Smarter, Faster, Automated: Why IDS-Integrate Leads the Future of SoC Development

Discover how IDS-Integrate transforms System-on-Chip (SoC) development through intelligent automation. From hierarchical design and Git-aware version control to power, timing, and physical design awareness, IDS-Integrate helps engineers streamline complex workflows and accelerate innovation.

The Growing Complexity of SoC Design and the Role of IDS-Integrate

The semiconductor industry is evolving faster than ever, and System-on-Chip (SoC) designs are growing increasingly complex. Engineers often work with hundreds sometimes even thousands of IPs and subsystems to build a single SoC. Making sure all these pieces fit and function together correctly is a major challenge.

In the past, engineers had to connect and integrate these IPs mostly by hand, with some help from scripts. It was a time-consuming process that required a lot of coordination across teams. Manual steps also left plenty of room for mistakes—issues that could slip through design and only show up later during verification, or worse, after tape-out.

That’s where IDS-Integrate comes in. It provides a complete automation platform designed to simplify and streamline the SoC design process. Instead of manually wiring up connections and configurations, IDS-Integrate automates them handling ports, buses, register maps, third-party IPs, and even power and timing data. From a single, unified source, it can generate all the necessary design outputs automatically.

By taking care of these repetitive and error-prone tasks, IDS-Integrate helps design teams save time, reduce risk, and keep their focus where it matters most: on creating better architectures and optimizing performance, rather than managing endless spreadsheets and scripts.

IDS-Integrate: Advanced Capabilities and New Features

IDS-Integrate is a mature and feature-rich tool built to support modern SoC design requirements. It offers broad API support, flexible connectivity options, and an extensive range of automation capabilities that help engineering teams achieve greater efficiency and design consistency.

Among its core strengths, IDS-Integrate provides robust Design Rule Check (DRC) capabilities, efficient parsing of RTL (Register Transfer Level) and IP-XACT files, and seamless integration with TGI (Tight Generator Interface) APIs. Through TGI APIs, users can read and update IP-XACT files using TCL or Python scripts, improving workflow automation and flexibility.

Key New Features of IDS-Integrate

• Hierarchical Design Approach
  IDS-Integrate simplifies management of complex multi-level designs by enabling seamless connectivity across different design hierarchies. Features like hierarchical partitioning and port promotion help automate structural organization, resulting in efficient RTL generation and a more abstract, high-level design representation.

• Git-Aware Version Control
  Version control is deeply integrated via the IDS-Integrate Git Wrapper API, supporting block-level version management. Users can tag design snapshots, maintain revision histories, and easily switch between design versions—all within the IDS-Integrate environment. This ensures smooth collaboration and traceability throughout the design cycle.

•  Power- and Timing-Aware Design
  IDS-Integrate now supports Synopsys Design Constraints (SDC) and Unified Power Format (UPF), allowing designers to incorporate power and timing data during SoC assembly. This capability promotes seamless integration and reliable implementation across all design stages.

• Consistency with Physical Design
  With its physical-awareness feature, IDS-Integrate can align logical hierarchies with physical ones using DEF (Design Exchange Format) and CSV mapping files. This alignment ensures a coherent relationship between logical and physical domains, minimizing inconsistencies during layout and implementation.

• VS Code Extension
  The new IDS-Integrate VS Code Extension improves user productivity by simplifying script development. Beyond standard linting, it provides full visibility of API features, reducing the need for manual coding and enabling a more intuitive user experience.

With these advancements, IDS-Integrate continues to set a high standard for SoC design automation—delivering smarter, faster, and more reliable integration capabilities. By unifying design management, version control, and physical awareness, IDS-Integrate empowers teams to develop complex SoCs with greater confidence, precision, and speed.

Summary

IDS-Integrate revolutionizes the SoC design process by replacing manual, error-prone integration with a fully automated, intelligent workflow. It brings together hierarchical design management, DRC automation, version control through Git, and power- and timing-aware integration—ensuring consistency across the entire design lifecycle. With added physical design awareness and a convenient VS Code extension, IDS-Integrate not only streamlines complex SoC assembly but also enhances collaboration and design accuracy. As SoC designs continue to grow in complexity, IDS-Integrate remains at the forefront of design automation, empowering teams to deliver faster, smarter, and more accurate silicon solutions.