Solving the System-Level Design Riddle

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Before We Start

Moderator Presenter

Aimee Kalnoskas Design World/EE

Randy Smith Sonics Inc.

Solving the System-Level Design Riddle

December 2014

What is the System Design Riddle?

How do I complete my design on-

time?

On-budget?

With no errors?

Sooner

With higher performance

In less area

Sooner? Sorry, I meant early…

…maybe you can drop a feature?

Then marketing says they need it…

What’s wrong? Waterfall Methodologies

•  Sequential operations o  Little parallelism

•  Changes in one phase may result in a reset of all downstream steps

•  While design reuse (and use of purchased IP) is allowed, it cannot be fully exploited

•  If one feature is causing a delay, it may be impossible to move forward with the rest of the design until it is resolved

•  In general, the focus is on the process, rather than the desired outcome

It’s easy to see the problems with the waterfall method. It assumes that every requirement can be identified

before any design or coding occurs.

Specification

Prototype

Design

Simulation Verification Emulation

Physical Design

Software

Reasons for Changing IC Methodology

Desired new attributes •  Ability to make reasonable progress with

an incomplete specification •  To better solve modern design challenges:

o  Time-to-market o  Power o  Security

•  Ability to easily ship “on-time”/early with a reduced feature set

•  Improved relationship between architectural, logical, physical, and software design

Some drivers for change •  Consumer products

o  Short release cycle o  Low power, but still always on o  Security o  Design costs

•  IoT o  Starting design without a complete spec

•  Makimoto’s wave shifts emphasis from standardization to customization

•  System companies are in best position to assume product risk

Why is Sonics leading this?

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Why is Sonics leading this?

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SoC Architects Drive Both SW & HW

•  Large (and growing) teams dependent upon architecture

•  SoC architect responsible for many views of architecture o  Normally disparate

•  Increasing complexity of SW and HW results in increased costs and delays

HW

SW Development of HW-independent SW

Dev. of HW-dependent SW and system architecture exploration

Performance analysis architecture validation and

RTL verification and implementation

Worth considering: Agile SW Development

•  The Agile Manifesto was written in February of 2001, at a summit of seventeen independent-minded practitioners of several programming methodologies. The participants didn't agree about much, but they found consensus around four main values: o  Individuals and interactions over processes and tools o  Working software over

comprehensive documentation o  Customer collaboration over

contract negotiation o  Responding to change over

following a plan

Requirements

Architecture & Design

Development

Test & Feedback

“The Agile movement proposes alternatives to traditional project management. Agile approaches are typically used in software development to help businesses respond to unpredictability.”

HW and IC Design Teams Must Evolve

Yesterday Tomorrow

Component-Level Aggregation System-Level Architecture

One-time Usage Platform Reuse

Hierarchical Requirements and Stepwise Design Management

Concurrent Engineering and Agile IC Methodology

Dedicated Resources Shared Resources

What an Agile IC Methodology Might Look Like

Specification

Prototype

Design

Simulation Verification Emulation

Physical Design

Waterfall Time

What an Agile IC Methodology Might Look Like

Specification

Prototype

Design

Simulation Verification Emulation

Physical Design

Agile IC Methodology

Time

Change the slope! The more vertical the

better!

•  Sonics’ on-chip networks help leading SoC designers solve some of the most difficult challenges in SoC design

•  Sonics System IP: On-chip Networks, Memory Subsystem, Power Partitioning & Management, Performance Monitor & Debug, Security Firewalls

How Sonics helps

Development costs

IP Integration

High Frequency

Memory Throughput

Physical Design

Power Management

Security

Time-to-market

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Sonics – The NoC Leader for 18 Years

•  Sonics enables designers to integrate any IP from anywhere, anytime o  Easy IP re-use o  Connecting third party IP/subsystems

•  Total System IP approach: o  Intelligent memory scheduling o  Optimal power-aware designs o  Data flow services: QoS, Security firewalls o  Software drivers

•  Commanding presence in digital entertainment, mobile and wireless o  200+ SoC tape-outs

•  Results: 2.5B+ units shipped o  138+ patent properties o  Improved TTM and quality

Does Sonics Solve the Riddle?

•  No, not entirely o  Using Sonics and other high-quality IP will aid greatly o  But there are limitations that good IP alone doesn’t

solve •  Your design methodology is probably wrong,

though it may be the best you can do today

Short term actions How you can help •  Join the LinkedIn group •  Participate in the

conversation •  Invite others to get involved

too

Sonics’ Plan •  Get the discussion started •  Create the communications

links •  Gather the interested parties

Step 1: Join the “Agile IC Methodology” group on LinkedIn Step 2: Join the conversation – participate!

Agile IC Methodology Progress

•  Group went live on October 1, 2014… o  +280 members joined o  +50 different companies represented in the group o  20 discussions threads

•  Don’t miss out! Join Agile IC Methodology group today!

Questions? Aimee Kalnoskas Design World/EE akalnoskas@wtwhmedia.com

Randy Smith Sonics Inc randy@sonicsinc.com

Thank You q  This webinar will be available at

designworldonline.com & email

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