Mentor Blogs

I recently posted about using Virtual Prototypes pre-silicon with the recently introduced Sourcery CodeBench Virtual Edition and mentioned that the same native software development approach can be used when RTL is available on emulators.  This enables embedded software and hardware designers to exercise a HW design using actual SW, and a full stack which includes firmware, drivers, the operating system … Read More

virtual prototype, emulator, pre-silicon, Emulation, Veloce, virtual edition, RTL

This is the first in a series of blogs that presents the results from the 2012 Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study. Study Overview In 2002 and 2004, Ron Collett International, Inc. conducted its well known ASIC/IC functional verification studies, which provided invaluable insight into the state of the electronic industry and its trends in design and verification. However, after the … Read More

UVM, Assertion-Based Verification, Formal Verification, Accellera, Verification Academy, Verification Methodology, functional coverage, Verilog, Functional Verification, VHDL

Mentor very recently introduced  a product that brings together the so far separate worlds of EDA or SoC design from embedded software with the new Sourcery CodeBench Virtual Edition. There is now a way pre-silicon to make use of native software development, for example running a complete Linux stack. This enables a number of things pre-silicon including: Validation of HW/SW SoC interfaces Integration … Read More

pre-silicon, Sourcery Analyzer, Emulation, virtual prototype, Vista, virtual edition

This week I am at Design WEST in San Jose, California. This is an annual pilgrimage for me – even though I still think of it as being the Embedded Systems Conference. This year I am participating in the conference in two events: First, I have a class titled “How to Measure RTOS Performance“, which takes place on Thursday at 09:15. If you would like a copy of the slides, please email … Read More

During the Mentor Graphics Integrated Electrical Solutions Forum (IESF) 2013 last month, Teal Group Vice President of Analysis Richard Aboulafia delivered both good and bad nws related to current and future aerospace market trends. The commercial passenger jet airliners (or jetliners) to watch are the Airbus A320neo and the Boeing 737 MAX. “This is a well-run duopoly brought to you by Airbus and Boing,” … Read More

Military, Milaero, Mentor, aerospace market, Mentor Graphics, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Aerospace, china, Geek, IESF, CS300, Integrated Electrical Solutions Forum, Bombardier, Japan, C-Series, Electronic, electrical, Engineer, Richard Aboulafia, Richard L. Aboulafia, Russia

In the royal family of thermal IC package modelling types, a detailed model is King. All critical 3D geometry is modelled explicitly, no abstraction into a thermal resistor equivalent model, no hiding all the proprietary design information inside either. Pros and cons of detailed models I covered a few years ago in this blog. Packaged ICs are complex, constructed of many parts, with many different material … Read More

Electronics Cooling, calibration, Package Model, T3ster

In my 10+ years of embedded Linux work I’ve worked with a lot of Linux trace technologies including the Linux Trace Toolkit (LTTng), System Tap, and even the not so well know and the unlikely to be mainline dtrace for Linux port. These are all very powerful tools that can expose many of the internal details of a Linux system and, depending how you use each tool, create huge volumes of data along … Read More

Linux, Sourcery Analyzer, CAN/LIN

Nucleus, our flagship RTOS offering has been around for several years now. In this time, it has been designed into more than 3 billion embedded devices in various applications such as mobile, medical, consumer electronics, industrial and more! The phrase “been there done that” could not be more appropriate to Nucleus. Regardless, when it came time to design yet another cool demo, our engineers were … Read More

industrial, Nucleus, DESIGN West, RTOS, Zigbee

NASA, for the second consecutive year, is actively seeking proposals for suborbital technology payloads and spacecraft capability enhancements capable of potentially revolutionizing future space missions. NASA will help test selected technologies before they are used for their intended purpose and environment—being launched into and functioning in the dark, cold reaches of outer space. After the selected … Read More

NASA's Langley Research Center, NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, Mil-Aero, Computer, Milaero, Military, nasa, Aerospace, electrical, Hardware, Mentor, Electronic, Mentor Graphics, Design Automation, Mentor.com, Electric, Game Changing Development Program, Engineer, Geek, NICER/SEXTANT, Small Spacecraft Technology Program, Stephen Gaddis

Hi there Many of our customers have seen an increase in the number of products that need to be grouped together to enable them to run with a single SMT setup to reduce the time taken for change-over from one product to another. The challenge is knowing which products can be incorporated in to a single group given the unique part numbers on each product and the feeder capacity of each machine in the … Read More

Planning, process, vPlan, bill of materials, Enhancement, programming, grouping, BOM, Sequence

As a tier one supplier focused on telematics and infotainment, Sprint Velocity is tasked with recruiting mobile app developers and integrating apps into cars. “Automakers have gone from semi-closed gardens to recruiting the best and brightest to write automotive-appropriate apps,” says Tim Johnson, Sprint Velocity global business development manager. “It’s the natural evolution of what’s going on … Read More

Automotive, mobile app, automaker, Sprint Velocity

Aerospace engineers and executives will be happy to hear that, for the second year, NASA plans to assist makers of space-related technologies, such as advanced payloads and spacecraft systems. This month, NASA announced that it is soliciting proposals from aerospace technology companies from far and wide. NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program is sponsoring the solicitation for proposals, which … Read More

nasa, Military, Mentor Graphics, Computer, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Milaero, Aerospace, electrical, Geek, Hardware, Electronic, James Reuther, Design Automation, Mentor, Electric, Flight Opportunities Program, Engineer, Game Changing Opportunities in Technology Development, suborbital

Next week in Barcelona over 400 Automotive industry experts are expected at the latest GENIVI All-Members meeting. Over 5 days, more than 100 separate meetings are scheduled, covering a wide range of topics relating to In-Vehicle Infotainment platforms. An on-going challenge with the GENIVI project is to build in sufficient flexibility that the platform can be used by a wide range of Tier One and OEM … Read More

Infotainment, Android, Infotainment Android Linux, GENIVI, Genivi Alliance, Linux, Automotive

In the early days of embedded systems, software engineers typically had some understanding of hardware design. Indeed, in many cases, it was the hardware designer who implemented the software. Over the years, as the amount of software development has increased, engineers have become less and less “hardware aware”. I find this transition interesting from the viewpoint of an embedded software … Read More

Verilog, RTOS, VHDL, FPGA, MicroBlaze, NIOS, Nucleus

Have you ever wanted to, or had the requirement to print a color image of a Decal?  This can be done directly in the Decal Editor.  In this PADS Tip and Trick, Bill Tkachuk from CSD explains how:  1. Load a decal into the Decal Editor and zoom to extents 2. Define the visible colors you want printed 3. Open the Output Window by going to View > Output Window 4. Select the Macro tab within the … Read More

Decal