Product category:
Programmable Logic Devices
News Release from: Anadigm | Subject: Anadigmvortex
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 03 September 2002
World's first scalable analogue design
platform
Anadigmvortex is the industry's first product family to enable the design and implementation of dynamically reconfigurable analogue circuits that deliver precision and scalability to embedded systems.
Anadigmvortex is the industry's first product family to enable the design and implementation of dynamically reconfigurable analogue circuits that deliver precision and scalability to embedded systems Combining powerful new EDA software, configurable analogue modules (CAMs), and programmable silicon, Anadigmvortex reduces the time required for analogue design implementations from months to minutes
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 28 Feb 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Programmable analogue arrays shortlisted for award
The Anadigmvortex field programmable analogue array product family, has been selected as a finalist for the EDN 2002 Innovation of the Year Awards competition.
Analogue array aims for multichannel processing
The latest addition to the Anadigmvortex dynamically reconfigurable field-programmable analogue array family features a versatile I/O cell design.
With this second-generation family, designers can construct complex analogue functions with a drag-and-drop EDA tool and adjust functionality directly in automatically generated C-code.
In a breakthrough that puts analogue techniques in the hands of the system designer, now analogue functions can be controlled, updated, and manipulated by the system processor in real time.
"With Anadigmvortex, we're bringing analogue into alignment with the industry trend toward integrated reconfigurable hardware where field-programmable systems are now converging", said Mike Kay, Anadigm president and CEO.
Further reading
Development board for programmable analogue arrays
Anadigm - formerly Anadyne Microelectronics - has launched a development and evaluation board for field programmable analogue arrays (FPAAs).
Software puts standard filters on analogue arrays
Anadigm has added filter synthesis to its field-programmable analogue array (FPAA) configuration software.
Programmable analogue arrays turn to laser cooling
Anadigm has published an application note detailing how field-programmable analogue arrays (FPAAs) simplify the control of Peltier-effect thermoelectric coolers.
"With design cycles constantly accelerating, system designers are turning to programmable systems to stay competitive.
Anadigmvortex fully integrates analogue into these systems, giving designers the power to implement analogue functions in reconfigurable hardware and to update these functions from within the software".
FPAAs give designers and manufacturers increased flexibility, versatility, and product lifetime by allowing applications-specific analogue circuitry to be programmed during printed circuit board assembly, in the field, or by an embedded microcontroller within the end system.
By combining easy-to-use EDA tools with pretested and prequalified silicon, time to solution is drastically reduced compared with an analogue ASIC or a discrete implementation.
"Anadigm is making a significant contribution to the automation of analogue design, and even more importantly is helping to bring analogue into the system-level mainstream by enabling real-time updating and reconfiguration of analogue functions by the system microprocessor", said industry analyst Tony Massimini, Micrologic chief of technology at Semico.
Automatic C-code generation and the dynamic reconfigurability provided by Anadigmvortex are breakthrough capabilities in the analogue space, allowing analogue functions to be controlled as a peripheral in an embedded microcontroller-based system.
FPAA functionality can now be modified on the fly by reloading new device configurations in real time, allowing the device operation to be "time-sliced", eliminating the need for multiple circuits to handle multiple analogue functions.
Dynamic reconfigurability can also be used to provide continuous operating point monitoring as well as to compensate for component aging and environmental changes.
The programmability of Anadigmvortex additionally allows manufacturers to use a single component for multiple applications or product variants.
For example, sensor module manufacturers can now make a single FPAA-based signal conditioning front end that can be used to interface with a wide range of sensors simply by reconfiguring the FPAA.
Anadigmvortex consists of four distinct elements.
AnadigmDesigner2 is an advanced EDA tool that enables the design and implementation of dynamically reconfigurable analogue circuits within a matter of minutes.
With an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface, AnadigmDesigner2 software allows complete analogue systems to be built rapidly, simulated immediately, and then downloaded to the FPAA chip for testing and validation.
Automatic generation of C-code that describes the analogue functions performed by the FPAA allows these to be adjusted and controlled directly by a microprocessor within an embedded system.
The process by which the designer instructs AnadigmDesigner2 to create the API to be used by the system processor to execute reconfigurability is completely automated.
Anadigm provides a growing library of CAMs (configurable analogue modules), each of which can be used to implement a range of user-parameterisable analogue functions.
CAMs greatly simplify the design of complex analogue systems by allowing the designer to work at a higher level of abstraction in describing the system functionality.
The AN220E04 is the industry's first FPAA that can be dynamically reconfigured to allow real-time control, updating, and manipulation of analogue functions by microprocessors in a wide range of electronic systems.
A single AN220E04 can thus be programmed to implement multiple analogue functions and/or to adapt on the fly to maintain precision operation despite system degradation and aging.
Based on a fully differential switched capacitor technology with an analogue switch fabric, the second-generation AN220E04 has been redesigned to boost device functionality and performance.
A flexible, single-chip development system board is available to help designers prototype analogue circuits and systems.
The board is easy to use and provides features that simplify input/output connections as well as configuration expansion options.
In conjunction with AnadigmDesigner2, this development board is an ideal vehicle for designers to explore programmable analogue design.
A complete evaluation kit, including a development board, entry-level software, and updated documentation, is now available from Anadigm for $499.00.
A multimedia demonstration of the complete analogue design solution can be viewed at the Anadigm website.
(This was Electronicstalk's Top Story on 31 August 2002).
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