USB-host controller debuts; kit targets HW/SW codesign

VAutomation has unveiled a Universal Serial Bus embedded host controller for the development of products, such as digital cameras, that require USB-host capability but not the complexity of the USB host controllers designed for PCs.

According to the company, the VUSB-Host is a USB 1.0-compliant, silicon-proven core for implementation in ASICs or FPGAs. It employs a microprocessor-based architecture, with all USB command processing performed by VAutomation-supplied software that executes on an embedded 8-bit RISC microprocessor.

The company claims the core's architecture offers increased flexibility, a two- to threefold size reduction and a simpler application interface compared with non-processor-based USB core architectures. The core is said to be suited for products that have simple, well-defined requirements and that emphasize size and cost savings.

The VUSB-Host is priced at $120,000 for a single-project license. The core is provided as synthesizable VHDL or Verilog and comes with a USB 1.0-compliant test bench, synthesis scripts and documentation. A complete set of development tools, including a C compiler, assembler, software simulator and development system, is also available from VAutomation for a separate price.

CoWare Inc. is offering a processor-integration kit that lets developers ready their processor cores for design reuse via the CoWare N2C hardware/software codesign system. According to CoWare, the kit gives users everything they need to integrate instruction-set simulators, compilers, debuggers and hardware/software communication models into N2C.

The kit includes instructions and application notes, tools that help automate common tasks, a hardware-prototype-development environment, a hardware/software exploration environment and a hardware/software-codesign environment. Kit users can integrate such hardware elements as the basic processor model, memory models, hardware interfaces, and memory and peripheral bridges. They can also integrate embedded software modules, such as real-time operating systems, device drivers, application programming interfaces, processor software models and startup code.

CoWare has developed formal acceptance testing procedures that test many aspects of the interfaces with the core. The procedures test the hardware and software modules as well as the hardware/software codesign environment.

The CoWare Processor Kit is available now for $15,000 a year, plus variable fees for training and support.

Library vendor Silicon Access Inc. has standard-cell and I/O libraries tuned for new 0.25-micron processes from United Microelectronics Corp. (Hsin-Chu, Taiwan). The companies also announced an alliance to provide joint technical, sales and marketing support for the Silicon Access libraries and UMC's 0.25-micron manufacturing capability.