Design
FTDI expedites embedded design projects with new addition to its Vinco offering
USB solutions specialist Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI) has further strengthened its Arduino-inspired Vinco platform (which was first announced in November 2010) with the introduction of the VNCLO-START1 kit. This comprehensive new development environment based on the company's Vinculum-II (VNC2) dual channel USB Host/Device controller effectively gives engineers everything they need for developing next generation embedded systems.
Curved Finite Elements now also for the Eigenmode Solver
Computer Simulation Technology (CST) announces the introduction of a finite element based eigenmode solver in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO version 2011 SP3, at IMS 2011 booth #1423. The computation of eigenmodes is essential for the accurate design of resonant structures, such as cavities, filters or particle accelerators.
Magma and Fraunhofer IIS Partner to Accelerate Analog Implementation
Magma Design Automation announced a partnership with Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, developer of microelectronic systems and devices, to develop process-independent Titan™ FlexCell models of the Institute's analog intellectual property (IP) cores. Through the partnership, Magma will provide Fraunhofer IIS with access to Titan analog design accelerators and FineSim SPICE simulation technology and will assist in creating models of complex analog macro cells, including analog-digital converters (ADC). With the availability of a wider range of Titan FlexCells and expert consulting services, developers using Magma tools and Fraunhofer IIS IP can accelerate analog design implementation.
Magma - Titan Analog Design Kit for TSMC 180-nm/65-nm nodes
Magma Design Automation announced immediate availability of the Titan Analog Design Kit for TSMC 180-nanometer (nm) and 65-nm processes, that implements Titan's model-based design methodology with Titan FlexCells, which are modular, process- and specification-independent, reusable analog building blocks. The kit provides an analog design ecosystem that enables mutual Magma and TSMC customers to dramatically improve design quality and designer productivity.
ARM and Synopsys Sign Multi-Year EDA Tools and ARM Cortex-A15 Access Agreements
ARM and Synopsys have signed an expanded multi-year agreement extending ARM's access to Synopsys' innovative EDA technology. ARM will also provide Synopsys with access to the ARM Cortex-A15 processor to maximize performance and energy efficiency of SoCs built by ARM's Partners using this advanced ARM processor and Synopsys tools. Both agreements build upon a long history of partnership between the two companies, including ARM's use of Synopsys EDA tools in the design of the ARM Cortex-A processor family and the experience gained supporting leading ARM Cortex licensees.
Mentor Graphics - Common Embedded Software Development Platform for any Stage of Development from Virtual Prototypes to Hardware Emulation and Boards
Mentor Graphics announced a unified embedded software debugging platform, from pre-silicon to final product, based on the integration of the Mentor Embedded Sourcery CodeBench embedded software development tools with Mentor's leading electronic system level (ESL), verification, and hardware emulation products. These include the Mentor Graphics® Vista™ Virtual Prototyping product, Veloce® hardware emulator, prototype target boards, and end products or any combination thereof. The new common platform, being shown at the Mentor booth #1542 at DAC, enables embedded software developers to access technology data from hardware design tools without leaving their native embedded software environment.
New AMBA4 Specs Optimise Coherency for mulitcore SOCs
ARM today announced the latest AMBA 4 interface and protocol specification featuring the AMBA 4 AXI Coherency Extensions (ACE). Cache coherency is essential in multicore computing applications to efficiently maintain the consistency of data stored in local caches of a shared resource. The AMBA 4 ACE specification enables system level cache coherency across clusters of multicore processors, such as the ARM® Cortex™-A15 MPCore™ processors and ARM® Mali™-T604 graphics processors. This ensures optimum performance and power efficiency of complex heterogeneous SoC designs, and is designed to address next generation computing across mobile, home, networking and gaming applications.
Oasys Design Systems adds DFT Capabilities to Chip Synthesis
Oasys Design Systems today announced that its Chip Synthesis platform, in use in production environments, now includes design for test (DFT) capabilities, further extending the fast speed and high capacity of Oasys' RealTime Designer software.
Mentor Graphics Announces New Capital Tools that Expand Coverage Beyond the Electrical Design Domain
Mentor Graphics announced today a significant expansion of the company's Capital product suite. Already offering a powerful electrical system and wire harness design flow for the automotive, aerospace and defence industries, the Capital suite now includes three new products that extend that flow both upstream and downstream. With the introduction of new tools addressing configuration complexity, harness manufacturing and vehicle documentation and maintenance, Capital now delivers coverage from product definition to service technician. Employing breakthrough technologies, the new tools have high commercial value for platform OEMs, wire harness manufacturers and service organizations.
AVR Dragon with a Difference
Kanda has taken the AVR Dragon programmer and emulator and created enhanced AVR development kits. As well as all necessary cables and instructions, AVR development board, books, software and sample code are all included in the package.
Forte Design Systems Ships Latest Version of Cynthesizer High-Level Synthesis
Forte Design Systems today began shipping the latest version of its Cynthesizer SystemC high-level synthesis (HLS) software, offering improved performance and quality of results (QoR).
AWR Showcases AWR 2011 Design Suite at IMS2011
AWR Corporation the innovation leader in high-frequency EDA, is showcasing AWR 2011, the latest release of its popular software design suite, at IMS2011 in Booth 1618. AWR 2011 adds new features and productivity enhancements to every product in the suite, including Microwave Office™ high-frequency design software, AXIEM® 3D planar electromagnetic (EM) analysis software, Visual System Simulator™ (VSS) communication system design and optimization software, and Analog Office® RFIC design software.
Magma's Titan and FineSim Validated for TSMC's Analog/Mixed-Signal Reference Flow 2.0 for 28-nm Processes
Magma Design Automation has validated the Titan Mixed-Signal Design Platform and FineSim SPICE and FineSim Pro circuit simulation products for inclusion in TSMC's Analog/Mixed-Signal (AMS) Reference Flow 2.0. The TSMC AMS Reference Flow 2.0 targets its most advanced 28-nanometer (nm) process technology and includes a comprehensive design kit and new advanced custom design methodologies. Magma's Titan Mixed-Signal Design Platform and FineSim circuit simulator have been applied to support the enhanced flow. With Magma's advanced technology and the TSMC AMS Reference Flow 2.0 flow, mutual customers can accelerate the design and manufacture of next-generation analog/mixed-signal IC designs.
Magma's Talus IC Implementation System Supports TSMC 28-nm Process Technology through Reference Flow 12.0
Magma Design Automation announced that Magma's Talus, Hydra, Tekton, QCP and Quartz DRC integrated circuit (IC) implementation and verification solutions have been qualified to support the TSMC Reference Flow 12.0. Through TSMC's Open Innovation Platform (OIP), Magma's product suite provides users with advanced features to address the challenges of 28-nanometer (nm) design.
Mentor Graphics Forges TLM Synthesis Link Between Hardware Implementation and Virtual Prototyping
Mentor Graphics announced that the Catapult C high-level synthesis tool now supports the synthesis of transaction level models (TLMs). TLM synthesis provides the foundation for an executable methodology allowing interplay between Catapult C Synthesis and the Vista™ platform, resulting in a complete TLM 2.0-based solution for virtual prototyping and hardware implementation and enabling the creation of synthesis-ready virtual platforms. Expanding its full-chip synthesis technology, the Catapult C tool now delivers a methodology and a set of models to support TLM synthesis. With the new TLM synthesis flow, abstract TLM models are converted to pin-accurate, protocol-specific, SystemC models, and from there, synthesized to RTL code. Conversely, existing synthesizable descriptions can be converted to TLMs. The flow supports standard off-the-shelf bus interfaces, including the ARM AMBA bus family, as well as custom protocols. This new capability provides an essential link between virtual prototyping and HLS-based hardware implementation. Traditionally, these two activities have been separated by incompatible abstraction requirements: virtual prototyping relying on fast and abstract TLM interfaces, and HLS requiring pin-accurate synthesizable models. With its new TLM synthesis capabilities, the Catapult C tool closes this gap and, combining with Vista, opens new opportunities in ESL design, verification and virtual prototyping. "Eighty-seven percent of the respondents in a recent survey said it was either mandatory or highly desirable to have high-level synthesis tools integrated with ESL flows," said Simon Bloch, vice president and general manager, Design and Synthesis division at Mentor Graphics. "TLM synthesis leverages Mentor's strong technology 'know how' in both high-level synthesis with Catapult C and virtual prototyping with the Vista platform as a pivotal starting point for new levels of ESL flow integration." Synthesis-ready virtual platforms leverage standard TLM interfaces to combine simulation and synthesizable models. This allows joint design and verification at both the platform and the IP levels using a single and consistent ESL model. Hardware design teams can create abstract TLM models to be automatically synthesized to production quality RTL code using the Catapult C tool. At the same time, those models can be shared with the platform team for system integration, early software testing and fast ESL verification using Vista. Uniting TLM synthesis and simulation effectively creates convergence of ESL models and flows.
Synopsys Delivers 28-nm Design Solutions and Advanced System-Level Capabilities for TSMC Reference Flow 12.0
Synopsys announced that it is delivering comprehensive design enablement for TSMC's 28-nm process technology, integrated manufacturing compliance and an advanced system-level prototyping solution, with TSMC Reference Flow 12.0. New features of the flow include virtual prototyping and high-level synthesis linked to TSMC's advanced processes, expanded manufacturing compliance capabilities and full support of TSMC's latest 28-nm design rules and models within Synopsys' Galaxy™ Implementation Platform. With the new tool capabilities and system-level design integration, designers gain productivity, shortened time-to-market and faster time-to-volume using TSMC's 28-nm process technology.
Imec and Atrenta Develop Exploration Flows for 3D ICs
Atrenta Inc., a leading provider of SoC Realization solutions for the semiconductor and electronic systems industries, in collaboration with imec's 3D integration IIAP (industrial affiliation program), have jointly developed an advanced planning and partitioning design flow for heterogeneous 3D stacked ICs. Imec and Atrenta will be demonstrating this flow at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Diego, CA from June 6 – 8, 2011.
MathWorks Strengthens Physical Modelling Capabilities with Enhancements to SimDriveline
MathWorks today announced a new version of SimDriveline that helps simplify the integration of other physical domains into drivetrain models, including thermal losses in geartrains, electrical solenoids, and hydraulically actuated clutches. SimDriveline, based on MathWorks Simscape technology, helps engineers model and simulate mechanical systems in Simulink for a variety of automotive, aerospace, defense, and industrial applications.
Timesys enables LinuxLink support for PMC-Sierra WinPath3-SuperLite System on Chip
Timesys announced a LinuxLink offering for the PMC-Sierra WinPath3-SuperLite high-performance System on Chip (SoC). The WinPath3-SuperLite is the newest member of PMC-Sierra's WinPath™ processor family, which includes the WinPath3 and WinPath2, both of which are already supported by LinuxLink.
SYSGO’s PikeOS achieved Security Certification Evaluation according to French National Security Agency
SYSGO, a leading supplier of embedded software solutions for the world's most demanding safety and security applications, is announcing that its flagship RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) product PikeOS has been used in the definition of a Security Target that has been successfully evaluated by a certified French security test lab and received approval from the French Network and Information Security Agency (ANSSI). This security label is a first but important achievement in the overall process of Common Criteria EAL certification initiated by SYSGO in 2007.
Altera Quartus II Software Version 11.0 Features the Production Release of Qsys System Integration Tool
Altera announced the release of its Quartus II software version 11.0, the industry's number one software in performance and productivity for CPLD, FPGA and HardCopy ASIC designs. Version 11.0 features the production release of Altera's next-generation system integration tool, Qsys. The new Qsys tool features the industry's first FPGA-optimized network-on-a-chip (NoC)-based interconnect delivering up to 2X higher interconnect performance compared to SOPC Builder. Qsys improves system scalability for large FPGA designs and enables support for industry standard interfaces (Avalon and AMBA® AXI™ from ARM®, etc).
Pedal-Powered Boat for Trans-Atlantic Voyage Comes to Life with Autodesk Software
A team of British engineers relied on software from Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) to design an innovative pedal-powered boat for a 3,000-mile trans-Atlantic race to raise money for charity.
Mistral now a part of Texas Instruments’ Elite Design House Network
Mistral Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a leading technology design and systems engineering company, has joined Texas Instruments' (TI) Elite Design House Network. Mistral is now a part of a niche group of international companies that offer system-level design services and products, providing accelerated product innovation and time-to-market to product developers.
Wind River Accelerates OpenSAF-Based High Availability Systems Development
Wind River, a world leader in embedded and mobile software, has extended its relationship with GoAhead Software, a worldwide leader in middleware for embedded systems. Wind River is now the preferred integration partner for GoAhead Software's OpenSAFfire offering and GoAhead Software is Wind River's preferred partner for commercial OpenSAF solutions. Together, Wind River and GoAhead Software provide a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution for an open source platform integrating industry standards-based high availability and Linux. Additionally, Wind River has introduced Wind River OpenSAF Quickstart, a professional services and technical support package designed to help customers who are using the OpenSAF open source project for quick prototyping or are struggling with developing their own OpenSAF applications.
Wind River Launches Certified EAL4+ Embedded Linux Platform
Wind River, a world leader in embedded and mobile software, today announced availability of and security certification for Wind River Linux Secure, the first commercial embedded Linux platform to achieve Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4+ (EAL4+) certification by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) using the General Purpose Operating System Protection Profile (GP-OSPP).
Wind River Introduces Simics 4.6
Wind River, a world leader in embedded and mobile software, today introduced Wind River Simics 4.6, a full system simulator that allows developers to transform the way they develop, debug, and test electronic systems by enabling them to simulate the functional behavior of their target hardware, from a single processor to large, complex, and connected electronic systems. The newest version of Simics introduces the capability to debug software applications that expand over multiple boards, increases team collaboration, and enables target system visualization and surveillance.
INCHRON Stages 3rd Congress on Real-Time Development in Munich
INCHRON GmbH, a leading manufacturer and supplier of design and test solutions for real-time critical software in embedded systems, will be staging the international Real-Time Congress for the third year running in Munich. The theme of this year's event is risk management in projects with real-time-critical applications.
Silicon Frontline Announces First Commercial 3D Hierarchical Extractor
Silicon Frontline Technology, Inc. (SFT), an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company, in the post-layout verification market focused on solutions for nanometer design applications, announced today that it is introducing the industry's first commercial hierarchical 3D extractor, H3D, for post-layout verification. H3D offers hierarchical parasitic extraction, hierarchical netlisting, unlimited capacity, and field-solver accuracy. H3D works with design flows from the leading EDA suppliers.
EVE Expands ZeBu Line with New Vertical Solutions
EVE, the leader in hardware/software co-verification, today began shipping four new vertical solutions, further expanding its best-in-class ZeBu hardware-assisted verification family into computer/peripherals, embedded processors, networking and video markets.
EVE Integrates ZeBu with ARM VSTREAM Virtual Debug Interface
EVE, the leader in hardware/software co-verification, announced today it has integrated its best-in-class ZeBu hardware-assisted verification solution with the fast and flexible ARM® VSTREAM™ Virtual Debug Interface.
QNX Software Systems, in partnership with MPC Data and ARM, is hosting a one-day seminar entitled “Medical Devices & Technology: Design for Regulatory Compliance”
QNX Software Systems, in partnership with MPC Data and ARM, is hosting a one-day seminar entitled "Medical Devices & Technology: Design for Regulatory Compliance"
New Version of Zuken's CR-5000 Software Focuses on Technology, Infrastructure and Process Optimization
Zuken today announced the availability of CR-5000 revision 13.0, its most advanced design suite for electronics systems and PCBs. This new release sees the introduction of new core technology for power integrity analysis along with a wide array of developments to accelerate process optimization and integration including more efficient DRC checking, improvements in hierarchical design, management of constraint data and more.
Green Hills Software announces support for multicore processors in INTEGRITY-178B high-assurance multi-level-secure real-time operating system
Green Hills Software, the proven worldwide leader in FAA/EASA- and NSA-certified high-assurance operating systems, today announced that its newest version of the INTEGRITY-178B real-time operating system (RTOS) supports multicore processors with initial availability on Freescale Semiconductor's family of QorIQ™ processors.
Elan Digital Introduces New Demonstrator Pcb And Driver For Tiny Usbhc869 Usb Interface Chip
Elan Digital System's USBHC869 USB interface chip now has a Demonstrator PCB including SDK driver code to help engineers simplify and speed up the development task of implementing the capability of the chip. Windows CE and Linux (Android) driver software are also available for this chip.
Synopsys' DesignWare SATA 6Gb/s IP Solutions Receive SATA-IO Certification
Synopsys announced that its DesignWare SATA IP solutions, including Host and Device Digital Controllers and mixed-signal PHY IP, have successfully passed the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) 6G certification.
TI’s new TINA-TI 9.1 increases speed 5X, adds Chinese, Japanese and Russian versions
Texas Instruments introduced TINA-TI 9.1, a powerful SPICE-based analog design and simulation tool. The latest version of the free software program, which averages 5X speed increases over version 7.0, allows engineers to design, test and troubleshoot a broad variety of basic and advanced analog circuits, including complex architectures, without any node or number of device limitations. In addition, TINA-TI 9.1 supports any industry SPICE models, making it easier than ever for engineers to simulate their designs. TINA-TI 9.1 is available in simplified and traditional Chinese, Japanese and Russian, as well as English.
Concept 2 Market, Inc. Announces Implementation of Aegis Manufacturing Operations Software
The recently completed implementation of Aegis Manufacturing Operations Software allows Concept 2 Market, Inc. (C2M) to improve efficiencies and quality by streamlining and controlling process planning and launch, process tracking and control, and quality and test management.
GrammaTech Announces Static Analysis for Multi-core and Multi-threaded Applications
GrammaTech, Inc., a leading manufacturer of source-code analysis tools, today announced that it has developed a sophisticated new program-analysis engine that identifies data race conditions and other serious concurrency defects. The engine is being incorporated into the company's popular CodeSonar static-analysis tool.
Synopsys' DesignWare SuperSpeed USB 3.0 xHCI Host Controller IP Receives USB-IF Certification
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, today announced that its DesignWare® SuperSpeed USB 3.0 xHCI (Extensible Host Controller Interface) IP has successfully passed the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) SuperSpeed USB certification.
Plextek - System-level design group helps customers to reach their end goals faster
Plextek, the leading Cambridge design house and technology innovator, today announced the formation of its new Systems Group. Through its Systems Group Plextek can help customers to realise business advantage by consolidating internal with external knowledge and expertise. The new group offers a new capability in systems design, providing innovative solutions and an efficient route to expert knowledge, technical skills, expertise and a proven track record of successful product development.
