Article Roundup: Carmakers Creating Custom Chips, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Using Smaller IC Layouts to Accelerate Design & Verification, Storing Pointers in Unsigned Integers & Open Source Processors

1. In Automotive, A Move From Microcontrollers To Massively Complex SoCs
2. Revolution on the Factory Floor
3. Speed up design and verification with a smaller layout
4. Using an unsigned integer to store a pointer in C
5. Open Source Processors: Fact Or Fiction?

In Automotive, A Move From Microcontrollers To Massively Complex SoCs
SemiEngineering

Automated vehicles demand custom SoC designs to process immense amounts of data in real-time. In response, carmakers are designing their own chips to maintain control over these critical vehicle components. This article presents excerpts from a conversation between Mentor’s David Fritz and Carl Anthony from AutoSens on the verification and validation requirements for these advanced chips.

Revolution on the Factory Floor
Forbes

The fourth industrial revolution will be spurred by continuing advancements in artificial intelligence, computing speed, and connectivity to the cloud and the internet. Companies are changing the ways in which they operate to capitalize on these new technologies. This article explores how a Siemens factory is already implementing Industry 4.0 to maximize productivity and enable new business models.

Speed up design and verification with a smaller layout
Tech Design Forum

Integrated circuit layouts have become massive, making it very difficult to even view the full-chip layout. Engineers often save a portion of the full-chip as a separate layout to try and make this easier, but this can remove important contextual information, or include too much for the task at hand. Fortunately, EDA tools enable engineers to save a particular region of a layout that includes only what the engineer specifies. This results in smaller layouts that are more portable and easier to simulate, debug, and share.

Using an unsigned integer to store a pointer in C
EDA Café

Is it ok to store the value of a pointer in a standard variable, such as an unsigned integer? Colin Walls discusses the difference between pointers and addresses, and the effect this difference has on their usage.

Open Source Processors: Fact Or Fiction?
SemiEngineering

Early success of the RISC-V open ISA has contributed to excitement around open source processors more generally, but misinformation abounds. While open source ISAs and processor implementations are not entirely new phenomenon, a shift in the semiconductor industry towards customization may spur continued success for RISC-V. This article discusses the promise around open-source processors and ISAs, as well as the hurdles that may get in the way.