Kit eases convertor selection and development

The CED toolkit platform is claimed to be capable of shaving six to eight weeks off the convertor selection and design-in process.

Analog Devices has developed an advanced convertor evaluation and development (CED) toolkit that it reckons is the industry's first to combine leading data convertor evaluation technology with a robust end-product development environment.

Thanks to a flexible design that provides four interface ports and up to eight separate power supplies, the CED toolkit platform is capable of shaving six to eight weeks off the convertor selection and design-in process.

The toolkit, which features a user-programmable, industry-standard FPGA-based development environment and data convertor software drivers, accelerates product development schedules by helping system engineers quickly and easily integrate convertors into the end system.

"The ability to quickly move from component selection to product design dramatically improves time to market", says Mike Byrne, Marketing and Applications Manager, Precision Data convertors, Analog Devices.

"ADI's CED toolkit, the only tool with the hardware and software required to demonstrate convertor performance in a real development environment, accomplishes this feat".

"Moreover, the toolkit uses the same hardware for both evaluation and development, eliminating thousands of dollars in unnecessary software and equipment that would otherwise be required for performance analysis, programming and code development".

Designed initially to work with more than 25 of ADI's most popular, leading-edge precision convertors, the CED toolkit's evaluation component includes all elements needed for direct communication between the convertor and PC over a standard USB link.

The accompanying software provides a suite of analysis routines that lets designers quickly compare convertor speed and throughput rates against user-defined performance criteria.

An intuitive setup guide then allows design engineers to easily control and program the convertor while streaming data directly to the PC display.

The flexible toolkit provides developers with a single source for evaluating multiple precision convertors.

With a variety of interface ports, including SPI, SPORT, parallel and LVDS, the CED toolkit supports a range of serial and parallel precision convertor evaluation boards in different form factors.

External hardware requirements are further reduced through the new toolkit's ability to provide as many as eight separate power supplies.

The CED toolkit's development environment includes a hardware platform and convertor software drivers that together allow designers to easily link function blocks and quickly render complete system-level concepts.

The time-saving development toolkit consists of a reconfigurable FPGA-based platform that can be reprogrammed via the USB connection using supplied Verilog code.

Users can then develop and run customised code to precisely match the convertors to their design environment while performing specific system-level design tasks.

The toolkit connects directly to Analog Devices' Blackfin EZ-Kit, allowing designers to utilise provided software drivers to generate DSP code for their system application.

With appropriate hardware, any DSP or processor can be connected to the tool, providing a means to develop combined FPGA- and processor-based systems.

Additionally, National Instruments' LabView-based evaluation software for precision convertors is included in the development platform, giving system engineers access to both AC and DC convertor performance specifications.

"ADI's CED toolkit has a large, 36Mbyte memory capacity and a simple setup for fast, accurate convertor evaluation", says Byrne.

"The development environment is familiar and easy to program".

"Competing platforms lack source and sample code, are not user programmable, or require external power supplies - and none of the tools available today facilitates design".

The CED toolkit includes an evaluation board, USB A-to-mini-B cable, and a 7.5V power supply.

The tool is available now for US $500.

Back to top