Product category:
Design and Development Software
News Release from: Anadigm | Subject: AnadigmDesigner2
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 21 February 2005
Software shrinks programmable analogue
designs
The latest version of AnadigmDesigner2 introduces a range of new features that give designers greater flexibility in designing and prototyping FPAAs.
Anadigm has updated its AnadigmDesigner2 EDA tool used to design, implement, and test dynamically reconfigurable field programmable analogue arrays (FPAAs) AnadigmDesigner2 version 2.5 introduces a range of new features that give designers greater flexibility in designing and prototyping FPAAs
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 3 Sep 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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Software supprts reconfigurable analogue arrays
A breakthrough analogue EDA tool enables the design and implementation of dynamically reconfigurable analogue circuits within a matter of minutes.
More dynamic reconfigurability for analogue arrays
The latest version of the AnadigmDesigner2 EDA software includes a breakthrough feature that greatly expands the ability of field-programmable analogue arrays to be reconfigured on the fly.
Shrinking the code size of configuration datasets by 90%, this newest AnadigmDesigner2 allows the use of lower-end microcontroller companion devices in FPAA implementations, significantly reducing the cost of software-controlled analogue solutions.
A new Visual C++ prototyping tool makes it easier than ever to prototype dynamically reconfigurable FPAAs using the Anadigmvortex development system.
A streamlined user interface features significant improvements to the CAM browser and handler, and enhancements to the supporting AnadigmFilter tool include the ability to create custom filters by manually moving pole and zero positions.
Further reading
Configurable analogue modules speed filter design
Designers can now point and click to implement analogue dividers, complex Bessel filters, and gain-polarity stages in a drift-free, integrated silicon platform.
Software automates PID controller development
A new EDA tool fully automates the development of analogue "proportional, integral, derivative" control loops.
Free trial for programmable analogue design
Now designers can try dynamically reconfigurable programmable analogue design for free.
"We've demonstrated a continued commitment to enhancing our AnadigmDesigner2 EDA tool suite, making it increasingly easy to use and flexible enough to handle a wide variety of applications in the audio, RFID, industrial, and medical industries, to name a few", said Bill McLean, CEO of Anadigm.
"From our customers' point of view, this new version of AnadigmDesigner2 represents a major advance for both prototyping FPAAs and reducing cost of ownership for production designs".
AnadigmDesigner2 version 2.5 includes a significant update to the generation of application programming interfaces that allow dynamic device configuration from a microcontroller.
The facility can now reduce configuration code by a factor of 10-to-1 by precalculating wide ranges of circuit states and presenting the ready-made configuration datasets in a compact form to the microcontroller.
This makes it possible to use lower-end devices that have limited memory and computing power.
The new AnadigmDesigner2 Visual C++ prototyping tool makes it much easier for designers to exercise the full reconfiguration strength of an FPAA in the prototype environment.
Generating a ready-made complete project for Visual C++ and Microsoft.NET, this new capability allows users to quickly and easily generate a program on a PC that can dynamically update the FPAA device provided on the Anadigmvortex evaluation board.
As a result, designers can test and adjust dynamically reconfigurable FPAA implementations in real time and observe exactly how they will work in real-world applications.
The AnadigmDesigner2 user interface has also been enhanced, with simplified libraries that can list CAMs either by device type or function.
The new CAM handlers provide support for the wide variety of Anadigmvortex FPAAs and are forward-compatible with future FPAA families for audio, RFID, and other applications.
The CAM most appropriate to a device family under test is automatically selected while the others are greyed out.
Additional interface improvements include an improved clock settings dialog and a new chip selection guide.
The supporting AnadigmFilter filter synthesis tool has been improved to communicate better with the updated AnadigmDesigner2 version 2.5.
A new pole/zero edit window enables users to move pole and zero positions manually to create custom filters.
Any manual changes to the filter CAM parameters in AnadigmDesigner2 are now reflected back to the AnadigmFilter response.
Multiple filters are supported within a single design, and achieved CAM parameters are reinterpreted to derive the achieved filter response, which is now displayed on top of the requested filter response.
Anadigm FPAAs are used to replace discrete components and ASICs in real-world interfaces, where the devices greatly reduce the length of design cycles while bringing analogue functions under digital control.
Dynamically reconfigurable FPAAs allow on-the-fly, real-time control of analogue functions by the microprocessor in an embedded system, giving the designer the flexibility to implement new features such as autoranging and autocalibration, and also to have the device change functionality sequentially over time to support multiple operating modes.
Statically reconfigurable FPAAs require a reset before reloading a new configuration bitstream.
An evaluation copy of AnadigmDesigner2 version 2.5 is available for download from the Anadigm website.
A complete evaluation kit with a development board, entry-level software, and updated documentation is now available at a promotional price of $199.
Pricing for the FPAA family of silicon products ranges from $3.15 to $7.69 in 10,000-piece quantities.
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