Development platform features low-cost FPGAs

The ProcSpark II development platform features Altera's low-cost Cyclone II FPGAs.

Altera Corp and Gidel have announced the immediate availability of the ProcSpark II development platform featuring Altera's low-cost Cyclone II FPGAs.

Designed for FPGA-based reconfigurable computing, the ProcSpark II system delivers reduced costs, high flexibility, shorter development times, and enhanced reliability for complex designs.

"Altera's industry-leading low-cost Cyclone II FPGAs enable ProcSpark II to address our customers' complex development needs", said Reuven Weintraub, President and CTO of Gidel.

"ProcSpark II's cost and performance is enhanced by Gidel's unique development tools, making it fast and easy to achieve record-breaking performance for cost-sensitive applications".

The ProcSpark II platform features an Altera Cyclone II EP2C35 device, a PCIbus, 64Mbyte of DRAM, and expansion connectors for up to two daughtercards in the ProcStar II daughterboard (PSDB) format.

The Cyclone II EP2C35 device provides up to 33,216 logic elements (LEs), 35 embedded multipliers, and over 483Kbit of on-chip RAM.

The PCIbus allows for data transfers up to 400Mbit/s and the PSDBs provide expansion possibilities including: CameraLink, digital video interface (DVI), RGB, digital signal processors, memory, or additional custom made system interfaces.

These features combine to make ProcSpark II a powerful and versatile reconfigurable computing platform for high-volume applications such as powerful frame grabbers, in-house dedicated test equipment, medical imaging, military, industrial equipment, and education.

The ProcSpark II development platform can also be combined with Gidel's ProcPak II development suite for improved time-to-market benefits.

The ProcPak II development suite contains the ProcSpark II board, software, and intellectual property (IP), allowing designers to focus on their designs instead of spending time re-creating standard design components.

"Partnering with Gidel has resulted in the development of a variety of ASIC prototyping solutions featuring the performance, density, and cost advantages of Altera's FPGAs", said Jack Ogawa, Senior Director of Altera's Partner Solutions Group.

"The new ProcSpark II board with our Cyclone II device addresses the needs of system designers looking for an affordable platform to help bring their designs to market quickly".

Gidel is also shipping the ProcStar II board featuring Altera's Stratix II EP2S180 devices, the industry's fastest and highest-density FPGAs.

The ProcStar II board is designed for rapid ASIC prototyping, research, and high-density applications.

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