MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 7 Nov. 2006. Actel Corp. in Mountain View, Calif., is partnering with Aldec Inc., to offer two integrated solutions designed for Actel's field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in high-reliability avionics and aerospace applications.
The two companies seek to alleviate the verification bottleneck in the design assurance process. In addition, Aldec of Henderson, Nev., and Actel are unveiling a flash-based prototyping solution for Actel's space-optimized RTAX-S FPGAs, allowing aerospace customers to tap the flexibility and reprogrammability of flash-based prototypes for multiple aerospace applications.
Adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the DO-254/EU80 (Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware) specification provides design assurance guidance for the development of "safe" airborne electronic hardware, including FPGA designs intended for flight use.
Aldec's hardware/software verification platform includes software tools to capture and compare simulation data with a golden set of vectors as well as a customized board for the functional verification phase of the DO-254 compliance process.
Aldec's RTAX-S prototyping solution allows customers to take advantage of Actel's flash-based reprogrammable ProASIC3/E devices. Currently, RTAX-S prototyping is achieved using a commercial one-time programmable antifuse-based FPGA.
Because several of these devices may be needed to validate a flight-unit design during prototyping, the availability of a reprogrammable solution allows for a much more cost-effective strategy. Further, the use of this new tool allows rapid reconfiguration of development platforms for space-flight computing, permitting faster integration and
co-development of hardware and software.
As part of the solution, a prototyping adaptor is provided, which maps the footprint of Actel's ProASIC3/E device to the footprint of an RTAX-S device. Customers can therefore use the reprogrammable prototyping tool without altering the layout of their space-flight printed circuit board (PCB).
For more information contact Actel online at www.actel.com, or Aldec at www.aldec.com.
