CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
4 December 2007
Implementation Investments
Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation Adopts Catapult C Synthesis for Next-Generation ASIC Design
Mentor Graphics Corporation announced that Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation has adopted Mentor Graphics Catapult® C Synthesis tool to develop their next generation application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for audio, communication and image processing systems. Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation selected the Catapult C Synthesis tool based on the product family's maturity and the productivity improvements it offers compared to other high-level synthesis methodologies.
"We custom develop various chips for our customers, from block-level to complete system-on-chip (SoC), for applications including imaging, communication, audio and control. Catapult C Synthesis helped us extend our design service because we are now able to take our customers' rich C language design asset and immediately turn it into hardware, "said Mr. Akira Nakazawa, Expert, Sales Department II, Embedded System Sales Division, Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation. "By using Catapult C Synthesis, we can significantly shorten their time to market, while flexibly supporting high-level design, that will help further enhance our win-win relationship with customers."
Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation is a leader in developing communications and multimedia systems for commercial and consumer applications. In the course of its work, the organization implements many complex algorithms in high-performance hardware. This process can take months to complete with traditional register transfer level (RTL) design, risking schedule slip and disrupting stable customer relationships. The Catapult C Synthesis tool is the first product to automatically generate RTL from a pure ANSI C++ source where both the core algorithm and interface are untimed. This productivity improvement gives designers time and freedom to automatically perform detailed design exploration of different micro-architectural options and interface scenarios to quickly achieve fully optimized hardware designs for either ASIC or field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations. Catapult's SystemC verification extension offers integration to industry standard SystemC verification platforms and tools providing a complete electronic system level (ESL) design and verification methodology.
"We have applied Catapult C Synthesis to an eigenvalue decomposition circuit, and it was right on the target; a perfect fit. Eigenvalue decomposition algorithms contain a myriad of operators, performing trigonometric, square root, multiplication and division calculations, and it is a complex circuit with all of these operations closely intertwined. Even preparing a SystemC description for behavioral synthesis would require enormous amounts of time and effort, not to mention difficulties with RTL," said Mr. Akiyoshi Ohguro, Group Leader, LSI Design Center Dept.5, LSI Solution Division II, Toshiba Information Systems(JAPAN) Corporation. "The ability of Catapult C Synthesis to perform algorithmic synthesis from ANSI C with quantization is truly amazing. Also, for eigenvalue decomposition, you must prepare many designs with different array sizes, using real numbers and complex matrixes, etc. for each application (MIMO, MUSIC method, diversity and KL conversion, etc.). With Catapult C Synthesis, this was simply a matter of changing the algorithm in C, and with some trial and error we were able to produce RTL suitable for each application in just one day or several days at most."
"Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation is one of the most innovative systems houses in Japan, and the company's adoption of Catapult represents a major accomplishment for Mentor Graphics," said Simon Bloch, general manager of Mentor Graphics Design Creation and Synthesis Division. "Since entering the Japan market in 2005, Catapult has consistently gained market share in the region, and is now in use at six of the top seven system houses in Japan. By providing excellent results to forward-thinking customers like Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation we are confident Catapult C Synthesis will continue to increase its market share lead in Japan."
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