EDACafe Industry Predictions for 2022 – Avishtech

The View Towards ’22

Based upon the events of the last two years, two adages can readily apply: “the only certainty is uncertainty” and “beyond this place there be dragons.” Looking towards 2022, predicting what the future holds for product development in general and EDA technology specifically requires some critical thinking. Add the current chip shortage to the mix and the picture becomes more complex.

Current and next-generation high frequency/high data rate products have very little latitude in terms of “wiggle room” using traditional materials and components. Very small structures such as microvias and solder joints, not addressed during design, can become single points of failure that can mean the difference between a working product or a failed one. The EDA toolsets used to design these features must have a high degree of granularity and accuracy and be able to simulate and predict product manufacturability, operability and reliability. The ability to mitigate these factors will also help satisfy customer needs, maintain competitive advantages and maximize product revenues.

Most importantly, the foregoing challenges create a mandate for rethinking traditional design approaches. For EDA toolsets, lessons borrowed from other industries such as AI and machine learning will play an expanding role. For product designers, the ability to simulate and predict downstream product development processes may well determine the success or failure of current and future products.

There is another critical aspect to this story. Over the years, there have been several myths perpetuated across the industry. Examples include how right-angle bends are the sources of reflections and EMI in transmission lines or how the use of ferrite beads in component power leads suppresses EMI. These “rules-of-thumb” are not based on science and they have been refuted time and again. In fact, just about the time we think we have “slain the dragons” the myths arise once more and another generation of product developers uses them and encounters problems as a result of doing so.

The solution to the above is pretty straightforward: designers and developers need to stay on top of the latest technology trends by continuing their education process once they have left the academic environment. The disciplines within it further knowledge seeking and help to dispel faulty information or that which is just plain wrong. EDA vendors also need to emphasize the importance of continued learning and focus not just on promoting the latest generation of their toolsets but also help their customers add to and strengthen their technical understanding so that creating new products is optimized across all aspects of the entire product development process.

About the Author

Kella Knack currently serves as Director of Strategic Marketing for Avishtech, a leading provider of EDA software design tools–Gauss Stack and Gauss 2D. She assists in the company’s marketing communications, positioning, tradeshow, PR and outbound messaging efforts.

Prior to this, she served as Vice President of Marketing for Speeding Edge, an engineering consulting and training company focusing on the design of high speed PCB and system design. She oversaw the redesign of the company’s website; implemented the establishment of Speeding Edge as a publishing company; developed all of the company’s marketing materials and managed tradeshow activities. She also established key strategic relationships in Germany and Denmark and oversaw the expansion of the company’s presence in Europe, Canada and Asia. In addition, she served as editor and coordinated all layout and printing efforts for the publication of the company’s two technical books, “Right the First Time,” Volumes 1 and 2.

Before this, she was the Founder and President of KJ Communications, Inc., a marketing consulting and public relations company based in Silicon Valley. She served as a strategic adviser for a number of highly successful marketing campaigns for clients that ranged from start-ups to multimillion dollar companies in the EDA, networking, SOC IP, semiconductor, embedded system design and database management market sectors. Once the programs were defined, she assisted these clients by coordinating their press activities; preparing press releases and assisting with the development of other marketing materials. Before this, she was an editor of various industry technology publications including PCB Design, LAN Computing and ASIC and EDA Magazine.

Tags: Predictions

This entry was posted on Monday, January 17th, 2022 at 1:00 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.