Curtis Widdoes Mentor Graphics Corp.

Formal Verification of Hardware - An Industrial Perspective

University researchers in formal verification of hardware have made many incorrect assumptions about the ways that formal verification technology will be applied by users in industry. As a result, the transfer of formal verification technology from universities to industry has been slow and painful. Based on nine years' experience developing and marketing formal verification tools for industrial use, this talk identifies the troublesome assumptions and suggests new directions for research that would more readily transfer to industry.

Bio:

Dr. Widdoes is widely recognized as a pioneer of the EDA industry. He has founded three successful EDA companies. In 1981, he founded Valid Logic Systems and started the CAE industry. In 1987, he founded Logic Modeling Systems, which was later acquired by Synopsys. In 1996, he co-founded 0-In Design Automation, which pioneered assertion-based verification for the design of integrated circuits. In 2004, 0-In was acquired by Mentor Graphics Corporation, where Dr. Widdoes now serves as Chief Engineering Scientist. Dr. Widdoes holds a B.S. in engineering and applied science from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He holds eleven U.S. patents in EDA and is an IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award recipient.