to best fit their application needs. Although Henry Ford was successful one size does not fit all, and IP suppliers that are able to provide flexible subsystem solutions will be best positioned to support their customers.

If you are British or are an aficionado of British TV, you will be familiar with the TV series ‘Doctor Who’. If you’re both, and like me, of a certain age, you may recall a childhood of watching this show from behind the sofa. It’s the longest running science-fiction TV show in the world and it’s scary. One of the key props in the story is the Tardis, a time-machine disguised as an old-fashioned Police Telephone Box. (It’s a long story why it’s a rather incongruous Police Box.) The Tardis allows the good Doctor to travel back & forwards in time. As I look at the Embedded Software industry today, I was thinking, what if I accompanied the Doctor back to ten years ago. How did the industry look compared to now? How would it look ten years into the future?

Going back ten years ago is easy, of course, as I was there. The largest independent embedded software vendor for microprocessors was Wind River Systems with its VxWorks RTOS and there was also Green Hills Software, with their well respected compiler and debugger. The embedded part of Microsoft was touting its Win CE operating system and MontaVista was out pushing the merits of Linux for embedded systems. Besides these medium-sized companies, there was, as there is today, many smaller firms with tools, operating systems and middleware. Companies such as Ashling Microsytems, Express Logic, Interniche, Lauterbach, Macraigor and many more. So, how is that different than today? Well, on the surface, it’s not actually that different. All the companies named above are still around and the smaller companies, for the most part, are still around, too. And, it’s still a highly fragmented industry. But, it’s not like the EDA industry.

The EDA industry is famous for multiple startups jockeying for position to be acquired by the ‘big three’ of EDA. In contrast, the Embedded Software industry doesn’t really have a ‘big three’ and there are not a lot of acquisitions that go on (or IPO’s). It’s highly fragmented with lots of small companies that have been around for a long time, along with some medium-sized companies, none of which dominate the business. Of course, one change is that two of the larger companies were acquired by semiconductor companies. Wind River Systems was acquired by Intel in 2009, followed by MontaVista being acquired by Cavium in the same year.

So, it looks like there never will be a ‘big three’ in the Embedded Software industry. But, if we got back into the Tardis and jumped ten year ahead, what would it look like? Would all the significant software vendors have been acquired by semiconductor companies? And, what is the right place for tomorrow’s software vendors? Is it with the semis or is it with the EDA companies or simply on their own? So far, only one EDA company has made any significant embedded software vendor acquisitions and it has been doing that for a long time. Will the others follow? Should they follow? And what will the users of embedded software & tools think?

Apple with the iPhone and iPad, and Google with Android, revolutionized the way we interact with our portable devices. They commoditized touch screen display technology, making it possible for us to control our ‘PCs-in-our-pocket’ more conveniently than we can control our Desktop or Laptop PCs with a mouse. Besides the plain ease of use, there is something irresistible about swiping with your finger across a screen and enjoying the astonishing effects that this triggers. And, being able to control your mobile device while walking, really adds to the whole mobile experience and sense of freedom when you are on the go.

But, (there’s always a but isn’t there) touch screens easily get dirty from all that touching and it is not just finger prints. Touch screens are dirty to the extent that they are becoming a health risk. You don’t have to take my word for it, look here and here.

Strangely enough, while this is being recognized and supported by many studies, there is a trend from ‘private’ touch-screens to ‘shared’ touch-screens. Touch-screens are increasingly being used in equipment like ATMs, or Point of Sale terminals. And at Computex in Taipei in the beginning of June, vendors were fighting each-other to claim to have the biggest, or the biggest by combining multiple in a co-ordinated manner, touch-screen. And we’re no longer talking about single touch versus multi-touch. No sir, we’re talking 10-finger touch and 20-finger touch – last time I checked, I only had 10. Both trends are clearly driven to support the multi-user experience. After the iPod and the iPad, you can enjoy the iBar.

Given the health risk related warnings multi-user touch-screens might not be the best – and future proof – evolution. Of course we all could wear gloves. As MC Hammer already visionary rapped in the early nineties, “U Can’t Touch This”.

How did he know? OK, we’re geeks but still…

Fortunately with the increasing performance capabilities of embedded 32-bit processors I expect we’ll see a rapid evolution from touch-screen control to gesture based control, eliminating the physical interaction with the display. Remember the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise and his futuristic holographic wall? I want one, but that is something for my next blog.

Here is a video of the world’s largest touch-screen – I wonder how many fingers it supports.