Book Review Handbook ~ Desiqn A u t o m a t i o n bg Steve Sapiro and Robert d. Smith II, First E d i t i o n - C o p g r i g h t 1984 by CAE Sgstems, I n c . , 184 pages The m a t e r i a l p r e s e n t e d in this book covers t h e u h o l e s p e c t r u m o CAE, Computer @ aided Engineering, @tom Design Methodologies to Physical Implementation. The book starts out with a very basic discussion o @ e x a c t l y w h a t CAE i s , and how i t impacts the design cgcle. Chapters two and three cover t h e d e s i g n c y c l e and how different design methodologies, Structured Design vs. L S S D , and p h y s i c a l c o n s t r a i n t s ( g a t e A r r a y vs. Standard Cell vs. Full Custom) can a@@ect t h e d e s i g n p r o c e s s . The n e x t t h r e e chapters discuss the tools that may be used d u r i n g t h e D e s i g n , V e r i @ i c a t i o n , and P h y s i c a l Design phases. These d i s c u s s i o n s r a n g e @tom v e r y l o w l e v e l introductions into design languages, simulators, and layout, up to detailed product reports. Chapter ~ive deals with Design Veri@ication tools. A l l l e v e l s o~ simulation are covered, starting with high-level systems such as gPSS$ down t o g a t e l e v e l s i m u l a t o r s such as TEgAS (Calma) and IDEAL {CAE S y s t e m s ) } e n d i n g up a t t h e circuit l e v e l w i t h HSPICE (Meta S o f t w a r e ) , to name just a ~ew o~ t h e m a n y systems described. The b u l k o~ c h a p t e r six deals with g a t e A r r a y l a y o u t t o o l s , and i n c l u d e s brie@ d e s c r i p t i o n s o~ t h e tools available @tom S i l v a r - L i s c o , VR I n @ o r m a t i o n Systems, M e n t o r , D a i s y , and o t h e r s . There is also some i n @ o r m a t l o n on PCB and F u l l Custom IC d e s i g n systems. The rest o~ the book deals with Engineering Workstations ( E W S ) , and how they ~it in to the design process by integrating many CAE @unctions into a single working environment. Also included is an o u t l i n e t h a t can be used t o e v a l u a t e an~d choose a CAE p r o d u c t , a g l o s s a r y , and a summary o~ CAE r e l a t e d product vendors, i n c l u d i n g t h e i r addresses. While t h i s is not i n t e n d e d to be an advanced t e x t on CAE systems, t h e r e a r e , as I see i t , two m a j o r uses ~or this text. The @irst is to p r e s e n t a @airlg complete i n t r o d u c t i o n and t u t o r i a l on CAE s u i t a b l e ~or e n g i n e e r s and managers new t o D e s i g n Automation. The second m a j o r use i s as a resource o @ i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t can be used t o s e l l upper management on the beni~its o~ i n t r o d u c i n g CAE i n t o t h e d e s i g n p r o c e s s , o r t o p r o v i d e a b r i e r s i d e by s i d e comparison o @ most o @ the commerciallg available tools. In each o @ these areas, the a u t h o r s have done an e x c e l e n t j o b o~ g a t h e r i n g a l a r g e amount o~ i n @ o r m a t i o n and presenting i t i n an o r g a n i z e d and c o n c i s e manor. D. S c o t t . B a e d e r GE M i c r o e l e c t r o n i c s P.O. Box 13049 RTP, NC 27709 F o r more i n f o r m a t i o n CAE Systems, Inc. 1333 B o r d e a u x D r i v e S u n n y v a l e , CA 94089 contact:

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