Product Review
Lattice announces new rev of mixed-signal design tools
Clive Maxfield12/12/2011 2:29 PM EST
Comment
Dr DSP
It is really nice when Programmable Logic suppliers offer free tools that really ...
The folks at Lattice Semiconductor have just announced release 6.2 of their PAC-Designer mixed signal design software, with updated support for Lattice’s Platform Manager, Power Manager II, and ispClock devices.
Users designing with Platform Manager devices now have more integrated access to the Lattice Diamond 1.4 software design environment, also announced today (Click Here to see that announcement).
The advanced integration of the PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 design software tools make more advanced digital design options available for Platform Manager products. Features such as reduced LogiBuilder code size, simplified design flow and better access to external Platform Manager pin-to-pin connections are among the improvements included in PAC-Designer release 6.2.
“Improvements in the latest PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 software tools raise our customers’ ability to design and simulate Platform Manager devices to new levels,” said Shyam Chandra, Lattice Product Marketing Manager for Mixed Signal Products. “The ability to simulate external pins enables platform-level logic simulation that significantly increases the likelihood of first time success, resulting in reduced time to market.”
Comprehensive analog and digital design flow
PAC-Designer 6.2 software provides an easy to use GUI-based design methodology for configuring the Platform Manager’s analog sections. To implement more advanced digital board management functions, Lattice Diamond Verilog/VHDL design tools are available for use with the same design. Once a design is implemented, a complete simulation environment is created that includes automatic stimulus template file generation.
Design support
PAC-Designer 6.2 software includes reference designs specifically targeted for the Platform Manager development kit. More reference designs compatible with Platform Manager devices are available on the Lattice website (Click Here to see these reference designs).
Third-party design tool support
The integrated PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 software both include the Synopsys Synplify Pro advanced FPGA synthesis for Windows. Aldec’s Active-HDL Lattice Edition II simulator is also included for Windows.
In addition to the tool support provided by the OEM versions of Synplify Pro and Active-HDL, Lattice devices are also supported by the full versions of Synopsys Synplify Pro and Aldec Active-HDL. Mentor Graphics ModelSim SE and Precision RTL synthesis also support Lattice devices.
About the Platform Manager family
The Platform Manager product family consists of two devices, the LPTM10-1247 and LPTM10-12107. The LPTM10-1247 device can monitor 12 voltage rails and supports 47 combined digital inputs and digital outputs, while the LPTM10-12107 monitors up to 12 voltage rails and supports 107 combined digital inputs and digital outputs.
Functionally, these devices include both a power management section and a digital board management section. The power management section consists of a programmable threshold, precision differential input comparator block with an accuracy of 0.7%, a 48-macrocell CPLD, programmable hardware timers, a 10-bit analog to digital converter and a trim block for the trimming and margining of supplies. The digital board management section consists of a 640-LUT FPGA and programmable logic interface I/O.
Pricing and availability
PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 software are available immediately for free download from the Lattice website (Click Here). Once downloaded and installed, PAC-Designer 6.2 software requires no separate license file. Lattice Diamond 1.4 software can be used with either the Lattice Diamond free license or the Lattice Diamond subscription license.
The Lattice Diamond free license can be immediately generated upon request from the Lattice website and provides no cost access to the Platform Manager product family as well as many other popular Lattice devices such as the MachXO2 and MachXO PLD families, the LatticeXP2 FPGA family, and the LatticeECP2 FPGA family. The Lattice Diamond free license enables Synopsys Synplify Pro for Lattice synthesis as well as the Aldec Lattice Edition II mixed language simulator.
If you found this article to be of interest, visit Programmable Logic Designline where you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to programmable logic devices of every flavor and size (FPGAs, CPLDs, CSSPs, PSoCs...).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Users designing with Platform Manager devices now have more integrated access to the Lattice Diamond 1.4 software design environment, also announced today (Click Here to see that announcement).
The advanced integration of the PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 design software tools make more advanced digital design options available for Platform Manager products. Features such as reduced LogiBuilder code size, simplified design flow and better access to external Platform Manager pin-to-pin connections are among the improvements included in PAC-Designer release 6.2.
“Improvements in the latest PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 software tools raise our customers’ ability to design and simulate Platform Manager devices to new levels,” said Shyam Chandra, Lattice Product Marketing Manager for Mixed Signal Products. “The ability to simulate external pins enables platform-level logic simulation that significantly increases the likelihood of first time success, resulting in reduced time to market.”
Comprehensive analog and digital design flow
PAC-Designer 6.2 software provides an easy to use GUI-based design methodology for configuring the Platform Manager’s analog sections. To implement more advanced digital board management functions, Lattice Diamond Verilog/VHDL design tools are available for use with the same design. Once a design is implemented, a complete simulation environment is created that includes automatic stimulus template file generation.
Design support
PAC-Designer 6.2 software includes reference designs specifically targeted for the Platform Manager development kit. More reference designs compatible with Platform Manager devices are available on the Lattice website (Click Here to see these reference designs).
Third-party design tool support
The integrated PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 software both include the Synopsys Synplify Pro advanced FPGA synthesis for Windows. Aldec’s Active-HDL Lattice Edition II simulator is also included for Windows.
In addition to the tool support provided by the OEM versions of Synplify Pro and Active-HDL, Lattice devices are also supported by the full versions of Synopsys Synplify Pro and Aldec Active-HDL. Mentor Graphics ModelSim SE and Precision RTL synthesis also support Lattice devices.
About the Platform Manager family
The Platform Manager product family consists of two devices, the LPTM10-1247 and LPTM10-12107. The LPTM10-1247 device can monitor 12 voltage rails and supports 47 combined digital inputs and digital outputs, while the LPTM10-12107 monitors up to 12 voltage rails and supports 107 combined digital inputs and digital outputs.
Functionally, these devices include both a power management section and a digital board management section. The power management section consists of a programmable threshold, precision differential input comparator block with an accuracy of 0.7%, a 48-macrocell CPLD, programmable hardware timers, a 10-bit analog to digital converter and a trim block for the trimming and margining of supplies. The digital board management section consists of a 640-LUT FPGA and programmable logic interface I/O.
Pricing and availability
PAC-Designer 6.2 and Lattice Diamond 1.4 software are available immediately for free download from the Lattice website (Click Here). Once downloaded and installed, PAC-Designer 6.2 software requires no separate license file. Lattice Diamond 1.4 software can be used with either the Lattice Diamond free license or the Lattice Diamond subscription license.
The Lattice Diamond free license can be immediately generated upon request from the Lattice website and provides no cost access to the Platform Manager product family as well as many other popular Lattice devices such as the MachXO2 and MachXO PLD families, the LatticeXP2 FPGA family, and the LatticeECP2 FPGA family. The Lattice Diamond free license enables Synopsys Synplify Pro for Lattice synthesis as well as the Aldec Lattice Edition II mixed language simulator.
If you found this article to be of interest, visit Programmable Logic Designline where you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to programmable logic devices of every flavor and size (FPGAs, CPLDs, CSSPs, PSoCs...).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
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Dr DSP
12/12/2011 10:24 PM EST
It is really nice when Programmable Logic suppliers offer free tools that really do the job. The PAC-Designer tools in particular are really easy to use. Along with the excellent features of the Platform manager devices and helpful design handbook (Power 2 You) even a digital only PLD designer can create state of the art Power management mixed signal designs. Try it out.
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