Digital ICs/DSPs: Reference Design Kit Helps Optimize Low-Power Systems

Dec. 8, 2004

Engineers wishing to optimize their low-power designs that use QuickLogic Eclipse II FPGAs, as well as verify those designs in silicon, may want to take a look at a new reference design kit (RDK). The RDK includes hardware and software tools that measure actual power consumption and calculate, analyze, and simulate power dissipation. It also contains a prototyping board that houses the Eclipse II FPGA, an RS-232C port, a UART, 4 kbytes of serial EEPROM, and two LED displays. Its daughterboard for power measurement includes a microcontroller, an LCD module, two LEDs, and three current sensors. Designers can access every I/O pin on an Eclipse II FPGA and easily connect to diagnostic tools. In single-unit quantities, the RDK sells for less than $500.

QuickLogic Corp.
www.quicklogic.com

About the Author

Dave Bursky

Technologist

Dave Bursky, the founder of New Ideas in Communications, a publication website featuring the blog column Chipnastics – the Art and Science of Chip Design. He is also president of PRN Engineering, a technical writing and market consulting company. Prior to these organizations, he spent about a dozen years as a contributing editor to Chip Design magazine. Concurrent with Chip Design, he was also the technical editorial manager at Maxim Integrated Products, and prior to Maxim, Dave spent over 35 years working as an engineer for the U.S. Army Electronics Command and an editor with Electronic Design Magazine.