December 7, 2004 -- As power consumption becomes increasingly critical for both portable and nonportable applications, accurate techniques for predicting an SOC's (system on chip's) power have become essential. Designers need to know, for example, whether a mobile-phone SOC requires both voltage and frequency scaling or whether a network-router SOC consumes as much power as a desk lamp. A designer can make these determinations only by estimating a design's power consumption and intelligently applying power-saving methods. Conducting power analysis throughout the flow enables designers to address power issues early on and avoid the lengthy iterations caused by redesigns required to meet power budgets.

By Jim Flynn. (Flynn is a senior IC designer with Synopsys Professional Services.)