Virtual Prototyping
Accelerate pre-RTL embedded software development, hardware/software integration, and system validation
Architecture Design
Quickly explore tradeoffs in your SoC architecture to achieve optimal product performance and cost to avoid over- or under-design
FPGA-Based Prototyping
Accelerate the creation of your ASIC prototype with a high-speed hardware prototyping environment including a comprehensive software flow
Core Optimization
Differentiate your product with the right combination of performance, power and area for your most design-critical cores
Design Flow Deployment
Optimize your design flow to address the latest design challenges
Physical Design Assistance
Leverage our tape-out proven flows and project experience to implement your very-deep submicron chip
IP Integration & SoC Verification
Get to market faster and reduce SoC design and verification cost by applying best practices in RTL creation and functional verification
Guest: Martin Barnasconi, Product manager / cluster leader AMS/RF system design methods, NXP Semiconductors
Guest Host: Ed Sperling, Editor in Chief, System Level Design
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Designing a mixed-signal chip isn’t a simple process, even at 140 nanometers. Designers have to tightly connect the analog, digital and software content on these chips, facing numerous challenges in order to get the architecture right the first time.
In a conversation with Ed Sperling, Martin Barnasconi talks about how system-level verification, virtual prototyping and even analog IP reuse can play important roles in addressing these challenges, and about why it’s so important to cross the boundaries of analog, digital and software.
Martin Barnasconi: “Systems are evolving, and whether you like it or not software will control your radio function…We need tools where software and digital and analog hardware come together.”
In this show, Martin talks about:
The challenges of tightly connecting analog, digital and even software content on mixed signal chips: Functional and system-level verification
Multi-chip solutions
Whether the digital or analog side of creating mixed-signal chips is more painful
Time-to-market pressures and what they could mean for the reuse of analog IP
The possibility of prototyping in the analog space
The need to deal with different competencies, whether you are an analog, digital or software designer
Guest: Dr. Peter Marwedel, Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany
Host: Karen Bartleson, Director, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc.
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Information technology is becoming increasingly pervasive and essential for our life and for almost all sciences and industrial sectors. This is poorly reflected in today’s education, which is still very limited to certain disciplines.
In our conversation with Dr. Peter Marwedel, he passionately shares the need for teaching engineering students about the integration of information technology with other sciences and sectors. In particular, he will talk about approaches for embedded system education and its extension toward cyber-physical system education.
Peter Marwedel:“There is hardly any industrial sector which is not influenced by information technology. If you look at physics and other sciences like chemistry and biology, you need a lot of computers and a lot of computing to get the results. The computers are really key to success in say, biology. Consider the analysis of DNA, for example . . . [it] became feasible only because of information technology. I think the introduction of the term “cyber-physical systems” reflects this trend really well in that it expresses and stresses the fact that we have this integration between information technology and physics. . .”
In this show, Peter talks about:
How information technology is being integrated with other sciences and sectors
The meaning of the term “cyber-physical”
His perspective of the level of difficulty in multi-core challenges in various areas of technology
His thoughts on whether or not this generation of engineers is being well educated and prepared to go into a cyber-physical field
Guests: Hamid Mahmoodi, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, San Francisco State University; Rhonda Simmons, Director, Workforce Development, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, City and County of San Francisco; Dan Stoner, Recruiter, “Minister of Possibilities”, Bay Area Video Coalition
Host: Karen Bartleson, Senior Directory, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc.
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In an offline conversation, Professor Hamid Mamoodi mentioned a new and growing program called TechSF. In a nutshell, we learned that TechSF was a program started by the City of San Francisco to equip San Francisco residents with the skills to work in tech.
Since the tech industry is near and dear to our hearts, we wanted to learn more about TechSF. We traveled up to San Francisco to the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), one of TechSF’s program partners, to find out more about this fascinating program from Hamid Mahmoodi, Rhonda Simmons, and Dan Stoner.
Quotes from the show:
Dan: TechSF was set up [by the mayor’s office] to help support the tech sector in San Francisco . . . [and to] support job seekers and hiring managers and put the two together in a unique way.
Rhonda: We try to focus on individuals . . . that may not typically engage in technology: women, various ethnic groups, populations that are poorly represented in the field. Our focus is to outreach, do recruitment and really try to target individuals that may or may not understand the industry and know how to get into it. [TechSF also targets] . . . folks that need a certain amount of retraining . . .
Hamid: San Francisco State University is one of the many partners involved in this project. We are on the education side. . . . Our role is to ensure that our graduates obtain the skill that is demanded of them in the marketplace in the tech industry. We try to achieve this goal by working with the [TechSF] partners and the tech industry [itself] to understand what the skills are, what the current trends are and then see which of those are lacking in the curriculum. Then, we try to bridge the gap by introducing project based learning opportunities to our students.
In this show, you will learn:
What TechSF is
How to sign up for the BAVC program
How long TechSF has been in place, where it stands now, and where the City of San Francisco would like the program to be in the next year
About success stories
How companies, universities, communities, and individuals can support TechSF
Guest: Chris King, Chair, Smart Energy Demand Coalition
Host: Karen Bartleson, Senior Directory, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc.
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Chris King, Chair of the Smart Energy Demand Coalition, is a luminary on Smart Grid. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition, the Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid, the U.S. Demand Response National Action Plan Coalition, and Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative.
What is Smart Grid?
Chris says, “The Smart Grid is really what the Smart Grid does not was the Smart Grid is. [It’s about] what benefits it brings. It brings energy savings, peak demand reduction, more renewable energy, cleaner energy, [and] more convenience to consumers. The technical definition is ‘adding sensors, controllers and meters.’”
In short, what the Smart Grid is varies from consumer to consumer, because it boils down to how people individually utilize the technology.
During the show, Chris talks about
What Smart Grid is.
The SmartMeter and Smart Grid technology as a whole.
Where Smart Grid technology exists today.
Whether or not Smart Grid technology invades personal privacy and causes heath issues.
The possibility of a global Smart Grid and whether or not challenges exist for emerging countries.
Guest: Russ Housley, Former* Chair, Internet Engineering Task Force
Host: Karen Bartleson, Sr. Director, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc.
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Have you ever wondered how the Internet works?
It is organizations like the Internet Engineering Task Force that make the Internet function as such an interconnected part of our everyday lives. Russ Housley, Former* Chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force, joined us on Conversation Central to give us a look at the work behind the Internet.
Russ Housley: “The Internet is both a technological thing and a sociological thing.”
During the show, Russ talks about
What the Internet is and how it works
The voluntary standards produced by the IETF
A couple of the widely deployed and widely successful Internet standards
The secret to making the IETF work when there is no voting within the organization
Rough consensus and running code
His proudest moments so far with the IETF
What he sees for the future of the Internet
*Update (3/21/13): Russ Housley is now the Chair of the Internet Architecture Board
Guests: Stan Krolikoski, General Chair, DVCon; Distinguished Engineer, Cadence Design Systems, and Dr. Ambar Sarkar, Technical Program Chair, DVCon; Chief Verification Technologist, Paradigm Works
Host: Yvette Huygen, Director, Worldwide Public Relations and Corporate Communications, Synopsys Inc.
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If you will be in the San Francisco Bay Area from February 15th – February 25th, join other design and verification experts at the 2013 Design and Verification Conference (DVCon).
We paid an early visit to the Double Tree hotel in San Jose CA, the home of DVCon 2013, to talk to two of its key organizers, Stan Krolikoski and Ambar Sarkar, about DVCon’s rich history and future. Stan is the General Chair and Ambar is the Technical Program Chair of this year’s DVCon, which is sponsored by Accellera. They are energized about what you can expect and look forward to at the conference.
Stan: “They key [of DVCon] is imparting knowledge. I want the newbie who comes, who is just starting out in design and verification, to learn a lot. I want someone like Ambar to come around and get just one nugget out of the conference that makes him say, ‘I could use that I work.’”
Ambar: “In my profession, I’m a consultant, and I work with the whole spectrum of people who are at different levels of maturity. I can honestly say (and this is what excites me) to each and every one on of my customers: You can go to DVCon and learn something from the conference . . . ”
During the show, Ambar and Stan talk about:
• What led DVCon to its 25th year
• A surprise ending to a near-disaster: a no-show speaker
• The culture of DVCon
• What is exciting about the upcoming conference
Guest: Jeff Bier, Founder, Embedded Vision Alliance
Host: Yvette Huygen, Director, Worldwide Public Relations and Corporate Communications, Synopsys Inc.
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Today more than ever it’s possible to incorporate vision technology and capabilities into many different types of products to make them more intelligent and responsive. In this episode, Jeff Bier, founder of the Embedded Vision Alliance, shares inspiring examples of what your tablet, book or pen can see when you embed some vision – technology, that is.
“With humans, why did nature evolve vision? Vision is a really powerful sense. . . .We don’t tend to think about it much, but there is very little we do without using our vision. I would say similarly that our electronics today by largely don’t have vision and they are worse off for it, and we can improve them in dramatic ways by giving them vision.” ~Jeff Bier
During the show, Jeff discusses:
The Embedded Vision Alliance
The benefits of giving your electronics “eyes”
The Philips Vital Signs Camera app
How Popar Toys has brought children’s books to life using vision technology
The sophisticated computer vision of the Echo™ smartpen by Livescribe
How the Embedded Vision Alliance makes companies aware that it is becoming quite practical to incorporate computer technology into inexpensive, power sensitive and sized constrained products
Guest: Jeff Ravencraft, President & COO, USB Implementers Forum, Inc.
Host: Karen Bartleson, Sr. Director, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc.
Welcome to the Season 3 premiere of Conversation Central. We have shortened the program and added video. Please give us your feedback.
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To kick off Season 3, we met Jeff Ravencraft at Soup Freaks in San Francisco, California.
“USB” has become a household word, but there is an engine behind USB that consumers do not see. Here to tell you about that engine on today’s episode is Jeff Ravencraft, President & COO, USB Implementers Forum, Inc.
“Consumers love USB because it’s easy to use—it just works. . . From a standards side, the standards are open, you can download them from our site. We have certification compliance testing that we help the industry with, [and] we do a lot of education at the developer level so they can build technology that makes it easy for the consumer.”
During the show, Jeff discusses:
Why he believes USB is ridiculously ubiquitous.
What the USB Implementers Forum(USB-IF) is.
How USB-IF helps both its members and non-members.
The precautions and actions taken to protect the brand of USB.
The agreement that adopter companies within a spec have to share their patents with one another (cross licensing).
Where he believes the future generation of USB will bring us.
Guest: Patrick Lysaght, Sr. Director, Xilinx Research Labs and University Program
Host: Karen Bartleson, Sr. Director, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc. and Rich Goldman, Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances, Synopsys, Inc.
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There are great changes and great opportunities in the field of engineering and education. Some students find themselves limited by the cost of education while others lack high quality schools in their region to satisfy demand, especially in the fields of computer science and electronics. One major challenge for academia itself is the rate of change in technology today. The half-life of the most relevant and current knowledge is so short that it puts a global stress on academia as it struggles to equip students for industry.
How can we deal with these challenges as we try to recruit more students into computer science and engineering? It is companies like Xilinx, and passionate professionals like Patrick Lysaght, who are stepping in to help academia. In this episode, Patrick shares how with real materials from the industry, students can interface with a platform, be better prepared when graduating, and ultimately design something the world has not seen before.
Guest: Masoud Nikravesh, Executive Director for Berkeley Computational Science and Engineering, CITRIS Director for CSE, and Visiting Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Hosts: Karen Bartleson, Sr, Director, Community Marketing, Synopsys Inc. and Yvette Huygen, Director, Worldwide Public Relations and Corporate Communications, Synopsys Inc.
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Twenty years ago, computer science was just a tool. Today, Dr. Nikravesh knows that this has changed, and computer science is now a vital anchor in technology advancement.
The world is changing at a rapid pace, and because of this, UC Berkeley saw the need to make computational science a formal part of their program to allow students to gain skills that could be channeled in the right direction. As executive director of the program, Dr. Nikravesh talks about Berkeley’s Designated Emphasis (DE) in Computational Science for PhD students.
He also shares some of the problems CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) wishes to address including energy, infrastructure and healthcare with regard to sensor technology. With the combination of nanotechnology and sensors, he believes we can expect sensors to be planted in bodies at the cell level.
