Solving the System-Level
Design Riddle
October 2014
What is the System Design Riddle?
With no
errors?
Then marketing says they need it…
Sooner
Onbudget?
With higher performance
How do I
complete my
design ontime?
In less area
Sooner? Sorry, I meant early…
…maybe you can drop a feature?
Page 2
October 2014
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
How Sonics helps
Sonics’ on-chip networks help leading SoC designers solve
some of the most difficult challenges in SoC design
1333 MHz
1066 MHz
533 MHz
CortexA15
Cluster
533 MHz
CortexA7
Cluster
MaliT658
Cluster
267 MHz
M
S
I
T
128
I
133 MHz
Display
Ctrl.
CCI-400
M
128
HDMI
267 MHz
267 MHz
Video
Engine
Video
Encode
M
M
M
64
32
128
I
M
32
I
64
I
I
S
On-die
SRAM
USB
OTG
133 MHz
533 MHz
USB
3
133 MHz
S
USB
2
133 MHz
DRAM
Ch. 1
USB
1
133 MHz
I
64
C
2x3
I
64
M
533 MHz
Audio
400 MHz
J
3x1
M
533 MHz
Cam
2
200 MHz
4x1
A
2x2
T
DRAM
Ch. 2
S
133 MHz
On-die
ROM
S
5x2
I
4x1
T
S
64
G
I
D
1x3
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32
S
64
H
SonicsGN
Request
Network
T
4x1
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I
S
M
32
32
64
64
64
M
M
PCIe
E-net
Security
Engine
DMA
SATA
267 MHz
133 MHz
267 MHz
267 MHz
133 MHz
M
M
Memory Throughput
Physical Design
Power Management
Security
Time-to-market
Development costs
Sonics System IP:
On-chip Networks, Memory Subsystem, Power Partitioning & Management,
Performance Monitor & Debug, Security Firewalls
I
I
I
I
I
I
32
64
F
4x1
T
64
64
I
64
M
UFS
SD/
CF/
MMC
M
HSI
133 MHz
133 MHz
133 MHz
M
M
133 MHz
I
2x3
64
32
M
IP
Control
B
M
133 MHz
T
M
Peripherals
128
High Frequency
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
M
I
T
128
32
Page 3
October 2014
64
Cam
1
DDR3
2133
128
200 MHz
I
IP Integration
DDR3
2133
Power Domain
Boundary
Sonics – The NoC Leader for 18 Years
Sonics enables designers to
integrate any IP from anywhere,
anytime
 Easy
IP re-use
 Connecting third party IP/subsystems
Total System IP approach:
 Intelligent
memory scheduling
 Optimal power-aware designs
 Data flow services: QoS, Security
firewalls
 Software drivers
Commanding presence in digital
entertainment, mobile and
wireless
 200+
SoC tape-outs
Results: 2.5B+ units shipped
 138+
patent properties
 Improved TTM and quality
Page 4
October 2014
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
Does Sonics Solve the Riddle?
No, not entirely
• Using Sonics and other high-quality IP will aid greatly
• 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
5
October 2014
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
What’s wrong? Waterfall Methodologies
Specification
Prototype
Design
Simulation
Verification
Emulation
Physical Design
6
October 2014
Software
Sequential operations
• 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.
Reasons for Changing IC Methodology
Some drivers for change
Consumer products
• Short release cycle
• Low power, but still always on
• Security
• Design costs
IoT
• 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
7
October 2014
Desired new attributes
Ability to make reasonable progress
with an incomplete specification
To better solve modern design
challenges:
• Time-to-market
• Power
• Security
Ability to easily ship “on-time”/early
with a reduced feature set
Improved relationship between
architectural, logical, physical, and
software design
Why is Sonics leading this?
100%
250
90%
70%
60%
150
50%
40%
100
30%
20%
50
10%
0%
Percent of Reuse
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
2018*
2017*
2016*
2015*
2014*
2013
2012
Avg. Number of IP Blocks
Source: Semico Research Corp.
Page 8
October 2014
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
0
Avg, Number of IP Blocks
200
1998
Percent of Reuse
80%
Why is Sonics leading this?
$70
$120
$60
$100
M Dollars
$80
$40
$60
$30
$40
$20
$20
$10
$0
$0
90nm
65nm
45nm / 40nm
Silicon IP Integration Cost
32nm / 28nm
20nm
Software IP Integration Cost
Source: Semico Research Corp.
Page 9
October 2014
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
14nm*
Total IP Integration Cost
10nm*
Total M Dollars
$50
SoC Architects Drive Both SW & HW
SW
Development of HWindependent SW
Dev. of HWdependent SW and
system architecture
exploration
Large (and growing) teams
dependent upon architecture
SoC architect responsible for
many views of architecture
• Normally disparate
Increasing complexity of SW
and HW results in increased
costs and delays
Performance
analysis architecture
validation and
HW
RTL verification and
implementation
Page 10
October 2014
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved
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:
• Individuals and interactions over
processes and tools
• Working software over
comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over
contract negotiation
• Responding to change over
following a plan
Requirements
Test &
Feedback
Architecture &
Design
Development
“The Agile movement proposes alternatives to traditional project management. Agile approaches
11
are typically used in software development to help businesses respond to unpredictability.”
October 2014
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
12
October 2014
What an Agile IC Methodology Might Look Like
Waterfall
Specification
Prototype
Design
Simulation
Verification
Emulation
Physical Design
13
October 2014
Time
What an Agile IC Methodology Might Look Like
Agile IC Methodology
Specification
Prototype
Design
Simulation
Verification
Emulation
Physical Design
Time
Change the slope! The more vertical the better!
14
October 2014
Short term actions
Sonics’ Plan
Get the discussion started
Create the communications links
Gather the interested parties
How you can help
Join the LinkedIn group
Participate in the conversation
Invite others to get involved too
Step 1: Join the “Agile IC Methodology” group on LinkedIn
Step 2: Join the conversation – participate!
15
October 2014
Partnering to Win with Sonics
Now, and in the Future
Sonics has
• The best technology
• The strongest commitment
• The largest team
• The most experience
• The best support
• The strongest roadmap
What can we do to help your team?
Page 16
October 2014
Sonics, Inc. © 2014, all rights reserved