EDA Update: ASIC Prototyping Support

ASIC prototyping support has been built into Hier Design's PlanAhead hierarchical floorplanning and analysis software. The tool, which automates the design and integration of IP blocks within FPGAs, has been shown to help designers more quickly create FPGA prototypes for verifying ASIC designs. PlanAhead uses a block-based methodology that allows designers to "carve out" logic blocks from their ASIC designs and place them on an FPGA for prototyping. They can then optimize blocks for performance and test them with related software. As a result, ASIC prototypes run at a much higher speed than is possible with traditional emulation. A time-based license for PlanAhead costs $25,000/year; it runs on Solaris, Windows and Linux platforms. For details, visit www.hierdesign.com.