Open Source Hardware/Software

Michiel Ligthart | President and COO | Verific Design Automation Conventional career advice favors “playing to your strength,” guidance executives at Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Tesla may have missed. Instead, they are charging ahead in the chip development business, a new market segment for all of them. What may seem foolhardy to some industry watchers could be a stroke of genius as their development groups design higher performing, power-efficient computer chips for their specific networking, cloud, automotive and other applications. To do so, they are hiring experienced, seasoned designers who know the ropes. Whether intentional or not, they Read More

Written by Teddy Kyung Lee | CSO | ICTK Holdings 1. Introduction  Recently the world-first product of PUF-USIM card is commercially debuted by the telecom giant, LG Uplus from Korea, and the security solution company, ICTK Holdings [1] (Figure 1). The PUF-USIM is the perfect combination of two technologies between user-friendly USIM functions and the strong security features added by the Via PUF (Physical Unclonable Function) technology, resulting in the birth of a “robust PUF secure element”.   Figure 1. The world first PUF-USIM card  Telecom companies seem to be expanding their businesses beyond the traditional communication area and strategically advancing to the “Metaverse” platform business. The metaverse refers to Read More

Written by Manouchehr Rafie, Ph.D.  | CEO | Gryfalcon Large numbers of sensors, massive amounts of data, ever-increasing computing power, real-time operation and security concerns required for autonomous vehicles are driving the core of computation from the cloud to the edge of the network. Autonomous vehicles are constantly sensing and sending data on road conditions, location and the surrounding vehicles. Self-driving cars generate roughly 1 GB of data per second - it is impractical to send even a fraction of the terabytes of data for analysis to a centralized server because of the processing bandwidth and latency.  Due to the high volume of data Read More

Jean-Marie Brunet | Senior Director of Marketing, Product Management and Product Engineering | Siemens EDA A Systematic Approach to Verification and Validation Using Hardware-Assisted Verification Success in the semiconductor industry today is defined by software performance. Meeting hardware (IC) specs is now only one of four mandatory criteria to meet the success metrics. Achieving performance and power targets; processing workloads, frameworks and benchmarks; and verifying system-on-chip (SoC) functionality within the overall system context are the others. Achieving success means that the complex SoC structure needs thorough verification at every stage of the design and verification process at a reasonable cost-per-verification cycle. Read More

Written by Lucio Lanza | Managing Partner | Lanza techVentures Many industry pundits contend the Internet of Things (IoT) has all the makings of becoming the next driver of semiconductor industry growth fueled by trillions (yes, trillions!) of smart, connected sensors. These sensors will be able to analyze data at the point of collection, moving artificial intelligence (AI) from the cloud to the edge, also known as the periphery. This is a grand vision but difficult to achieve given the shortage of experienced engineers. It may become a reality by the open-source movement, however. Through this lens, it’s possible to Read More

Executive Interview with Ravi Subramanian, SVP & GM of the IC Verification Solutions, Siemens EDA In this interview with Ravi Subramanian, he identifies the latest semiconductor trends, as well as what’s driving those trends, how they are affecting chip design and functional verification and why he is bullish on hardware-assisted verification. I want to start with a not necessarily well-known fact. A report from IDC published last year pointed to significant changes in semiconductor industry profits. Over the past few years, profits have been migrating from software to silicon and technology hardware. The chart underscores the phenomena that over Read More

Convergence of Edge Computing, Machine Vision and 5G-Connected Vehicles Manouchehr Rafie, Ph.D., VP of Advanced Technologies, AI Chips & Algorithms, Gyrfalcon Technology Today’s societies are becoming ever more multimedia-centric, data-dependent, and automated. Autonomous systems are hitting our roads, oceans, and air space. Automation, analysis, and intelligence is moving beyond humans to “machine-specific” applications. Computer vision and video for machines will play a significant role in our future digital world. Millions of smart sensors will be embedded into cars, smart cities, smart homes, and warehouses using artificial intelligence. In addition, 5G technology will be the data highways in a fully connected Read More

Paper Submitted by Ted Miracco, CEO, Cylynt COVID-19 has created plenty of global havoc including anti-piracy challenges for professionals working from home. One underreported development is the uptick in software piracy that could range from 20% to 30% since the work-from-home (WFH) orders went into effect. While this trend may seem far removed from hardware design and the semiconductor industry ecosystem, it’s not. Software piracy is insidious even here as clever hackers crack the strongest online fortresses, the weakest and everything in between to steal software companies’ IP. Sure, software piracy is nothing new –– it started soon after the Read More