Microsemi introduces leaded versions of its FPGA-based SmartFusion cSoC devices for military applications

Sept. 5, 2011
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 5 Sept. 2011. The Microsemi Corp. SoC Group in Mountain View, Calif., is introducing a leaded version of the company's SmartFusion customizable system-on-chip (cSoC) devices for aerospace and defense applications that must resist the effects of lead-free solder, such as tin whiskers. Microsemi cSoC devices are based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology.



MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 5 Sept. 2011. The Microsemi Corp. SoC Group in Mountain View, Calif., is introducing a leaded version of the company's SmartFusion customizable system-on-chip (cSoC) devices for aerospace and defense applications that must resist the effects of lead-free solder, such as tin whiskers. Microsemi cSoC devices are based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology.

Microsemi SoC is making the SmartFusion cSoC family available in a leaded 208-PQFP package that reduces overall printed circuit board manufacturing and debugging costs, as it requires fewer circuit board layers compared to ball grid array and chip scale packages, company officials say. The PQ208 is designed for military and industrial applications such as military avionics, missiles, weapons, motor and motion control, gaming machines, and solar inverters.

The Microsemi PQ208 features an ARM Cortex-M3 based 32-bit microcontroller with as much as 512 kilobytes of flash memory, as much as 500,000 gates of FPGA, and programmable analog. It also has 10/100 Ethernet; external memory controller with I2C, SPI, and UART interfaces; as many as 113 user input/outputs including FPGA; microcontroller GPIO, and analog I/O.

Microsemi's SmartFusion cSoCs integrate an FPGA, a microcontroller built around a hard ARM Cortex-M3 processor, and programmable analog, and are for hardware and embedded computing designers who need a flexible SoC based on FPGA technology, rather than traditional fixed-function microcontroller.

For more information contact Microsemi online at www.actel.com.

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About the Author

John Keller | Editor

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

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