Cadence Tensilica Product Development Process and Software Products Certified for ISO 26262 ASIL D Compliance for Automotive Applications

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) today announced that products in the Cadence^® Tensilica^® functional safety portfolio and its design processes achieved certification of ISO 26262 compliance up to ASIL D for the development of automotive applications. The Tensilica products and processors offer the broadest range of ISO 26262-compliant processors and DSPs and continue to expand across vision, AI, radar, lidar, sensor fusion, wireless/wired communication, audio/voice processing and highly optimized controller applications. Tensilica processors enable design engineers to develop automotive subsystems with the processing capability needed for ADAS applications and autonomous vehicles, while staying within strict power, cost and schedule constraints. Tensilica DSPs and task-optimized processors are very effective for processing the raw data from sensors to extract features, analyzing the results and taking critical actions in real time at lower power and cost points than general-purpose processors.

The Tensilica Functional Safety products comply with ISO 26262 1^st Edition and 26262:2018 2^nd Edition standards. Cadence works with safety industry leaders such as SGS-TÜV Saar and TÜV SÜD to ensure and certify compliance up to ISO 26262 ASIL D. TÜV SÜD has certified ASIL D compliance for Tensilica development tool software and libraries, and SGS-TÜV Saar has certified ASIL D compliance for the Tensilica IP design process.

System designers can optimize an ISO 26262-compliant processor/DSP for tasks spanning AI, vision, radar, audio and specialized control, including adding their own processor architectural ideas, and programmers can develop optimized ISO 26262-compliant software using the matching optimized C/C++ development tool suite and runtime libraries to create highly efficient ASIL D systems. Customer-defined processor enhancements such as new instructions, custom SIMD datapath or VLIW parallel execution slot can be implemented with Tensilica Instruction Extension (TIE) language, and yet are still within the scope of ISO 26262 compliance. Lower power consumption and higher performance are achieved for optimal target application efficiency and with less effort for compliance.

“There is a growing need for DSPs and controllers in automotive applications. New technologies are transforming the way data from the many sensors in today’s cars are used in safety-critical systems,” confirms Günter Greil, Business Line Manager Generic Safety Systems at TÜV SÜD. “The Cadence Tensilica software compiler toolchain and runtime library have been certified by TÜV SÜD for use up to ASIL D for functional safety.”

“Processors are essential elements in automotive safety applications and must be developed to meet to the most stringent requirements,” said SGS-TÜV Saar expert Wolfgang Ruf, Product Manager Semiconductor. “Following a rigorous evaluation, the Cadence Tensilica hardware design process has been certified by SGS-TÜV Saar as compliant with ISO 26262 ASIL D, allowing Tensilica Functional Safety processors to be used as design elements in ASIL D systems.”

“Tensilica processors and software are designed for ISO 26262 ASIL D,” said Lazaar Louis, Senior Director, product management and marketing for Tensilica IP at Cadence. “Customers use our processors and DSPs in their safety-critical ECUs and autonomous driving platforms. The wave of innovation fueled by AI in vision, radar and lidar is transforming the autonomous driving experience. The functional safety-certified Cadence Tensilica DSPs and processors are highly optimized to process a wide range of sensor data, perceive the automobile’s surroundings, and make decisions for ADAS and autonomous driving experiences.”

For more information about Cadence design enablement for automotive, visit www.cadence.com/go/tensilicafusa.

About Cadence

Cadence enables electronic systems and semiconductor companies to create the innovative end products that are transforming the way people live, work and play. Cadence^® software, hardware and semiconductor IP are used by customers to deliver products to market faster. The company’s System Design Enablement strategy helps customers develop differentiated products—from chips to boards to systems—in mobile, consumer, cloud datacenter, automotive, aerospace, IoT, industrial and other market segments. Cadence is listed as one of Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For. Learn more at www.cadence.com.

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