Researchers plan to further investigate and develop the potential market viability of Symbolic Virtual Device (SVD) and Hardware Design as Virtual Device (HD-VD) technologies. Both SVD and HD-VD enable device driver development and validation before real devices or their hardware prototypes become available. Through this project, research plans to study the formal hypothesis-validation approach to access the potential and market readiness of these technologies and to mitigate gaps between academic research and public use.
SVD and HD-VD technologies have the potential to significantly reduce the time-to-market of devices and their drivers while improving their quality. They can help truly realize the "shift left" paradigm in the device and driver co-development: driver development starts early and driver code is largely ready when the device becomes available. Design and validation products based on these technologies are expected to influence design of semiconductors as well as systems and software products.
The goal of this project is to assess the commercial readiness of Symbolic Virtual Device (SVD) and Hardware Design as Virtual Device (HD-VD) technologies developed at Portland State University. The SVD and HD-VD technologies have the potentials to significantly reduce the time-to-market (aka. time-to-money) of devices and their drivers while improving their quality. They can help truly realize the ``shift left'' paradigm in the device and driver co-development: driver development starts early and driver code is largely ready when the device becomes available. Design and validation products based on these technologies are expected to be adopted by major semiconductor companies. In this project, the I-Corps team went through a rigorous curriculum based on the formal hypothesis-validation approach to access the potential and commercial readiness of these technologies and to mitigate gaps between academic research and commercialization. As part of this curriculum and continued after the curriculum, the I-Corps team conducted more than 100 interviews with potential customers of the technologies, developed a business plan/canvas capturing the key components in commercializing these technologies, and prepared and submitted a SBIR proposal to NSF. The key outcomes of this project include (1) a business plan/canvas which lays out the key components in commercializing these technologies and (2) a SBIR proposal to NSF that applies for funding to support this commercialization effort.
