Product category:
Programmable Logic Devices
News Release from: Actel Europe | Subject: AFS250
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 07 August 2007
Programmable systems have power to spare
Design combines Fusion Programmable System Chip with CoreABC microcontroller to provide a complete system management solution using a fraction of the Fusion part's logic tiles.
A new reference design from Actel enables intelligent system and power management implementations starting at US $1.20 The design combines the award-winning, mixed-signal Fusion Programmable System Chip (PSC) with the optimised, configurable CoreABC microcontroller to provide a complete system management solution using a fraction of the Fusion part's logic tiles
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 23 Apr 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The CoreABC soft microcontroller provides a complete system management solution, in conjunction with Fusion's analogue subsystems, which uses roughly 40,000 gates of the 250,000-gate AFS250 Actel Fusion device.
This results in an implementation cost of $1.20, and leaves the remaining portion of the device free for integrating additional system functionality such as glue logic, as well as clock generation and management logic.
The solution therefore enables significant bill of materials, power and board area savings.
Actel's system management solution integrates voltage monitors, current monitors, thermal monitoring, real-time signal processing, PLD functionality and more often replacing more than 10 discrete components typically used in system management applications.
Additionally the Actel Fusion solution allows designers to engage in intelligent system, power and thermal management, data logging and system diagnostics in a single chip, saving board space.
Today's highly integrated systems require advanced implementations of power and system management to handle the higher currents and numerous system voltages in smaller packages.
This, in turn, creates the need for thermal management as well as the need for efficient battery and system power management, as more and more systems become portable.
The combination of CoreABC and Fusion makes it possible to effectively monitor system performance, improve system efficiencies and maximise battery life.
As important, Fusion enables easy implementation of board-level power saving modes to optimise or minimise power consumption for other devices on the board.
Using the mixed-signal Actel Fusion device and CoreABC, designers can achieve real-time operation with hardware response times.
In addition, CoreABC does not need complex interrupt schemes or a real-time operating system.
The programmable Fusion device can monitor temperatures, voltages and currents using analogue inputs.
Actel's low-cost system management reference design is available now.
The reference design includes VHDL and Verilog versions of the design with a detailed user guide.
Actel also delivers a comprehensive development environment, including the Libero integrated design environment (IDE) and CoreConsole intellectual property (IP) deployment platform, as well as a broad portfolio of free IP cores for processing, communications, and analogue and memory interface.
The Actel AFS250 is available now, with prices starting at US $7.50 in 100,000-unit volume.
The Actel AFS090 Fusion device is planned for Q4 with prices starting at $4.50 in 100,000-unit volume.
Actel's CoreABC is available for download free of charge with Actel's CoreConsole software.
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