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Building a system on chip (SoC) from IP blocks requires system-level integration and bring-up, and that requires firmware working on the target. In a fast-paced development cycle, it is crucial to provide customers with IP blocks and tested firmware. In particular, at the bring-up stage, there may be very few debug capabilities at hand and, therefore, a firmware package that is pre-tested on multiple platforms and systems…

I attended the IEEE 802.3 meeting in Atlanta last week. I have blogged about Ethernet standards-making meetings before and I thought I should post an update on how things have progressed. Cadence has a comprehensive design and verification IP portfolio for Ethernet, and we strive to keep it aligned to the current standards.

Before I dive in, I'd like to share some pictures from Atlanta; the third picture shows the vault…

"Throw it over the wall" is business slang for completing your part of a project and then passing it off to the next group. This phrase is usually said when there is little communication between two groups.—answers.com

I have noticed that a common scenario is for the engineers who developed the Universal Power Format (UPF) files for a device to throw it over the wall to the verification engineers assigned…

Recently, while at a customer site, I was faced with the huge task of looking for all instances of a specific module to find a particular signal assignment. My first thought was to do a grep search, and then go through each file to see where that particular assignment occurred. This seemed easy enough in theory, so I set out to do it. What I was not prepared for was:

1. Not knowing where the source files were actually…

In this week's Whiteboard Wednesdays video, the second of a two-part series, Jeffrey Chung discusses 32-bit applications and how LPDDR4 can be used most effectively.http://youtu.be/6XvqFAu0z7A

Learn more about Cadence IP.

LAS VEGAS—As the mobile world matures, opportunities abound for optimizing the user experience. For instance, voice commands now trigger a variety of functions and applications (think Siri and "Ok Google"), but they not only require the system to be on, they chew up battery life.

This challenge is about to fade. Realtek Semiconductor came here to CES 2015 to demonstrate at the Cadence meeting suite one…

It seems to be a fact of life that software has bugs and, unfortunately, our software is no exception. In most cases, however, it is not the bug itself that causes you grief. Rather, it is the fact that analysis, workaround, and shipping the fix to you sometimes takes a long time, and requires a lot of deep interaction between the user and Cadence R&D developers. Although in an ideal world, the process…

LAS VEGAS—A key function of automotive, IoT, security, and similar applications is the ability to detect faces and take action. But it's got to be done in an efficient, power-sensitive manner. 

Here at CES 2015, Gary Dick, Cadence engineering product manager, and Pulin Desai, Cadence product marketing director, showcased face detection using an Xtensa processor with an IVP image/video DSP and a MIPI PHY and controller…

In this week's Whiteboard Wednesdays video, the first of a two-part series, Jeffrey Chung discusses new LPDDR4 standard features that reduce power consumption and increase performance.  Low-voltage interface standard logic (LVSTL) and data byte inversion (DBI) are discussed in detail.

www.youtube.com/watch

LAS VEGAS—The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here is not just about amazing new technologies, although that's what captures the public's attention. It's about the electronics design ecosystem that enables those products.

The Cadence meeting suite may traditionally be tucked away from the crowds near the back of South Hall 2, but it's no less a hive of activity involving members…

After nearly a week at CES, almost everyone is asking me – what was the big thing? I’m excited to say that there was no one big thing. The show is so huge that there were many big things!

If anything, the show itself was the big thing. It was so huge and had something for everyone! There was absolutely no way to see it all.  Spread among 2.2 million square feet of exhibit space with more than 3600 exhibitors…

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is an electronic oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controlled by a voltage input. The applied input voltage determines the instantaneous oscillation frequency. Consequently, modulating signals applied to control input may cause frequency modulation (FM) or phase modulation (PM).

The Rapid Adoption Kit (RAK) referenced in this blog explains modeling VCOs in AMS Simulator (PSpice…

In this week's Whiteboard Wednesdays video, the first of a two-part series, Charles Qi highlights the new MIPI audio interface standard, Soundwire. Charles details how Soundwire supports new audio applications and can connect to multiple audio interface devices.http://youtu.be/LKDjhraDves

Read on for more details …

Customized Tooltips

You can now utilize TCL that can override the Tooltip being displayed.

Try this example:

1. Enter the following TCL commands in the Capture TCL Command window -

proc CustomToolTipForPageObjectsEnabler {args} {

return true;

}

proc GetCustomToolTipForPageObjects…

This article highlights the use of list pseudo-methods constraining the content of lists, which is relatively new and offers a lot of power in terms of modelling, performance, and debugging.

Ethernet-based communication is getting more pronounced today and will continue to do so in the future. This increases the need to be able to verify devices that are capable to handle specific bandwidth requirements. Shaping constrained…

Given that CES is a novelty-focused event, it is crucial that innovative companies such as Cadence use this opportunity to demonstrate the technology behind the latest consumer gadgets. This year, however, we’re taking everything a step further. During CES 2015, not only will we present our individual products but also complete systems solutions that integrate Cadence^® Tensilica^® IP (TIP) with Design IP …

Right form the start Specman has been very good at generating constrained random stimulus. Value generation guided by constraints is achieved with an algorithm within Specman that is at the very core of the tool. And solving constraints is one of the most outstanding features of Specman itself.

In the early days of Specman, the constraint solver (called PGen) had been continuously augmented and improved over time. However…

In this week's Whiteboard Wednesdays video, Tom Hackett discusses the VIP Catalog solution for SoC Interconnect Verification. Two products are provided: the Interconnect Validator, which monitors fabric behavior, and the Interconnect Workbench for performance analysis. The combined solution delivers functional verification along with latency and bandwidth analysis to fine-tune interconnect performance. 

http://youtu…

An updated version of the UMV-ML Open Architecture library is now available on the Accellera uploads page (you need to login in order to download any of the contributions).

The main updates of version 1.4 are:

• UVM-SV library upgrade: This release includes UVM-1.1d, enabled for work in context of UVM-ML, replacing the previous UVM-1.1c version
• Portable UVM-SC adapter added: Enabling usage of UVM-ML with vendor-specific…

Key Findings:  There are a host of issues that arise in mixed-signal verification.  As discussed in earlier blogs, the industry trends indicate that teams need to prepare themselves for a more mixed world.  The good news is that these top five pitfalls are all avoidable.

It’s always interesting to study the human condition.  Watching the world through the lens of mixed-signal verification brings an interesting microcosm…

In this week's Whiteboard Wednesdays video, Bob Salem discusses the advantages of embedding a LTE and Advanced LTE analog block on the SoC to support many of the mobile applications in the market today.

http://youtu.be/SGgfOr8gtfw

The ‘dual_sided_component’ property in the Allegro PCB Editor 16.6 release can be leveraged to support vertical component applications. Apply the property ‘dual_sided_component’ to the symbol definition. Assuming a two-pin component, you will map pin 1 and pin 2 to unique padstacks, each with a ‘Begin’ or ‘End’ layer pad defined. The base layer is established using the Embedded Layer Setup form. The alternate…

Two great documents, aiming to make life easier for a verification engineer, were published in the past year. Written by Cadence support specialists with years of experience in problem solving, these documents go over all the aspects in the Specman-Simulator Interfaces domain, present what kind of problems the engineer might get, how to identify them, and how to analyze the problems all the way to possible solutions.