Altera unveils dev kit for Cyclone III LS

SAN FRANCISCO—Altera Corp. this week announced the availability of the Cyclone III LS FPGA Development Kit, featuring hardware and software solutions that allow customers to prototype and test designs for Altera's Cyclone III LS FPGAs.

Altera (San Jose, Calif.) claims that Cyclone III LS devices are the lowest power FPGAs at less than 0.25W of static power for 200,000 logic elements. The devices provide redundancy and information security features suited for military and industrial applications where security is paramount, according to Altera.

The Cyclone III LS Development Kit offers access to selected security features of the device, Altera said. The anti-tamper design example included in the kit uses an external Altera MAX II CPLD as a configuration manager that accesses the passive and active security features, the company said. Program file encryption and JTAG port protection provide a passive layer of resistance against theft of confidential design files, while the CRC error detection feature and an internal oscillator help designers create an application to actively monitor design tampering while in operation, according to Altera.

The Cyclone III LS Development Kit provides resources for video, data and image processing, Altera said. The development kit includes a Cyclone III LS EP3CLS200F780C7N FPGA-based development board, a one-year license for Quartus II Design Software, Development Kit Edition and access to Altera's MegaCore IP Library including the Nios II Embedded Design Suite, Altera said.

The Cyclone III LS Development Kit is available and priced at $3,495. More information about the kit is available on Altera's website.