Mentor Blogs

The Bugatti Veyron occupies a unique spot among dealer showroom trophy cars: the fastest production automobile in the world. With a top speed of 254 miles per hour (406 kilometers per hour), the Veyron sits atop the supercar heap, chewing up asphalt at a brisk pace just under 4.3 miles per minute (over 6.7 kilometers per minute). If a Veyron graced my humble two-car garage, I could theoretically travel … Read More

IEEE 1076.1, physics

Once in awhile I work with customers who want to move VHDL-AMS models between multiple simulators. The ability to do so is one of the great promises of standard modeling languages and, at face value, should be an easy task. After all, if a language is an industry standard, and multiple simulation tools claim to support it, then moving models between tools should be a plug-and-play process, right? Well, … Read More

Modeling, IEEE 1076.1

One of the most important things I’ve learned during my 20+ years working with simulation tools is simply this: my simulation results will only be as good as my models. While not a revolutionary concept, it’s none the less a fact of system simulation that anyone using a simulator in their design process knows. But there is an equally important companion principle: my model will only give me the … Read More

Mixed-Signal, IEEE 1076.1, Modeling

In Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this post series I used an incandescent lamp example to introduce a few of the non-electrical points to ponder when designing a system. I introduced a simple automotive emergency flasher system that included simulation models for a lamp, wire, fuse, switch, and battery. To parameterize my system model, I did a little research based on a Jeep Cherokee repair manual from … Read More

IEEE 1076.1

Last week I wrote about  moving beyond electrical modeling to get more information about system behavior. To illustrate some of the basics, we looked at a portion of an incandescent lamp model which showed declarations for some of the lamp’s thermal properties. At the end of the post, I promised to illustrate some of the discussion with an example of an automotive emergency flasher system. Before diving … Read More

IEEE 1076.1, thermal modeling

Using simulation, engineers can analyze a system’s performance prior to building and testing a hardware prototype. Doing more simulation at the front end of the design process reduces prototype and test costs at the back end. Simulating an electrical design, for example, means tracking voltages across, and currents through, system components – just like testing a hardware prototype. But improving system … Read More

IEEE 1076.1, Mixed-Signal

I could quickly answer the question posed in this post’s title with four words: Analog and Mixed-Signal. But as with most concepts worth understanding, especially in the engineering world, you need to dig a little deeper to understand some of the finer details, and maybe the larger significance. First, a quick history lesson. IEEE Standard 1076 defined a standard language for logic modeling, which … Read More

IEEE 1076.1, Mechatronic, ieee 1076, Mixed-Signal

New features get most of the publicity in a new software release…and well they should. Application software is a competitive business, and feature differentiation is often the only metric new customers use to select one program over another. And new features help software companies build increased loyalty among existing users. I imagine it’s no surprise to anyone that keeping an existing customer is … Read More

IEEE 1076.1, Mechatronic, ieee 1076, physics

I remember my early days in the EDA industry. SPICE was little more than a teenager (I suppose this dates me a bit). I had recently finished a 5-year stint working for the United States Air Force and had just joined a young company as an Applications Engineer to help promote the features and benefits of system design using Hardware Description Languages (HDLs). Though HDL use for semiconductor design … Read More

SPICE, HDL, IEEE 1076.1, Multi-Level Design, Mechatronic, Mixed-Signal