I'm sure you've heard the great marketing catchphrase that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Well, this week it is the Consumer Electronics Show, better known by its initials, CES. About 4,000 exhibitors are hoping that what happens in Vegas gets out of Vegas and results in business. Cadence is one of them, but by the time you read this post, the show will be almost over so too late to visit us. Apple famously doesn't go to CES despite being one of the biggest consumer electronics companies there is. But this year they decided to tweak the tail of all the companies like Google and Facebook that are having issues with security breaches and mistrust about what they do with all our data. Opposite the convention center, they have a building-sized ad that "What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone." Of course, that's not entirely true since Apple has huge datacenters and knows a lot about you. However, their business model is mostly based on selling you phones (and other hardware) and providing other services like Apple Music or Apple Cloud for storage. In fact, despite misunderstanding by many people, neither Google's nor Facebook's business model is based on selling data about you. It is too valuable for that, they keep it to themselves. They will target ads for clients, using that data, but they won't give them the raw data. But given that everyone seems to think they do, Apple's ad is clever (and memorable). CES Theme The two things I saw everywhere were AI and 5G. Neural networks have advanced a lot in the last 5 years and anything that approaches one is billed as AI. It is a couple of initials that the public knows. But it is not much more than those "new" and "improved" flashes on packages in the supermarket. Chris Rowen likes to say that an AI startup is any startup since 2016, since you need to have an AI angle to get funded. Like ten years ago you needed a Chinese or India engineering strategy for any startup that needed a lot of development. In my predictions for the year, just a couple of days ago, I said that I expected a lot of dubious marketing of 5G to occur. Well, I didn't have long to wait. Today, AT&T updated their version of Android to show 5G instead of LTE on the little area at the top of the screen. When challenged they said that they would call true 5G, including the mmWave band, 5G+. Most people reading this blog have some idea about the underlying technology, but the general public has no idea. Just that 5G sounds better than 4G, right? T-mobile immediately posted a video of someone putting a Post-it note on a phone to emphasize that was all AT&T was doing. Bell-Uber I happened to run into Dave DeMaria at CES. He was my boss for a time at Cadence last time around and is now head of corporate marketing at Synopsys. As everyone does, he asked me if I'd seen anything really interesting. You don't see a lot of unexpected stuff at CES, the basic themes are obvious before the show starts. But I actually had an answer for him. "Bell-Uber". You have probably heard of Bell but not in a consumer electronics context. The helicopter Bell, not the old phone system Bell. They were the first company to get airworthiness certification for a helicopter, and have been building them ever since. But, as I said, hardly a consumer electronics product. Bell showed helicopter aimed at the air-taxi market. I heard one of their executives point out that since it has six ducted fans instead of one big rotor, one of them can fail without it being a catastrophe. Further, since they are electric motors, that is another single point of failure removed. In a normal helicopter, if the engine fails then the pilot has to execute a very complex procedure to get down safely. You can see the helicopter in the photo above, but since it is colored a gloss black it is not that easy to work out. The top of the picture is one of the six ducted fans, that both make it efficient and make it safer around people entering and exiting. The center of the picture is the cabin. Bell is not an expert on getting vehicles to where people need them, but Uber is. So the partnership is interesting. "The era of a hailable air-taxi is closer than you think." Well, we will see, but it seemed closer than I had imagined. Obviously, with a helicopter, you can't fly to most destinations directly since there is nowhere to take off and land. My house is on a pedestrian walkway so you can't even drive to it (I have to guess where the mapping software that Lyft use is going to tell them to go, it seems to change). If you want to get from a place in San Francisco to a place in Silicon Valley then you will be able, in this future world being presented, get an Uber to somewhere a helicopter can land, bypass all the congestion on 101, land near your destination, and get another Uber to the front door. Keynotes I am not sure if you can read anything into it, like tea leaves, but the Wednesday keynote was by Lisa Su of AMD. Ever since I've been attending CES, one of the keynotes has been by Intel. I will cover Lisa's keynote tomorrow. But, as a teaser, I'll point out that Lisa talked a lot about actual chips. Intel tended to try and disguise the fact that they were a semiconductor company. For example, see my post from a couple of years ago Drones in the Mini-Forest: Intel's Keynote at CES . Sign up for Sunday Brunch, the weekly Breakfast Bytes email.![]()
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Consumer Electronics: 5G, AI, and Air Taxis
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Pins denied when converting from circuit to component symbol
Hello ,i have tried to convert the varactor circuit into simbol and integrate it in the main circuit. when i have replace the sources and ground with input pins it gave me 4 warnings when in tried to do check and save (it marked some of the pins by X on them) but when i integrated this simbol into the main circuit the check and save worked. why it put X on my pins? Thanks. sorry usually i accompany my question with a step by step photos , but there is a problem with the cadence website,when i pressed the insert option it just turned the screen gray without poping up the window where i could upload the photo![]()
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RE: Pins denied when converting from circuit to component symbol
Did you try doing Check->Find Marker - it should have given an explanation for the markers? These messages will appear in the CIW too when you do a check and save. My guess is that it might be related to the pin directions but the marker explanation ought to help. I've got IT looking into the image upload (I saw your attempted post into the Logic Design forum which went into moderation - not sure why you asked about image upload in the Logic Design forum). I'll not approve that post because it's not a technical question and it's already being investigated now. Andrew.![]()
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vsource parameters cleared when changing source type
Hello, I am experiencing an issue with the vsource from analogLib. If I change the source type then then all the previously entered parameters in the form are cleared. I am remembering from past experience that the form should remember prior parameters so that you can switch back and forth between source types without having to re-enter them all. It might have something to do with our site setup. Any thoughts on where I could look? Cheers, Phil![]()
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RE: vsource parameters cleared when changing source type
Hi Phil, This is a bug that was introduced in (I think) IC617 ISR10. I have a CCR (with a couple of duplicates) - CCR 1816593. Unfortunately the fix keeps being postponed - it's now not proposed until IC618 ISR5 (probably about June timeframe) and even then it's not committed. Reporting this via customer support and asking for a duplicate CCR to be created may help to bring this forward. Regards, Andrew.![]()
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RE: Encryption of Capture tcl script
This is covered in the "Getting Started with OrCAD TCL 17.2-2016" manual on the Cadence Support site. The encryption is now done by compiling the script since the orcad:: encrypt command is no longer supported.![]()
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RE: vsource parameters cleared when changing source type
Thanks very much Andrew, appreciate the response. Will do.![]()
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Linking OrCAD CIS to MySQL -> Only 1 component per Table Shown?
Here's my setup: Ubuntu server 16.04 running mySQL database (outside network) I imported the example BenchAccess database to get started -- I'll eventually add my own components, but thats irrelevant for now. OrCAD 17.2 running inside a Windows 7 VM on my MacBook Pro inside Virtualbox. I SSH Port Forward the Ubuntu Server MySQL port to my MacBook Pro. I add the connection in windows ODBC connection manager using MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver. I am connecting to my MacBook in this scenario. I import the connection into OrCAD using the CIS configuration file. All goes ok, connection is made. But then when I try to place a database part, I only see 1 entry for each table... For example, on MySQL here are all some of the capacitors: Where as in Place Database Part, here's what I get: Only the 1 entry. Same holds true for each table. For sanity, I also accessed the table through MySQL Workbench in my VM. All rows are shown. However it should be noted I accessed MySQL through MySQL's own "Connect to Database" tool instead of using Windows' Data Sources. Hoping you guys can provide some insight?![]()
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RE: Linking OrCAD CIS to MySQL -> Only 1 component per Table Shown?
Ok, so as I was posting this I figured out the solution but figured it may be useful to someone in the future. UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS . I reconnected using the MySQL ODBC 8.0 ANSI Driver and all is well.![]()
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RE: Pins denied when converting from circuit to component symbol
By the way, IT have fixed the picture upload. I checked and it appears to be behaving properly now. Regards, Andrew.![]()
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RE: can't plot waveform while simulating in cadence virtuoso via spectre
Hi Andrew, I have checked lots of different websites and also read this thread but I could not solve my issue. Whenever I run a long transient simulation I cannot have the results by getting this error "net /vstore selected but not highlighted". When I run less than 1 ms, I can see the results but when I run more than that which I need 4 ms I cannot see the results. I have also checked my netlist and the nodes that I am looking for are mentioned to be saved there. Any comment or idea? Regards, Mehdi![]()
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RE: can't plot waveform while simulating in cadence virtuoso via spectre
Hi Medhi, The first (pinned) post in each forum is a set of guidelines for posting in the forum. This asks you not to post on the end of old threads (I’ll let you off this time) but more importantly asks you to provide the software versions you’re using. I’d need to know the Virtuoso subversion you’re using (Help->About in any window will tell you) and also the spectre version (this will be in the spectre.out simulation log that appears when you run spectre). Also, if you look in ADE at the Outputs->Save All form at the bottom, does it show the output format you have selected? Regards, Andrew![]()
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RE: How to judge a VIP is a good VIP?
This appears to be a very generic question. However, a good VIP must at the least meet the following criteria: Full compliance with the latest specification. Addresses special use cases. Clearly interprets grey areas in the specification. Support multiple interfaces. Must be easily configurable and quick to integrate with the DUT for faster results. Industry proven stability and reliability. In-built ability to quickly identify issues, say by way of a trace file or a history file. Must be backed by a trustworthy support system and good documentation.![]()
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Design entry HDL schematic symbol to CIS schematics symbol conversion.
What is the best way to achieve this other than manual entry? Thanks, Luis![]()
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RE: Allegro and SharePoint
I would look at Git or SVN first. I use Microsoft GitHub as my remote private repository with Atlassian SourceTree as the local manager. $8 a month...![]()
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RE: Allegro and SharePoint
The only justification I've seen for Sharepoint is other departments need help justifying/sharing it's cost to the business. GitHub is a very effective offsite repo for GIT at $8 a month. Atlassian Sourcetree is our local machine manager.![]()
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cds.lib
Hi all, Anyone know how to define library in cds.lib? Thanks and regards, Yu![]()
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RE: Pins denied when converting from circuit to component symbol
Thank you very much, both the picture upload works and my simbol convertion works fine.![]()
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RE: cds.lib
Hello Yu. This is documented in great detail under https://support.cadence.com/apex/techpubDocViewerPage?xmlName=settingup.xml&title=Setting%20Up%20Your%20Environment%20--%20Setting%20Up%20Your%20Environment%20-%201.2%C2%A0The%20cds.lib%20File&hash=SettingUpYourEnvironment-1.2cdslibThecds.libFile&c_version=18.09&path=SettingUp/SettingUp18.09/Setting_Up_Your_Environment.html#SettingUpYourEnvironment-1.2cdslibThecds.libFile please do take a look at that. Note that if you are using irun or xrun as your compiler front-end, you can actually avoid cds.lib and hdl.var files completely, these commands take a switch "-makelib" which allows you to define a library and send files to that library. For example: xrun -makelib rtllib src/rtl/*.vhd -endlib tb.sv The above command would compile all the files from the src/rtl directory into a library called rtllib.![]()
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RE: alignment of a pin on a component to a pin on an adjacent component
Hi TiBo, I am sorry that what I am replying is not an answer to your question. I am also looking for SKILL script for aligning two pins. SKILL experts please help.![]()
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