TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES Products and services for IC and electronic system design

Design migration Companion, a subset of Sagantec's physical design migration software, Design Rule Enforcement and Migration (DREAM), is designed to increase the efficiency of developing and optimizing existing hard IP and cell libraries and to aid process technology migration. It compacts existing designs and macrocell libraries and ensures design rule correctness, while minimizing the number of iterations required to do so. The tool also can target cell libraries and IP to new process technologies. The first release, shipping in volume in June, focuses on the design of leaf cells. Companion is priced at $40,000 and will be available for SPARCstations running under SunOS, Sun Ultras running under Solaris, and HP 9000/7000s running under HP-UX. Sagantec North America, Inc., Milpitas, Calif. Contact (408) 934-1155 or www.sagantec.com.

Analysis tool Source-Navigator 4.0 is a scalable, extensible, cross-platform, multilanguage analysis tool that offers on-the-fly visualization and analysis of complex projects exceeding 1 million lines of code. It provides a graphical user interface for understanding the relationships among components in large or complex projects. Developers can browse, edit, and search large-scale software projects without changing development methodologies or needing complex source code reconfiguration. The tool's project database can be shared over a network so that multiple users can work on large-scale projects simultaneously. Once the project database is automatically built, the APIs let developers write plug-in tools that handle specific queries on the project structure. The GUI can then be modified to provide a graphical representation of the information returned. The tool includes multiple-language parsers for C/C++, Java, Tel, assembly, Fortran, and Cobol. It is available immediately on CD-ROM, or it can be downloaded from Cygnus's Web site at www.cygnus.com/
product/snavigator. A maintenance contract for regular product updates is available. Version 4.0 runs on Windows 95 and NT and on SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Irix, and Linux. Pricing starts at $1,995 for a single-user license. Cygnus Solutions, Sunnyvale, Calif. Contact (800) CYGNUS1 or www.cygnus.com.

Analog tool suite A suite of analog EDA tools that comply with OVI 1.0 Verilog-A, an analog extension to industry-standard Verilog, includes a debugger, an analog HDL-based compiler, and a scripting language for model characterization and testing. The suite can be bundled with Cadence's Analog Artist design system and Spectre circuit simulator. The design flow is similar to a standard one based in VHDL or Verilog. Analog designers use the Verilog-A language to describe their design, then work with the debugger--which automatically checks probes and breakpoints and inspects model parameters--to ensure that circuits match their models. The scripting language then queues up test benches to characterize the model further. The suite is available now in volume and runs on Unix-based workstations. Prices start at $20,000. Cadence Design Systems, Inc., San Jose, Calif. Contact (408) 943-1234 or www.cadence.com.

Hardware design C2Verilog+Test is a new option for the ANSI C­to­Verilog compiler, C2Verilog, that allows HDL designers and system architects to automatically generate test benches for Verilog simulation and design verification of FPGAs and ASICs. Test benches compiled from C descriptions can be used to verify Verilog designs created manually or compiled by C2Verilog. C2Verilog+Test can also verify IP macros distributed as C models: Designers can compile C models into Verilog test bench code and synthesize it into a variety of hardware emulation products. C2Verilog+Test operates in a command line and a graphical user interface mode on Windows 95 and NT and in a command mode on SunOS, Solaris, and HP-UX. It's available as a $5,000 upgrade for the base C2Verilog system, which is priced at $9,500. Compilogic Corp., San Jose, Calif. Contact (408) 369-0555 or www.compilogic.com.

Design suite Serenade 7.5 for PC-based design of RF circuits is fully compatible with previous versions and offers integrated schematic, circuit analysis, and layout capability. High-frequency designs can be captured, analyzed, optimized, and physically designed, while taking performance and manufacturability requirements into account. The suite, combined with Ansoft's electromagnetic field solvers, allows users to include analysis of electromagnetic coupling effects within their circuit analyses. A new harmonic-balance engine can simulate more non-linear devices and spectral components in a single analysis. In addition, users can now directly calculate adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) for distortion evaluation. A fully integrated filter synthesis tool allows popular filter types, such as stepped-impedance, interdigital, hairpin, stub, combline, and edge-coupled, to be synthesized to user specifications. With a new stability analysis capability, users can detect non-linear circuit instabilities and oscillations. Licensing options include a portable hardware key, node-locked software key, and network-based floating licenses. The suite is available on Windows 95 and NT. List price for a single-user, node-locked linear suite is $9,995; the full non-linear suite is $21,945. Ansoft Corp., Pittsburgh, Pa. Contact (412) 261-3200 or www.ansoft.com.

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integrated system design  May 1998