TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES

Products and services for system design

FPGAs The AT40K Coprocessor FPGAs are a family of five fully PCI-compliant, dynamically reconfigurable devices. Ranging in size from 5,000 to 50,000 usable gates, the SRAM-based devices feature distributed 10-ns programmable synchronous and asynchronous single- and dual-port SRAM. They are supported by eight global clocks, Atmel's CacheLogic ability (partially or fully reconfigurable without loss of data), and automatic component generators. I/O counts vary from 128 to 384. All members of the family can be pin-locked and accommodate both 3- and 5-V designs. Their eight-sided, look-up-table-based cell is optimized for implementing large array multipliers that require no routing and offer high performance. The devices are supported by the FPGA Designer 5.0 tool suite. Pin-compatible with Xilinx's XC4000 and XC5200 families, they are available in packages ranging from an 84-pin PLCC to a 475-pin BGA. In an 84-pin PLCC, the AT40K20, which has 20,000 gates and 8 kbits of RAM, sells for $44 each in quantities of 1,000 units. Atmel Corp., San Jose, Calif. Contact (800) 292-8635, (408) 441-0732, literature@atmel.com, or www.atmel.com.

PCB router The newest member of the Accel EDA family of PCB layout and design software for Windows, the Accel InterRoute Gold interactive router addresses fan-out and bus and memory routing requirements, as well as layout editing needs. The tool offers seven distinct interactive routing functions, including push trace and multiwire routing and calculates available routing paths, which are viewable on screen with the Visible Routing Area feature. This design aid reviews all user-defined clearance and width parameters (commonly called "class rules"), plus "keep-out" areas, then displays the routable area with a transparent, solid, or hatched gray panel superimposed over the active design. Accel InterRoute Gold is available as an option for Accel P-CAD PCB or Accel Tango PCB and runs on Windows 95 or Windows NT platforms. It lists for $3,500. Accel Technologies Inc., San Diego, Calif. Contact (800) 488-0680, (619) 554-1000, or www.acceltech.com.

FPGAs The MX family of FPGAs consists of seven devices with 2,000 to 52,000 logic gates, features Actel's nonvolatile antifuse technology, and performs clock-to-Q transitions in as little as 5.6 ns. In addition, the devices have low stand-by power consumption. Designers have the ability to combine fast dual-port SRAM, fast wide-decode, and hardwired JTAG scan with predictable timing. The FPGAs also offer up to 100 percent resource utilization with complete flexibility in assigning pins. They are supported by Actel's Designer Series FPGA design tools and come in a wide range of packages, from a 44-pin PLCC to a 240-pin PQFP. The 4,000-gate A40MX04 and the 16,000-gate A42MX16 are available now. Actel Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif. Contact (408) 739-1010, or www.actel.com.

Timing design WaveFormer Pro version 4.0 takes design information entered as Boolean equations, timing information, component models, and input waveforms and converts it into HDL code, which users can then view. In addition, native HDL code can be entered directly. The tool incorporates SynaptiCAD's HDL Interactive Simulation technology. Now, changes automatically result in updates to simulation results. By immediately resimulating users' native HDL code, it allows new users to understand the operation of HDL statements. Simulation supports min, max, and worst-case timing options. Also, delay, setup, and hold information can be specified globally or locally for system memory elements, and timing information can be specified using constants or timing-parameter variables that can contain mathematical expressions. The tool performs mixed-level simulation, from the behavioral down to the switch level, and includes hierarchical modeling, allowing components to be built structurally from subcomponents. Pricing starts at $1,750 for Windows and $3,500 for a floating Unix license. SynaptiCAD Inc., Blacksburg, Va. Contact (800) 804-7073, sales@syncad.com, or www.syncad.com.

C model client Version 1.7 of the SimMatrix electrical simulator backplane incorporates a new procedural interface, the PCMC (Precedence C Model Client), which is designed to address the use of one or more C models in hardware/software and system-on-a-chip designs. The PCMC permits C models to control commercial simulators or the design verification session. It also offers an interface to a number of proprietary or commercially available simulators, and multiple C models can be instantiated in one design. With the PCMC, a single integration of a C model into SimMatrix provides a ready-made interface to any simulator. Furthermore, the PCMC supports simultaneous use of multiple C models in either the driver or the driven configuration. It optimizes communications among C models and can achieve more than 15 times the communications bandwidth of a simulator procedural interface for both functional and full timing simulation. SimMatrix version 1.7 can be purchased directly for $8,000 or from any of Precedence's channel partners as part of their OEM offerings. Current SimMatrix direct or OEM customers on maintenance can upgrade at no cost. Precedence Inc., Campbell, Calif. Contact (408) 345-4880 or www.precedence.com.

integrated system design  December 1997