CFD and thermal analysis tools aid system design and reduce costs. Added to these are a number of power analysis tools, which are making a serious impact on the market. Power consumption has become an important consideration in embedded firmware, and the way in which the results are interpreted can have a significant effect on performance and efficiency. However, FPGA designers have to understand how the power consumption data patterns relate to the chips they use, for both specific clock cycles and entire computations. Many engineers base their analysis on specific power component numbers, rather than the entire power profile of the system. Not seeing the broader picture can lead to system designs which are energy inefficient – or appear to be.

This was demonstrated during the development of systems implementing the Actel IGLOO low-power FPGA design. When power analysis was conducted on a single cycle basis, silicon chip consumption was seen to vary widely, with a different power number for each of the systems into which it was embedded. If only single clock cycles were considered, the FPGA often appeared to have poor energy efficiency. However, when the entire data spectrum pattern was examined, and power-down switches and alternative power modes were added to the system designs, the results were good.

We at ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Technologies have many years’ experience in the field of DSP programming and FPGA design, offering comprehensive solutions for system analysis and PCB layout.

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Around 70% of a product’s design costs are realized before it goes into production, after which there is little leeway for reducing them. Post-production decisions can add a further 10 – 15%. The rest is taken up with administration, sales and marketing, product distribution, etc, which are usually part of overall company policy.

When cost reduction consultants look at how to improve company profits, generally the first thing they suggest is to reduce R & D (research and development) expenses. They will place the emphasis on sales, marketing and other post-developmental areas. However, this is tackling the problem from the wrong direction. In both electronic and mechanical engineering, the main costs are decided at the point of inception – when the initial CAD drawings are done. Effective cost reduction management takes place at the very start of the design cycle.

Experienced cost reduction analysts see two common and recurring problems with new technology, such as novel ASIC designs. The first is underestimating how quickly the product can be undermined by the competition, mistakenly believing sales figures will continue to outshine costs. The second is miscalculating production costs, causing last minute design changes, extended periods of development and added manufacturing costs. Poorly budgeted manufacturing BOMs and poor obsolescence management are other areas of concern. We at ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Technologies employ experienced cost reduction analysts, and offer a comprehensive range of component engineering services including BOM cleansing and obsolescence management.

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There are a number of valid reasons why reverse engineering may be used on a PCB layout. For example, the existing pattern may involve obsolete semiconductors which were available when the PCB was first designed, but are expensive, hard to obtain and environmentally non-compliant now. Reverse engineering the circuit board using readily available components reduces costs and improves functionality.

It may be that you need to copy the design, but cannot. Copying isn’t always possible with, for example, complex multilayered VLSI designs. It’s possible to X-Ray or photocopy the board in layers, but this introduces anomalies which affect its function. Reverse engineering allows you to redesign the printed circuit board from first concepts, with a set of first-generation plans which can be reused.

It may be that your company has a VHDL design for which they don’t have full intellectual property rights. While cloning is illegal in this case, reverse engineering, where you are reproducing functionality rather than the actual design, is not. U.S. copyright law does, however, require the new PCB design to be identifiable from the original (via trace routing modifications, upgraded components etc).

We at ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Technologies offer a number of component engineering services, including reverse engineering of advanced ASIC designs.

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