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To what extent is it possible to design hardware using a software simulation of its behavior? Do you actually need to manufacture the hardware in order to deve
by panic 12y ago
To what extent is it possible to design hardware using a software simulation of its behavior? Do you actually need to manufacture the hardware in order to develop it?
- iopq 12y agoMost hardware is designed through simulations. It mostly works. That is until it reaches a certain temperature you didn't simulate and exhibits a bug only at that temperature.
- GotAnyMegadeth 12y agoIf you are designing your own ASIC from scratch this is exactly the kind of problem you face all the time. It is VERY hard to simulate every single corner case. If you are designing a board with other people's chips on, where are you going to get the simulation models from?
- TheLoneWolfling 12y agoOr worse, until it reaches a certain temperature you did simulate and exhibits a bug only at that temperature.
- pjc50 12y agoThis approach is fine until you try to include an IC in your design, at which point you have only an extremely limited version (if any) available for simulation. I worked at a product design consultancy and saw a number of board designs come through the office. All of them had a prototype run of 3-6 boards, which ended up with one or two modification wires before a second, final, production run was done.
- whyaduck 12y agoThat's another wrinkle. Because boards are so expensive and turnaround's so long you typically want to rework them when possible to validate changes. That takes a talented technician, fairly expensive equipment and time. Reworking e.g. a dozen boards can take days.