Category Archives: Featured News

Renesas Introduces RA2A2 MCUs

TOKYO, Japan, Mar 25, 2023 – Renesas Electronics Corp., a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, introduced the RA2A2 microcontroller (MCU) Group based on the Arm Cortex-M23 processor. The new, low-power devices offer a 24-bit Sigma-Delta analog-to-digital converter (SDADC), and an innovative dual-bank code flash and bank swap function that make it easy to implement firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates for smart energy management, building automation, medical devices, consumer electronics and other IoT applications that can benefit from firmware updates.

The RA2A2 devices offer multiple power structures and voltage detection hardware to realize energy-efficient, ultra-low power operation as low as 100 µA/MHz in active mode and 0.40µA in software standby mode. An independent power supply real-time clock extends battery life for applications requiring long lifetime management in extreme conditions. The new MCUs also offer AES hardware acceleration, a high-precision (±1.0%), high-speed on-chip oscillator, a temperature sensor, and a wide operating voltage range from 1.6V to 5.5V.

Feature Set Optimized for Smart Energy Management

RA2A2 MCUs contribute to the digitalization of conventional systems with key features including high-level analog sensing, FOTA support, 8KHz/4KHz hybrid sampling, and AES hardware accelerator functions. When the end-systems are digitalized, it is possible to analyze individual systems status seamlessly for further energy-efficient, streamlining system operation. For example, next generation smart electricity meters with Non-Intrusive Load Management (NILM) technology enable energy consumption monitoring based on detailed analysis of the current and voltage of the total load. The adoption of smart meters with NILM is the most cost-effective and scalable solution for increasing energy efficiency and lowering energy consumption.

“Renesas has worked closely with our customers to understand their requirements for next-generation systems that can support critical energy conservation goals,” said Akihiro Kuroda, vice president of the Embedded Processing 2nd Division at Renesas. “The RA2A2 Group MCUs are the result of that collaboration coupled with our world-leading technical expertise. We are proud to provide this solution that will enable significant energy savings in a wide array of systems.”

Key Features of the RA2A2 Group MCUs

  • Core: 48MHz Arm Cortex-M23
  • Memory: 512KB integrated, dual-bank Flash memory and 48KB SRAM
  • Analog Peripherals: 24-bit Sigma Delta ADC with digital filter, 12-bit ADC, and temperature sensor.
  • Packages: 100-, 80- and 64-pin LFQFP

The new RA2A2 Group MCUs are supported by Renesas’ Flexible Software Package (FSP). The FSP enables faster application development by providing all the infrastructure software needed, including multiple RTOS, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking, and security stacks as well as reference software to build complex AI, motor control and cloud solutions. It allows customers to integrate their own legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, thus providing full flexibility in application development. Using the FSP will ease migration of RA2A2 designs to larger RA devices if customers wish to do so.

Winning Combinations

Renesas has combined the new RA2A2 Group MCUs with numerous compatible devices from its portfolio to offer a wide array of Winning Combinations, including the 3-Phase Smart Electric Meter. Winning Combinations are technically vetted system architectures from mutually compatible devices that work together seamlessly to bring an optimized, low-risk design for faster time to market. Renesas offers more than 400 Winning Combinations with a wide range of products from the Renesas portfolio to enable customers to speed up the design process and bring their products to market more quickly. They can be found at renesas.com/win.

Availability

The RA2A2 Group MCUs are available now, along with the FSP software and the RA2A2 Evaluation Kit. Samples and kits can be ordered either on the Renesas website or through distributors. More information on the new MCUs is available at renesas.com/RA2A2.

Renesas MCU Leadership

The world leader in MCUs, Renesas ships more than 3.5 billion units per year, with approximately 50% of shipments serving the automotive industry, and the remainder supporting industrial and Internet of Things applications as well as data center and communications infrastructure. Renesas has the broadest portfolio of 8-, 16- and 32-bit devices, delivering unmatched quality and efficiency with exceptional performance. As a trusted supplier, Renesas has decades of experience designing smart, secure MCUs, backed by a dual-source production model, the industry’s most advanced MCU process technology and a vast network of more than 250 ecosystem partners. For more information about Renesas MCUs, visit renesas.com/MCUs.

About Renesas Electronics Corp.

Renesas Electronics Corp. empowers a safer, smarter and more sustainable future where technology helps make our lives easier. The leading global provider of microcontrollers, Renesas combines their expertise in embedded processing, analog, power and connectivity to deliver complete semiconductor solutions. These Winning Combinations accelerate time to market for automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT applications, enabling billions of connected, intelligent devices that enhance the way people work and live.

Learn more at renesas.com.

Foundry Launches Modo 17.0

LONDON, UK, Mar 25, 2024 – Foundry releases Modo 17.0, a significant update to its 3D software that overhauls internal systems to provide notable performance increases. These enhancements help artists by providing the interactivity necessary for modern asset creation workflows, with an additional focus on quality of life features in multiple areas. Foundry has also bundled OTOY’s Prime version of OctaneRender — which gives artists a speed increase of up to 50x over traditional CPU renderers, straight out of the box.

“There’s so much demand and expectation for top-quality 3D graphics,” says Greg Brown, product manager at Foundry. “With 3D asset creation becoming widely adopted, performance is paramount for the future of DCC apps. Modo 17.0 sets a foundation for increased performance now, plus further enhancements well into Modo’s future. Additionally, bundling the Prime version of the amazingly powerful OctaneRender from OTOY with Modo 17.0 will speed up the entire experience, from modeling to final render, reducing performance barriers for artists.”

Finish any project faster

Whether it’s for the latest product design or an animated character for film or game cinematics, artists need increased performance. Modo 17.0 provides a much more performant and interactive experience, while also establishing a new technological foundation for further performance enhancements. Artists working on Apple Silicon machines will also see an additional speed increase of 50% on average, thanks to Modo’s new native macOS ARM build.

This is the beginning of the new Modo

The improvements that have been made to Modo can be summed up by one goal —  to build the future of 3D asset creation. With overhauled core systems and granular performance updates to individual tools, Modo is poised to re-envision 3D workflow in exciting ways. The Modo community can expect a return to more frequent releases for Modo in 2024  — that build on the foundation of 17.0 to further accelerate more aspects of Modo. Foundry is making a 3D application that is tailored to enhance the capabilities of experts, and make those capabilities easier for novices to leverage.

Better tools for any job

Foundry has enhanced several capabilities of Modo’s powerful modeling tools, including:

  • Decal workflow – It’s now faster and easier to use decals and wrap flat images onto complex surfaces with minimal distortion and no UV creation.
  • Primitive Slice – You can now clone multiple slices of the same shape at once, making it easier to produce complex patterns. A new Corner Radius feature rounds corners on rectangles and squares, so you can make quick adjustments without switching between presets.
  • Mesh Cleanup – Foundry has added the ability to automatically fix broken geometry and gaps with this tool, so you can stay productive and avoid interrupting your creative flow.
  • Radial Align – Radial Align turns a selection into a flat circle, however, artists frequently need a partial radius and not a complete circle for things like arches. Modo 17.0 ships with the ability to create a partial radial alignment.
  • PolyHaul – PolyHaul combines many of the most used modeling tools into one streamlined tool. This means artists can spend less time jumping between separate tools, helping them to stay in the flow-state that Modo excels at.

“Modo continues to provide an unmatched modeling toolset and is key to the success of our 3D pipeline,” says William Vaughan, director of 3D Visualization, New Balance. “We’re excited about Modo 17.0’s enhancements, especially the speed increase seen in tools like Edge Slice, Polygon Extrude, and Loop Slice, which we use daily.”

Jules Urbach, founder and CEO of OTOY, says: “We are thrilled to bundle OctaneRender with Modo 17.0, bringing instant access to the industry’s first and fastest unbiased GPU render engine. Our mission is to democratize high end 3D content creation, enabling anyone with a modern GPU to create stunning motion graphics and visual effects at fractions of the cost and time of CPU architectures. We are excited to see how Modo artists integrate OctaneRender’s GPU accelerated rendering platform into their creative process, including the ability to scale large rendering jobs across near unlimited decentralized GPU nodes on the Render Network.”

To see a full list of new features and improvements, visit Modo 17.0’s what’s new.

About OTOY Inc.

OTOY Inc. is the definitive cloud graphics company, pioneering technology that is redefining content creation and delivery for media and entertainment organizations around the world. OTOY’s Academy Award-winning technology is used by leading visual effects studios, artists, animators, designers, architects, and engineers, providing unprecedented creative freedom, new levels of realism, and new economics in content creation and distribution powered by the cloud.

For more information, visit www.otoy.com.

About Foundry

Foundry has a 25-year heritage developing creative software for the Media and Entertainment industry and a portfolio of award-winning products. It advances the art and technology of visual experience with creative leaders around the globe, including major feature film studios and post-production houses such as ILM, DNEG, Pitch Black, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Wētā FX, Pixar, Marvel, Netflix, Framestore and Technicolor Creative Studios.

Founded in 1996, Foundry is headquartered in London, with over 300 people worldwide and a presence in the US, Canada, China, Japan, Australia and Ireland.

For more information, visit www.foundry.com.

TextileGenesis Launches Traceability Platform v2.0

for Fashion Industry

PARIS, France, Mar 22, 2024 – TextileGenesis, a Lectra Group company, announces the availability of version 2.0 of its SaaS platform providing the fashion ecosystem with totally reliable, secure and digitized traceability of all materials and garments. This new version offers innovative new features from risk management, traceability engine based on more than 300 real-world supply transformation steps, to unified platform with real time integration with more than 90% of major material certification standards.

To support the industry comply with increasingly stringent global transparency regulations and enhance the overall user experience for fashion brands and textile suppliers, TextileGenesis has introduced the following new features:

  • A risk and compliance management module that automatically tracks and flags the global supply chain risks from publicly available databases (such as the UFLPA entity watch list). The system captures and flags the risks across the entire value chain from tiers 1 to 4.
  • The traceability engine ensures that every transaction in the system reflects the real-world complexity with close to 300 supply chain transformation steps.
  • Consolidation of all major material certification schemes on a single unified platform that allows third-party verification through certification bodies. The third-party sustainability certification schemes and independent verification are a key requirement for the newly enacted European law banning greenwashing to ensure that product sustainability claims are authentic and verifiable.
  • Material-origin verification (for tier 4 and tier 5 suppliers) for all material value chains from recycled polyester, organic cotton, man-made cellulosic to responsible animal fibers.
  • The new version offers standardized and automated data exchange with fashion brands and textile suppliers through API and SFTP protocol.

Overall, the platform users have a significantly enhanced user dashboard, intuitive interface, and additional data integrity checks to ensure a highly robust, reliable and scalable traceability platform. Currently, more than 8,000 supply chain roles from more than 70 countries are using the platform to enable their supply chains to become more traceable, for more than 800 million units.

About TextileGenesis

Founded in 2018, TextileGenesis, a Lectra company, provides a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that enables fashion brands and sustainable textile manufacturers to ensure a reliable, secure and fully digital mapping of their textiles, from the fiber to the consumer, and thereby guarantee their authenticity and origins.

Its innovative traceability mechanism, which addresses both ends of the textile value chain, as well as its network of partners for material certification, and its technology platform guarantee the exchange and tracking of reliable and secure data throughout a material’s life cycle.

About Lectra

A major player in the fashion, automotive and furniture markets, Lectra contributes to the development of Industry 4.0 with boldness and passion, fully integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into its global strategy.

The Group offers industrial intelligence solutions – software, cutting equipment, data analysis solutions and associated services – that facilitate the digital transformation of the companies it serves. In doing so, Lectra helps its customers push boundaries and unlock their potential. The Group is proud to state that its 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators.

Founded in 1973, Lectra reported revenues of 478 million euros in 2023. The company is listed on Euronext, where it is included in the following indices: SBF 120, CAC Mid 60, CAC Mid&Small, CAC All Shares, CAC All-Tradable, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150.

For more information, visit lectra.com.

Fluent Metal Launches with $5.5M Funding

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Mar 22, 2024 – Fluent Metal is developing production-grade liquid metal printing to remove barriers to entry into metal additive manufacturing, while allowing for unmatched scalability and process tunability. The company is launching out of stealth with an additional $3.2M in venture capital funding, led by E15 with participation from Pillar VC and industry angels, bringing the total funding to $5.5M. Fluent Metal’s drop-on-demand approach is compatible with most metals, including refractories, and enables the creation of parts in a single-step process, minimizing variability. It is energy efficient: using less starting material and producing no waste–making it far more sustainable than current powder-based metal 3D printers.

Fluent Metal’s mission is to revolutionize metal additive manufacturing by offering cost-effective and reliable metal 3D printing technology, fostering innovation across industries.

“Drop-on-demand technology is an elegant approach to create complex metal components,” said Peter Schmitt, CEO. “Whether it’s prototype iterations of an idea or production runs of a single part, Fluent Metal will provide customers with great operational and material flexibility. This freedom will unlock new creativity and problem solving abilities across industries.”

Existing metal additive manufacturing technology has come to accept the extensive industrial scale overhead required to operate this equipment safely. Fluent Metal is developing an alternative lean overhead process, to make it more sustainable, operational efficient and functional, using an inkjet printer-like approach.

Fluent Metal’s drop-on-demand approach is:

  • Functional: Using wire as the starting material and producing no waste, Fluent Metal enables true multi-metal printing. It’s possible for even high-value metals to be intricately combined; creating properties never before possible. Complex shapes such as fully enclosed voids and internal channels are possible due to the inkjet-like printhead and parallel throughput.
  • Operationally efficient: Fluent Metal’s approach is designed to operate safely on a typical manufacturing floor or even in a prototyping shop, without the need for clean rooms or expensive safety measures. Additionally, material changeover is designed to be easy as plug-n-play, reducing setup efforts and allowing for higher machine uptimes.
  • Sustainable: This approach produces no waste and uses less energy than powder-based technologies.

“As the manufacturing industry evolves in response to the changing needs of global supply chains and sustainability demands, we need novel approaches to drive creativity and expand our collective conception about what’s possible,” said Philip Liang, managing partner, E15. “In the near term, Fluent Metal will spark the imagination of designers, engineers, and technologists to consider how rapid, on-demand production of custom metal parts could transform their capabilities. At scale, this approach will revolutionize the entire footprint and direction of industrial manufacturing.”

Fluent Metal is led by industry veterans from Desktop Metal, Vulcan Forms, and the MIT Media Lab. Visit www.fluentmetal.com to learn more about contract manufacturing and be the first to know about expanded product offerings.

Trimble Catalyst Integrates with Radiodetection’s RD Map+

Precision Locators

WESTMINSTER, CO, Mar 22, 2024 – Trimble and Radiodetection announced a collaboration to improve the technology used in the utility measurement and mapping process. Through the integration of the Trimble Catalyst DA2 GNSS system and Radiodetection’s RD Map+ application and precision locator products, the software and hardware integration streamlines utility-locating workflows to provide high-accuracy measurement capabilities for the creation of underground utilities maps in a single field operation.

Simplified Utility Mapping with Survey-Grade Accuracy

Traditionally, field technicians manually mark their measurements onsite or rely on data entries to provide to office staff for map creation after a site visit. Data collected with the Trimble Catalyst DA2 GNSS system can now be simultaneously synced with Radiodetection RD Map+ and precision locators that find and mark buried utilities. By streamlining this connection, workers can efficiently and accurately digitize utility-line locations and reduce costly reporting errors.

“Accurate geolocation is critical to the operation and maintenance of underground utilities and public infrastructure,” said Stephanie Michaud, strategic marketing manager, Trimble Surveying & Mapping Field Solutions. “By adding survey-grade capabilities to existing utility workflows, this collaboration creates a connected solution that provides confidence and reliability during the data capture process.”

This integration advances utility measurement workflows by giving workers the capability to accurately represent the utility asset in a digital format. This streamlines the operation, maintenance and construction process whenever utilities are involved.

“We are excited to bring to the market this solution alongside Trimble as part of the Radiodetection ‘Map It Your Way’ initiative,” said Tom Turner, product management and marketing director, Radiodetection. “The Map It Your Way initiative is launching a range of solutions combining our latest digitally-enabled hardware with mobile applications to allow customers to accurately map underground utilities.”

Availability

Trimble Catalyst DA2 GNSS solutions are available through Trimble Geospatial Distribution Partners. For more information, visit https://geospatial.trimble.com/en/products/software/trimble-catalyst.

Trimble Catalyst GNSS solutions are also available through the Radiodetection Distributor Network alongside Radiodetection’s precision locators and RD Map+. For more information on RD Map+, visit https://www.radiodetection.com/en-us/products/rd-map-plus. For more information on Precision Locators, visit https://www.radiodetection.com/en-us/products/precision-cable-locator-range.

About Radiodetection

Radiodetection is a world leader in the manufacture of detection tools for locating buried critical infrastructure and utilities. Radiodetection provides best in class equipment and solutions, designed to prevent damage, manage assets and protect lives; with a globally recognized range of tools and digital equipment dating back to 1977.

For more information, visit www.radiodetection.com.

About Trimble

Dedicated to the world’s tomorrow, Trimble is a technology company delivering solutions that enable our customers to work in new ways to measure, build, grow and move goods for a better quality of life. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics connect the digital and physical worlds to improve productivity, quality, safety, transparency and sustainability. From purpose-built products and enterprise lifecycle solutions to industry cloud services, Trimble is transforming critical industries such as construction, geospatial, agriculture and transportation to power an interconnected world of work.

For more information about Trimble, visit www.trimble.com.

JCB, Leica Partner to Offer INTELLIGRADE

JCB and Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, announced that they are joining forces to offer factory-fitted 2D and 3D-ready semi-automated excavator control solutions. 

From March 2024, the solutions – known as INTELLIGRADE – will be available initially on the JCB 220X tracked excavator in the United Kingdom before being offered across the whole JCB X Series range in additional regions.

Leica Geosystems 2D and 3D-ready machine control solutions are available with semi-auto configuration to enhance productivity, accuracy, and safety by automating functions such as boom, bucket and tilt rotator control, and to reduce human error in construction operations.

Working to predetermined site plans, the 2D machine control system provides real-time guidance and accuracy for tasks such as grading and levelling, ensuring the excavator’s bucket or blade achieves the desired slope or elevation. This solution is ideal for projects that involve simple terrain or require basic grading.

Customers looking for even greater accuracy, more precision and additional semi-auto functionality on earthmoving applications can choose the 3D-ready option to retain the flexibility of upgrading to 3D in the future. To upgrade the factory solution to a 3D version, customers can contact their local Leica Geosystems sales office or dealer, who will support with calibration and installation at the JCB dealership or at the customer’s premises.

For more information about the factory fit solution, visit https://leica-geosystems.com/about-us/partners/jcb.

About Leica Geosystems

With more than 200 years of history, Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, is the trusted supplier of premium sensors, software and services. Delivering value every day to professionals in surveying, construction, infrastructure, mining, mapping and other geospatial content-dependent industries, Leica Geosystems leads the industry with innovative solutions to empower our autonomous future.

Hexagon has approximately 24,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 5.2bn EUR. Learn more at hexagon.com.

Keysight Becomes NVIDIA 6G Research Cloud Platform Partner

SANTA ROSA, CA, Mar 21, 2024 – Keysight Technologies, Inc. is collaborating on the new NVIDIA 6G Research Cloud Platform, which includes the NVIDIA Aerial Omniverse Digital Twin, an open, flexible, and interconnected framework of network emulation resources offering researchers a comprehensive tool suite on which to develop new adaptations of artificial intelligence (AI) for radio access networks (RAN). The addition of Keysight’s portfolio of network emulation solutions will enable researchers to develop and validate new approaches to optimize wireless communications access using Keysight’s full suite of end-to-end network emulation capabilities.

The rapid pace of AI technology maturity is coming as 6G research is ramping quickly in its formative stage, making it likely that 6G will be the first generation of wireless to be fully AI-native. Validating new AI algorithmic approaches optimized to increase network capacity, speed, and usage types requires emulating realistic network conditions at scale. Tools that realistically emulate every part of a wireless system are needed to train, test, and refine AI algorithms before they can be commercialized.

To assist 6G researchers in building viable future AI algorithms, Keysight will add its comprehensive collection of network emulation and testing solutions covering the network from end-to-end to the NVIDIA 6G Research Cloud. Keysight is creating cloud-based versions of these solutions and making them available on the research platform in a flexible and scalable manner. This will provide 6G researchers access to Keysight solutions in network realistic conditions thanks to the NVIDIA 6G Research Cloud. As cloud-based solutions, the Keysight network emulations will now also be faster and more scalable thanks to access to NVIDIA’s seamless GPU-acceleration network.

Kailash Narayanan, senior vice president and president of the Communications Solutions Group, Keysight, said: “We are thrilled to be one of the first solution partners announced for NVIDIA’s new 6G Research Cloud platform. By integrating our solutions onto this cloud-based platform, researchers will have access to fast, scalable versions of the industry’s most realistic network emulation capabilities. This level of realism and scalability will be essential for developing AI architectures capable of optimizing next-gen wireless systems.”

Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice president of telecom, NVIDIA, said: “An open and modular cloud-based platform is necessary for 6G researchers to trial new AI algorithms and techniques using a platform that enables simulation with physically accurate digital twins and an accelerated RAN software stack. As we expand a rich ecosystem of technologies that can address a wide variety of research needs, spanning academia and industry, we welcome Keysight as one of the first solution providers to our 6G Research Cloud platform.”

About Keysight Technologies   

At Keysight, they inspire and empower innovators to bring world-changing technologies to life. As an S&P 500 company, they’re delivering market-leading design, emulation, and test solutions to help engineers develop and deploy faster, with less risk, throughout the entire product life cycle. They’re a global innovation partner enabling customers in communications, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, automotive, semiconductor, and general electronics markets to accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world.

For more information, visit www.keysight.com.

Synopsys Announces AI-Driven EDA, IP, Systems Design Solutions

SUNNYVALE, CA, Mar 21, 2024 – Synopsys, Inc. kicked off its annual flagship Synopsys User Group (SNUG) conference in Silicon Valley at the Santa Clara Convention Center with a keynote presentation by Synopsys president and CEO Sassine Ghazi. Ghazi discussed the unprecedented innovation opportunities and challenges that technology R&D teams face in this era of pervasive intelligence. He also announced new EDA and IP solutions aimed at maximizing the capabilities of the global technology engineering teams, from silicon to systems, that Synopsys serves.

“The rapid advancement of AI, silicon proliferation, and software-defined systems are driving the era of pervasive intelligence, where technology is seamlessly integrated into our lives, bringing with it unprecedented opportunity and greater compute, energy, and design challenges for the technology industry,” said Ghazi. “Synopsys is committed to collaborating with the ecosystem to address these challenges, while delivering the trusted silicon to systems design solutions our customers need to expand R&D capacity, maximize productivity, and power their innovations for this new era.”

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, joined Ghazi on stage and discussed the companies’ shared history of innovation, impact of AI on the semiconductor industry, and newly announced technology collaborations. This events also featured video commentary from additional customers and partners including AMD, Ampere, Arm, Astera Labs, Intel Foundry Services, Microsoft, Tesla, TSMC, and Samsung who each explained the important role Synopsys plays in their success.

Below is a summary of Synopsys technology news and announcements made during keynote presentation.

Synopsys.ai Gains Momentum: Synopsys DSO.ai and VSO.ai Delivering Stunning Customer Results

Keynote showcased the strong momentum for Synopsys.ai, the company’s AI-driven full-stack EDA suite. Ghazi said Synopsys.ai usage is expanding rapidly, led by DSO.ai, Synopsys’ industry-first AI application for optimizing layout implementation workflows, and VSO.ai, the industry-first, AI-driven verification solution.

Ghazi said Synopsys.ai has achieved hundreds of tape-outs to date and is delivering stunning customer results including a more than 10% boost in performance, power, area (PPA), up to 10X faster turn-around time and double-digit improvements in verification coverage, 4X faster test with the same coverage, and 4x faster analog circuit optimization when compared to optimization without the use of AI.

Synopsys has pioneered AI capabilities across the Synopsys.ai suite, adding verification, test, and analog capabilities, all commercially available and ramping. The company’s AI innovation is continuing with the development of Generative AI capabilities across the stack, starting with Synopsys.ai Copilot, and the announcement of a new Synopsys.ai capability for 3D design space optimization.

Accelerating Multi-die Innovation with New 3DSO.ai for 3D Design Space Optimization, Architectural Exploration, and Silicon-Proven UCIe IP

Furthering its efforts to drive the mainstream adoption of multi-die designs, Synopsys is introducing 3DSO.ai, a new AI-driven capability delivering unparalleled productivity gains while maximizing system performance and quality of results. Built natively into Synopsys 3DIC Compiler, a unified exploration-to-signoff platform, and powered by fast integrated analysis engines, 3DSO.ai offers optimization for signal integrity, thermal integrity, and power-network design. Synopsys 3DSO.ai is now available to early adopters.

Ghazi also highlighted Synopsys’ industry-first solution for early architecture exploration of multi-die systems, Synopsys Platform Architect – Multi-Die. Platform Architect accelerates design timelines, delivering a dramatic 6-12 month “shift left” from RTL for the analysis of performance and power, while accounting for the interdependencies between multiple dies. It allows systems architects to automate modeling, simulation, and analysis for early partitioning decisions, and helps customers avoid costly, late-stage changes and respins.

Additionally, he emphasized the importance of multi-die solutions, spotlighting Intel’s Pike Creek, the world’s first silicon-proven UCIe-connected and a result of collaboration between Intel, TSMC and Synopsys. The chip, a collaboration between Intel, TSMC and Synopsys, includes an Intel UCIe IP die built on its Intel 3 process node and a Synopsys UCIe IP die built on the TSMC N3E process. Ghazi commented, “This is the future of the semiconductor industry: multiple fabs, multiple sets of industry standard UCIe IP, and modern EDA packaging solutions.”

Advancing State-of-the-Art Architectural Exploration; System Verification and Validation

During keynote, Ghazi explained that as AI becomes pervasive, software plays a much larger role in semiconductor design, demanding a holistic systems approach to silicon innovation. From large, monolithic SoCs for AI workloads to new multi-die systems, the complexity and software-defined nature of today’s designs requires verification systems with higher performance and greater capacity. In this context, Synopsys unveiled two new hardware-assisted verification (HAV) solutions for faster, higher capacity emulation and prototyping.

  • Synopsys ZeBu EP2 is the latest version in the Synopsys ZeBu EP family of unified emulation and prototyping systems. Available now, the new system provides the fastest emulation and prototyping platform for AI workloads, making it ideal for software bring-up, software/hardware validation, and power/performance analysis.
  • Synopsys HAPS-100 12 system is Synopsys’ highest capacity and density FPGA-based prototyping system, with a mix of fixed and flexible interconnects and a rack-friendly design, particularly useful for prototyping big designs that require many FPGAs, such as multi-die systems and large SoCs. Available now, this new prototyping system shares a common hardware platform with Synopsys ZeBu EP2.

Together, these new offerings expand the industry’s broadest HAV portfolio, helping customers reduce design risks and ensure that increasingly complex semiconductor designs perform as intended.

Announcing Synopsys Cloud Hybrid Solution for Seamless Bursting and Enhanced Engineering Productivity

The company unveiled Synopsys Cloud Hybrid solution, which addresses a significant hurdle for mid-large semiconductor customers that have on-prem data centers but are sometimes limited by capacity and constrained on time. The new hybrid cloud solution enables these customers to seamlessly and efficiently burst from on-prem data centers to the cloud during peak needs.

In addition, it takes significant manual effort to designate certain blocks for on-prem resources and the cloud, plus additional time to transfer relevant design data and sync the data sets for processing. Synopsys Cloud Hybrid automatically splits the job based on available capacity and provides automated real-time data synchronization between a customer’s cloud environment and on-prem data center. The solution eliminates the need for time-consuming, manual data transfers, helping customers maximize engineering productivity and accelerate time to results.

Synopsys Cloud Hybrid Solution is available to early access customers with a Synopsys Cloud contract.

Expanding Silicon IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Intrinsic ID

In a related announcement, Synopsys completed the acquisition of Intrinsic ID, a leading provider of physical unclonable function (PUF) IP used in SoC design. The acquisition adds production-proven PUF IP to Synopsys’ broadly used semiconductor IP portfolio, enabling chip designers to protect their SoCs by generating a unique on-chip identifier utilizing the inherent and distinctive characteristics of every silicon chip.

Synopsys is a leading provider of high-quality, silicon-proven semiconductor IP solutions for SoC designs. The company plans to discuss its growing design IP business during this afternoon’s investor meeting, which is co-located with SNUG Silicon Valley.

About Synopsys

Catalyzing the era of pervasive intelligence, Synopsys, Inc. delivers trusted and comprehensive silicon to systems design solutions, from electronic design automation to silicon IP and system verification and validation. They partner closely with semiconductor and systems customers across a wide range of industries to maximize their R&D capability and productivity, powering innovation today that ignites the ingenuity of tomorrow.

Learn more at www.synopsys.com.

Altair to Update SimSolid for Electronics

TROY, MI, Mar 21, 2024 – Altair, a global leader in computational intelligence, announced the upcoming release of Altair SimSolid for electronics, bringing game-changing fast, easy, and precise multi-physics scenario exploration for electronics, from chips, PCBs, and ICs to full system design.

“As the electronics industry pushes the boundaries of complexity and miniaturization, engineers have struggled with simulations that often compromise on detail for expediency. Altair SimSolid will empower engineers to capture the intricate complexities of PCBs and ICs without simplification,” said James R. Scapa, founder and chief executive officer, Altair. “Traditional simulation methods often require approximations when analyzing PCB structures due to their complexity. Altair SimSolid eliminates these approximations to run more accurate simulations for complex problems with vast dimensional disparities.”

Altair SimSolid has revolutionized conventional analysis in its ability to accurately predict complex structural problems with blazing-fast speed while eliminating the complexity of laborious hours of modeling. It eliminates geometry simplification and meshing, the two most time-consuming and expertise-intensive tasks done in traditional finite element analysis. As a result, it delivers results in seconds to minutes – up to 25x faster than traditional finite element solvers – and effortlessly handles complex assemblies.

Having experienced fast adoption in the aerospace and automotive industries, two sectors that typically experience challenges associated with massive structures, Altair SimSolid is poised to play a significant role in the electronics market. The initial release, expected in Q2 2024, will support structural and thermal analysis for PCBs and ICs with full electromagnetics analysis coming in a future release.

The simulation market is increasingly looking to leverage AI technology to develop physics-informed neural networks. Altair SimSolid’s unmatched ability to rapidly and accurately model and simulate complex electronics systems will become essential for training large use cases quickly and economically.

Streamlined Electromagnetic Simulation – No Mesh Necessary

The journey from electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) to simulation has historically been strewn with the obstacles of mesh generation – a necessary but time-intensive step that delays insights and stretches project timelines. Altair SimSolid’s meshless technology will tackle intricate challenges like signal integrity (SI), power integrity (PI), and electromagnetic compatibility/interference (EMC/EMI), all while making electromagnetic simulations more accessible and efficient. The solution’s ECAD to simulation workflow will empower users to surpass conventional boundaries and seamlessly scale from meters to nanometers, ensuring every detail is perfectly rendered. This translates to faster time to results and the ability to solve even more complex electromagnetic problems, empowering engineers to achieve superior design outcomes.

A Comprehensive Simulation Suite

As Altair SimSolid advances towards the inclusion of full-wave electromagnetics, it showcases Altair’s vision of a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary simulation environment. This evolution not only sets a new standard against traditional, mesh-reliant systems but it also promises a future where thermal, structural, and electromagnetic challenges are addressed within a unified, meshless platform for rapid and precise design iterations.

To learn more about Altair SimSolid, visit www.altair.com/simsolid.

About Altair

Altair is a global leader in computational intelligence that provides software and cloud solutions in simulation, high-performance computing (HPC), data analytics, and AI. Altair enables organizations across all industries to compete more effectively and drive smarter decisions in an increasingly connected world – all while creating a greener, more sustainable future.

To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform Launched

SAN JOSE, CA, Mar 20, 2024 – Cadence Design Systems, Inc. introduced the industry’s first comprehensive AI-driven digital twin solution to facilitate sustainable data center design and modernization, marking a significant leap forward in optimizing data center energy efficiency and operational capacity. The revolutionary Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform virtualizes the entire data center and uses AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and physics-based simulation to significantly improve data center energy efficiency by up to 30%.

The innovative platform will benefit data center designers and operators navigating the complexities of modern data center systems, particularly in addressing issues that arise from stranded capacity due to inefficient use of data center compute and cooling resources and in handling AI-driven workloads and their environmental impact in an age of increasing electricity scarcity. Data centers in the United States used more than 4% of the country’s total electricity last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and are expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades.

“As data centers face increasing pressure to prioritize sustainability and energy efficiency in the face of exponential AI growth, the Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform will optimize every aspect of data center design and operations, improve energy efficiency and pave the way for a more efficient, resilient and environmentally friendly future,” said Tom Beckley, senior vice president and general manager, Custom IC & PCB Group, Cadence.

The Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform uses AI for model generation and simulation to accurately predict the external physical forces that impact data center operation, such as airflow, wind speeds, building obstructions on air intake and complications from internal and external temperature changes. Key benefits of the Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform include:

  • Advanced Modeling Capabilities: Simulates a vast range of design scenarios and operational strategies to identify the most energy-efficient solutions unique to each data center.
  • Environmental Consideration: Integrates external environmental factors into the design process, enabling the development of resilient and sustainable data center operations.
  • Customized Reporting: Delivers automated, detailed reports tailored to the specific requirements of each project, facilitating a deep understanding of potential energy savings and efficiency improvements.
  • Innovative Cooling Strategies: Evaluates multiple cooling systems and their impact on energy consumption, offering insights into the most effective cooling solutions.
  • Latest Cadence Solvers: Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform is integrated with Cadence’s leading multiphysics solvers—enabling the same accurate, high-capacity, multi-domain engines to scale from chiplets to climate.

Cadence’s transformative design platform will accelerate the development of next-generation data centers and AI factories across every industry. Integrated with the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform, it enables up to 30X faster design and simulation workflows.

Industry leaders are praising the groundbreaking Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform, highlighting its role in driving energy efficiency, optimizing operations and preparing for the future demands of AI workloads. The platform is heralded for its ability to create comprehensive digital twins of physical data centers, enabling precise planning, analysis and management of infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of businesses and the environment.

About Cadence

Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic systems design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. The company applies its underlying Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware and IP that turn design concepts into reality. Cadence customers are the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products from chips to boards to complete systems for the most dynamic market applications, including hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, consumer, industrial and healthcare. For nine years in a row, Fortune magazine named Cadence one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Learn more at cadence.com.