5 Key Innovations that Are Making Everything Smarter

By Editorial Team

We are in an era of Smart Everything. Our voices can activate an array of functions inside our homes—lights, thermostats, music. Our cars act like a second pair of eyes on the road, taking the controls when they sense an imminent roadway threat. Gadgets that fit in our pockets entertain us with movies and interactive games, wherever we are.

The way that we live, work, and play is being transformed as devices get smarter and connected. High-performance silicon chips and sophisticated software are making all of this possible. Watch this new video to see how Smart Everything touches so many aspects of our lives.

Let’s take a look at five key innovations that are making everything smarter—and see how electronic design automation (EDA) tools, IP, and software integrity solutions are enabling the chips and software inside.

1. Artificial intelligence (AI). Machines that can learn and solve problems on their own are making factories more productive, vehicles more autonomous, and everyday appliances more responsive. The technology is even enhancing chip design itself. AI is an important differentiator, and it all starts with smart chips and secure software developed with the right tools and solutions.

• • Meet the specialized processing, high-bandwidth memory throughput, and reliable high-performance connectivity requirements for AI systems-on-chip (SoCs) for mobile, IoT, data center, automotive, digital home, and other markets with silicon-proven IP.
  • Achieve faster verification and earlier software bring-up for AI SoCs via fast emulation hardware solutions.
  • Build security and quality into your code to minimize risks while maximizing speed of application development via software integrity testing.
  • Achieve earlier and faster software development, along with improved communication throughout the supply chain, through virtual prototyping.
  • Accelerate the process of verifying complex mathematical functions with datapath validation solutions.
  • Get better quality of results (QoR) quickly with AI-driven design solutions, developed with machine learning technologies that self-optimize in chip design environments. (Synopsys has introduced the industry’s first autonomous AI application for chip design, DSO.ai™ (Design Space Optimization AI), which massively scales exploration of options in design workflows while automating less consequential decisions to optimize throughput.)

2. Automotive. Today’s vehicles are designed to do more on their own, thanks to how pervasive electronic components, and increasingly software content, have become under the hood (and throughout). Cars can brake on their own, alert drivers ahead of a potential collision, and detect blind spots, all while providing more vehicle performance data, tighter smartphone integration, and a variety of infotainment options. When it comes to safety-critical applications like advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), adaptive cruise control, and even autonomous driving, you need smarter, more secure chips and software.

• • Build software security and reliability into connected cars with proven methodologies and automated solutions that support you in the design and development phases.
  • Accelerate silicon chip design with automotive-grade IP.
  • Speed up software development with virtual prototyping.
  • Meet functional safety and reliability requirements with chip design and verification tools.
  • Efficiently design and develop next-generation interior and exterior automotive lighting systems with optical design solutions.
  • Meet aggressive performance goals and tight schedules with systematic methods to design and verify the interaction of multiple technologies (such as electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, magnetic, and software).

3. 5G. With the deployment of 5G networks comes high speed, bandwidth, and data throughput that will enhance everything from smartphones to cars and smart cities. Delivering up to 100x the speed, 100x the capacity, and 10x less latency versus 4G LTE, 5G technology will transform a variety of applications. This requires advanced chipsets and telecommunications and network infrastructure. A variety of technologies can help support a seamless, secure 5G experience:

• • Accelerate development of 5G mobile phones and facilitate increased capacity and performance of super-fast 5G infrastructure applications via interface, data converter, security, and processor IP solutions. High-performance interface IP support requirements including low power and short exit latencies, high throughput, and high-quality signal integrity. High-speed analog front-ends provide GHz channel bandwidth support at low power. Security IP with a hardware root of trust support the development of trusted solutions. Efficient and optimized processors can increase work completed per cycle, while reducing power.
  • Find unknown vulnerabilities and mitigate zero-day attacks with fuzz testing.

4. IoT. From everyday gadgets to large systems, more of the electronics we use are getting smarter and connected. The next generation of IoT devices will only demand more processing power, energy efficiency, and data security.

• • Streamline the process for building more features and functionality into low-power SoCs with silicon-proven IP. Wired and wireless interface IP, data converters, security IP, low-power embedded memories and logic libraries, energy-efficient processor cores, and integrated IP subsystems can support designs ranging from wearable fitness/health devices to connected vehicles, factory automation equipment, and smart cities.
  • Find and fix security and quality issues in code with application security testing software. Utilize penetration testing to identify and eliminate mission-critical vulnerabilities in web applications and services. Tap into threat modeling services to detect problems early in the software development lifecycle.

5. Cloud. As more mission-critical applications migrate to the cloud, data centers need fast, energy-efficient silicon chips to power them. Other growing concerns highlighted by this shift are the needs for data privacy and software security. The EDA world provides just the tools to design and verify chips in the cloud and to migrate software applications there.

• • Accelerate software bring-up, performance validation, power analysis, and system validation of IP and SoCs with flexible, turnkey, and secure emulation in the cloud
  • Achieve faster development of SoCs for AI accelerators, communications network processors, networking, and storage applications with IP for cloud computing
  • Build security in as you migrate applications to the cloud via strategic planning, risk analysis, and software security testing

With a broad portfolio of advanced technologies for chip design, verification, IP, integration, and application security testing and quality testing, Synopsys is here to help you bring Smart Everything to life.

In Case You Missed It

Catch up on our series of 2021 predictions blog posts:

• Top High-Performance Computing and Cloud Predictions for 2021
• AI Chips in 2021: 5 Predictions for Innovation
• 4 Key Predictions for the Automotive Industry in 2021
• Key Power Predictions for Chip Design in 2021