Actel rolls out low-cost IGLOO nano starter kit

The folks at Actel have introduced their new low-cost starter kits for their low-power IGLOO nano FPGAs. Available for $49.95, the nano kits are expected to accelerate industry-wide adoption of Actel's nano FPGAs.

The IGLOO nano kits can be used for prototyping designs targeted to IGLOO nano FPGAs or lower cost ProASIC3 nano FPGAs in all logic densities. IGLOO nano and ProASIC3 nano devices are footprint compatible between families, enabling flexibility in device selection. Customers can order the kits online from Mouser Electronics, Future Electronics and Avnet-Memec, or by contacting Actel sales.

"If you're a designer of portable devices, this kit will get your product into the market very quickly, and allow you to stay power-, price- and size-competitive," said Rich Kapusta, Actel's vice president of marketing and business development.

Actel's nano-power, nano-priced, nano-sized devices have been created to meet power-conscious application needs, from designs ranging from a cool handheld product that requires a tiny 3 mm x 3 mm chip to a portable medical product that requires more density and performance.

The IGLOO nano starter kit includes a development board featuring an IGLOO AGLN250V2-ZVQG100 device, a programming stick, user's guide, tutorial, and design examples. Intended for use with Actel's Libero development tools, the kit offers simple connections to LEDs and switches to implement a sample design with all I/Os available for connection to external systems or applications.

The board is programmed via a USB connection, through the programming stick attached to the IGLOO nano board. The IGLOO nano board contains a separate USB connection to a UART for implementing a hyper terminal connection to a personal computer, allowing data to flow to and from the computer. This feature enables sophisticated data control of a programmed application running on the IGLOO nano device.