Software provides easy access to embedded FPGAs

Altium's Nexar FPGA development system is now shipping, along with a new 2004 range of "LiveDesign-enabled" products.

Altium's Nexar FPGA development system is now shipping, along with a new 2004 range of "LiveDesign-enabled" products.

The software products commencing shipment include two new product lines, Nexar and CircuitStudio, and updated versions of Altium's existing Protel and CAMtastic products.

In addition to these software releases, Altium is also launching the industry's first FPGA-based LiveDesign-enabled development board, which Altium calls a NanoBoard (nano-level breadboard).

The NanoBoard (RRP Eur 995) will be included free with Nexar and Protel software licences for a limited time.

Nexar, the industry's first comprehensive, vendor-independent solution for embedded system-level design on an FPGA platform, introduces a new design methodology for digital systems that Altium calls LiveDesign.

LiveDesign is a real-time, interactive design and development methodology that enables rapid implementation, testing and debugging of digital designs through a combination of FPGA-targeted virtual instruments that are incorporated at the schematic level, JTAG communications technology, and the NanoBoard, which connects to the engineer's PC.

LiveDesign provides the engineer with a hands-on hardware and software environment for on-the-fly development and implementation of a real, physical circuit, including "soft" processor cores, which is directly accessible from their desktop.

Nexar's LiveDesign environment minimizes the need for simulation at the system level and enables the development of complete embedded systems on an FPGA without the need for HDL-based entry.

"Since we first introduced the concept of Nexar in November 2003, feedback and demand for the product has been overwhelmingly positive.

Now that we are ready to ship Nexar, engineers will see that it presents a breakthrough in system-level design on an FPGA platform and allows processors to be easily brought inside the FPGA", says Nick Martin, Joint CEO and Founder, Altium.

"What's more, Nexar's LiveDesign environment together with the NanoBoard provide a design methodology that will be familiar to most engineers, making embedded system design on an FPGA platform readily accessible to mainstream engineers.

We believe that now, with Nexar, every engineer can do chip-level design".

Altium is also extending the LiveDesign methodology to its other electronics design products.

Based on Altium's Design Explorer (DXP) technology integration platform, all 2004 products work together seamlessly, enabling engineers to access the benefits of LiveDesign at any stage of the design process - from front-end capture, board-level design, and computer aided manufacturing (CAM), to systems development on a programmable platform.

Altium believes that its new range of LiveDesign-enabled products has the potential to redefine electronics design and development.

"LiveDesign enables real-time communication and interaction between the designer and the design which means the commitment to final hardware can be delayed until much later in the design cycle", says Martin.

"We believe this new methodology will have a profound impact on the way products are designed in the future, with benefits to the speed, design flow, quality and final product cost for the design phase".

Altium will now commence rolling out its new 2004 generation of LiveDesign-enabled tools, with others to be released throughout the year.

Protel 2004 - the complete board-level design system - has been enhanced to expand the traditional boundaries of board-level design and to work natively with Nexar.

Protel 2004 fully supports the integration of PCB designs with FPGA projects by integrating the NanoBoard and a set of FPGA-based virtual instruments, enabling the user to perform rapid and interactive implementation and debugging of FPGA-based designs.

CircuitStudio 2004 is a new universal front-end design system for board level and FPGA design, incorporated into Nexar and Protel 2004.

CircuitStudio features hierarchical schematic capture, mixed-mode simulation, VHDL simulation, and pre-layout signal integrity capabilities.

CAMtastic 2004 - the PCB CAM tool - has been updated and rereleased on the new LiveDesign-enabled platform to provide seamless integration with Altium's board-level and PCB design tools.

NanoBoard NB1 is the industry's first FPGA-based, LiveDesign-enabled development board.

Altium believes that its range of LiveDesign-enabled products is key to supporting the ultimate convergence of hardware and software design as they make the highly complex set of hardware and software design processes both usable and affordable for mainstream engineers.

With this next generation of LiveDesign-enabled electronics design tools, Altium continues to make electronics design easier by providing every engineer, designer and developer with easy access to the best possible design tools.

New licence list prices for Altium's 2004 range of products are as follows: Nexar 2004 is priced at Eur 7995 (free NanoBoard included for a limited time); Protel 2004 is Eur 7995 (free NanoBoard included for a limited time); CircuitStudio 2004 is Eur 1995; CAMtastic 2004 is Eur 2995; and the NanoBoard NB1 costs Eur 995.

A unified Nexar-Protel 2004 licence, which includes a free NanoBoard (for a limited time) and provides the entire LiveDesign-enabled electronics design environment, is also available for Eur 9995.

Free software evaluation licences are available for all products and can be ordered via Altium's website or by contacting a local Altium sales and support centre.

To evaluate Nexar, customers can purchase the LiveDesign-enabled development board - the NanoBoard - for Eur 995 which provides users with the full LiveDesign experience.

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