Product category:
Design and Development Hardware
News Release from: Actel Europe | Subject: Prototyping platforms for avionics
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 13 November 2006
Prototyping platforms put FPGAs in
avionics
Actel has partnered with Aldec to offer two highly integrated solutions designed specifically for FPGAs in high-reliability avionics and aerospace applications.
Actel has partnered with Aldec to offer two highly integrated solutions designed specifically for Actel's field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in high-reliability avionics and aerospace applications With the industry's first hardware/software verification package to ease DO-254 certification, the two companies are alleviating the verification bottleneck in the design assurance process
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 23 Apr 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Actel is sampling the A500K180 and A500K270 flash-based ProASIC 500K gate FPGAs with 369,000 and 473,000 system gates, respectively.
In addition, Aldec and Actel are unveiling a Flash-based prototyping solution for Actel's space-optimised RTAX-S FPGAs, allowing aerospace customers to tap the flexibility and reprogrammability of Flash-based prototypes for multiple aerospace applications.
"For space and avionics designers, even moderate reductions in time and development costs can make a critical difference in meeting programme timelines and budgets", said Rich Brossart, Vice President, Product Marketing at Actel.
"These new high-reliability design solutions address the time and cost consciousness and underscore the flexibility, reliability and security advantages nonvolatile, single-chip FPGAs offer".
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"Actel's strong presence in the avionics and aerospace markets with its single-chip, firm-error immune FPGA technologies makes them an ideal partner with whom to deliver these high-reliability design solutions", said Dave Rinehart, vice president at Aldec.
"We are particularly excited about the industry's first DO-254 hardware and software verification platform, which will greatly reduce the development expenses associated with the verification and testing of avionics designs".
"Actel's Protocol Design Services Group provides customers with design and verification services and solutions for electronic systems, including FPGA-based avionics applications that require DO-254 compliance", said Tony Farinaro, Actel Vice President and General Manager of the Protocol Design Services Group.
"Our DO-254 design and process flow expertise combined with the new Actel and Aldec verification platform could be instrumental in ensuring the flight-worthiness and safety of our customers' avionics designs".
Adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the DO-254/EU80 (Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware) specification provides design assurance guidance for the development of "safe" airborne electronic hardware, including FPGA designs intended for flight use.
Aldec's hardware/software verification platform includes software tools to capture and compare simulation data with a golden set of vectors as well as a customised board for the functional verification phase of the DO-254 compliance process.
Aldec's RTAX-S prototyping solution allows customers to take advantage of Actel's Flash-based reprogrammable ProASIC3/E devices.
Currently, RTAX-S prototyping is achieved using a commercial one-time programmable antifuse-based FPGA.
Because several of these devices may be needed to validate a flight-unit design during prototyping, the availability of a reprogrammable solution allows for a much more cost-effective strategy.
Further, the use of this new tool allows rapid reconfiguration of development platforms for space-flight computing, permitting faster integration and co-development of hardware and software.
As part of the solution, a prototyping adapter is provided, which maps the footprint of Actel's ProASIC3/E device to the footprint of an RTAX-S device.
Customers can therefore use the reprogrammable prototyping tool without altering the layout of their space-flight printed circuit board (PCB).
The complete prototyping solution includes an adapter board, programming kits and the hardware and software tools needed for design conversion, mixed VHDL and Verilog simulation, mapping and programming.
Pricing is dependent on the target RTAX-S device and package.
The first board will be available December 2006.
Pricing for the DO-254 hardware/software verification solution is determined by the device, features needed (customisation) and amount of support required to obtain certification.
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