IPForge
Efficient IP and Design Data Management Solution
IPForge is a comprehensive solution that streamlines the management of IP cores in semiconductor design. It simplifies handling IP core management tasks, such as fetching, building, and instantiating cores in various chip development flows. Additionally, it streamlines building complete systems by integrating multiple IPs into a single SOC. Further, IPForge enables tracking of IP cores, ensuring that the latest technology is constantly utilized. IPForge allows project managers to generate a catalog of necessary IPs to encourage the reuse of these IPs.
IPForge simplifies the definition and management of IP artifacts, including source files, dependencies, and other elements, along with their storage location in the SCM. Its advanced dependency management system maps the dependencies of IPs accurately, whether they are used standalone or as part of a larger system, facilitating seamless IP core management and reuse in an SoC.
BCI solutions offer a centralized platform for managing all RTL design data, design specifications, and quality metrics, ensuring complete control over the design process. With IPForge, you can easily track source file changes, tool flow execution details, and issues and bugs, making it a comprehensive solution for BCI design and IP management.
Features
Traceability
IPForge and the Dagogo framework allow tracking of exact versions of IPs, tools, flows, and results used in design milestones. Engineers can access specific information about each IP and the tools, versions, and user environment during execution. This ensures that design releases can be accurately reproduced in the same environment.
BCI solutions ensure traceability by linking IPs to flow results. It manages the connection between IP versions, design contents, and flows, tracking the exact information needed to achieve a milestone, including the design environment. This leads to the traceability and reproducibility of design releases.
With BCI’s IP management solution, engineers no longer need to spend most of their time answering questions like “Are we tapping out with the RTL that was verified”?
Integration of IP Management with Flows
Integrating IP management with the flow is a critical differentiator in BCI solutions. This integration provides a direct link between the flow and the Source Code Management (SCM) system. During flow execution, only the necessary files are retrieved from the SCM based on the specific flow being run. For instance, the design and testbench files are retrieved when running a verification flow. On the other hand, during synthesis, only the design files are pulled from the SCM.
This tight integration of IP management with the flow eliminates the need for creating makefiles with file lists and ensures that the correct files are used for each step of the design process. Additionally, it improves the traceability and reproducibility of the design, as the source files used for each flow can be easily tracked and accessed.
Design Reuse
BCI’s IP management solution provides a way to categorize and organize IP into different components, making it easier to manage and track IP versions. This helps ensure that the correct version of the IP is used for each project.
BCI’s solution supports IP management from different source control management (SCM) systems, enabling IP development to occur in a distributed environment. This eliminates the need for a centralized system and provides more flexibility in the development process.
Project managers can create project-specific IP catalogs by assembling IP components into a single collection, providing control over the necessary IP versions for the project. Additionally, the tight integration of IPForge with Dagogo ensures that only released IPs are retrieved from the SCM, preventing changes to the design during flow execution. This traceability gives users the confidence to reuse IP without needing significant verification, as Dagogo guarantees the flow results to a specific IP version.
Panoramic Database
BCI’s Panoramic Database is a powerful solution for managing all aspects of your RTL design data, design specifications, and quality metrics in either centralized or distributed locations. Stores flow execution results and source files to identify and resolve problems during your design process.
Our scalable database is equipped to manage data from projects of varying sizes, ranging from small projects with a few hundred megabytes to large projects requiring multiple terabytes of storage. With advanced data management capabilities, this system facilitates organized and traceable data storage, allowing easy access and utilization by multiple teams, users, and across different milestones during the project development process.
Dagogo framework provides API support to enable easy integration with process data from various sources, including EDA tools and workflows. Provides access control and security features to protect design information and workflow results. It also enables collaboration.