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Overview
Lightelligence is a pioneering company in the field of photonics, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and founded in 2017. Known for delivering the world’s first integrated optical computer in 2019, Lightelligence is dedicated to significantly enhancing computing power while drastically reducing energy consumption. Recently, the company embarked on developing a complex, multi-die system-in-package (SiP) with novel technologies and architecture, aiming to revolutionize optical System-on-Chip (SoC) design.
Challenges
When developing a complex, multi-die system-in-package with novel technologies and architecture, Lightelligence faced several challenges:
- Predicting Performance: The team struggled to predict the system’s performance and power under realistic machine-learning (ML) workloads.
- System Architecture: They needed a modern solution to help define the overall system architecture for executing ML workloads.
- Modeling Custom SoC: Effectively modeling the performance of their custom SoC, which consisted of digital, analog, and optical components, was a significant hurdle.
Solution
Lightelligence implemented Synopsys Platform Architect to address their challenges. This dynamic simulation solution provided SoC architecture analysis and optimization for performance and power. The key features and benefits of the solution included:
- AI Workload Models: The team generated AI workload models to execute their application requirement specifications, creating performance models of their hardware architecture, including network topologies.
- Built-in Analysis Tools: These tools made it easier to analyze the performance impact of interconnect strategies and create power monitors for system-level power analysis.
- Early Insights and Better Fidelity: The solution allowed for earlier insights and better fidelity of results compared to traditional spreadsheet-based analysis.
Results
The implementation of Synopsys Platform Architect yielded significant benefits for Lightelligence:
- Improved Fidelity: The company achieved better fidelity of results compared to spreadsheet-based analysis.
- Earlier Insights: They obtained architecture analysis results much earlier than traditional methods could have provided.
- Enhanced Productivity: The built-in analysis tools made the process of analyzing performance and power more productive.
Lightelligence successfully accelerated the architecture design for their complex SoC design using Platform Architect, demonstrating the effectiveness and impact of the solution.
