Over 700 delegates from India and abroad are likely to participate in this premier VLSI conference. It provides a forum for researchers and designers to present and discuss various aspects of VLSI design, electronic design automation (EDA), enabling technologies and embedded systems.
The first two days of the conference will feature full day tutorials by worldwide experts and the main technical program of the conference will be held on the following three days.
Dr. Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra, President & Managing Director, Texas Instruments India will inaugurate the conference on January 5, 2010.
I was in conversation with Dr. Mahesh Mehendale, General Co-chair VLSID 2010 and Texas Instruments Fellow & Director, Center of Excellence for Digital Video, Texas Instruments India, and Dr. Srivaths Ravi, General Co-Chair VLSID 2010 and DFT Lead at Texas Instruments India.
According to Dr. Mehendale, this year’s conference has a theme “Affordable Technology for Emerging Markets”. The intent is to focus on what it takes to build low-cost chips and systems for emerging markets and applications. Some of the sessions revolve around this theme.He added: “We are also looking at technology trends such as CMOS scaling; challenges in 22nm and beyond; what’s beyond CMOS scaling – 3D ICs, new materials, new structures etc. Another trend is system level integration, which is heterogeneous in nature — for instance, MEMS, wireless sensor networks, micro-fluidics, etc., are among the other topics being covered.
“We have several eminent keynote speakers this year. To name some of them, we have the father of Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) — Dr. Larry J Hornbeck, Texas Instruments Fellow and inventor, the chip that became the basis for Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology, visiting us this year. He will talk about DMD and DLP. Dr. Walden C Rhines, Chairman & CEO, Mentor Graphics, is another keynote speaker. He will be speaking on ‘Delivering 10X Design Improvements’.”
The complexity of what we build on a device continues to go up. SoC is getting redefined from system-on-a- chip to systems-on-a-chip and software-on-a-chip, he added. Hence, the embedded system focus of the conference. These systems target specific applications, so there will be talks covering some of these important application domains, such as an embedded tutorial on HD video architecture.
The event hosts a talk on telemedicine by Sham Banerji of i2i TeleSolutions as part of the theme session on Wednesday, January 6. In terms of coverage, across keynotes, theme sessions, panel and embedded tutorials, the conference has a very high profile program.
On January 3-4, there will be mainly tutorials on these two days. The topics will cover the various aspects of VLSI design. It will also look at testing as an important component.
Webcasting for first time!
This year, for the first time, the organizers of the VLSID 2010 conference will be webcasting the entire conference live! That’s great news!
Dr. Mehendale said: ”We are taking the conference to the desktops of the professionals and people who may not be able to attend in person! On days 3, 4, 5 (i.e., the main conference program), we will be webcasting three of the four sessions. We are considering recording the fourth session and make it available for relay later.
“The main conference program will have four parallel tracks. The keynotes will run as plenary and will cut across all tracks. On the first two days of the technical program, in addition to three paper presentation tracks, we will have industry forums on January 5 and January 6, where we have invited technical experts from the industry to present on focus areas. We are excited about the quality of the technology programs that we are bringing in.”
What’s in it for students?
Lots, it seems! For students – this year, for the first time, the conference is supporting professionals in transition. “As a part of the conference’s Fellowship Program, we offer free tutorial and conference registration to around 75 persons. The event provides a good opportunity to develop new expertise and skills,” added Dr. Mehendale.
So, who can attend this conference from the student community? First, someone who’s working in VLSI — they can register for the conference. Two, on day 3, there is an Education Forum is targeted for students who are really initiating into the field of VLSI. They can register for this one-day event, hear the keynotes and attend the Forum. Three, the education forum will be webcast as well. “Bangalore has always been a good host for this conference. We are expecting higher attendance than 2009,” he said.
As per Dr. Srivaths Ravi, the VLSI conference is traditionally held in the first or second week of January every year, and is now considered is a premier event across Asia. There is also a good deal of recognition and awareness among people.He said: “For ensuring participation and awareness, we are taking help of an email broadcast. We have also been reaching out to the VLSI community — industry, as well as academia. VSI, the co-ordinating body, is making sure that we reach out to students and faculty in India.
“Externally, we do it through liaisons outside India – Europe, the US and Japan. We do want to create an awareness among the newer crowd. The availability of webcasts will ensure that the penetration of the conference into small towns can happen. This vision and model will benefit the semiconductor industry in the longer term.
“This event provides the perfect platform for global players in the semiconductor ecosystem from academia and industry to get together to create the continuous knowledge sharing and learning needed to keep the Indian VLSI professional on the leading edge of design, EDA.
“Today, with the VLSI design conference in India, we do not need an engineer travel to a DAC or ISSCC to keep himself or herself abreast. That is a key contribution. That in addition to the continuous efforts of VSI, ISA, and the government will be what it takes to propel the Indian semiconductor industry.”
How can this conference help job seekers?
Dr Mehendale noted: “We will have over 20 companies who will exhibit in the event. In the past, some companies have reached out to students through their booths. It will be probably continued this year as well. Most companies are represented through their leaders and key engineers.”
Dr. Srivaths Ravi added: “Many students are also interested in VLSI research. They can get the opportunity to meet faculty from overseas and Indian universities.”
I hope to attend the conference and blog about it. Keep watching this space, friends.
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