Upgrade Gives FPGA Design Environment 60% Boost

    Sept. 1, 2003
    With more ASIC developers moving to large complex FPGAs, FPGA design flows must include ASIC-like features like floorplanning and optimized synthesis. Of course, FPGA designers require software tools tailored to specific architectures, and users of...

    With more ASIC developers moving to large complex FPGAs, FPGA design flows must include ASIC-like features like floorplanning and optimized synthesis. Of course, FPGA designers require software tools tailored to specific architectures, and users of Actel's ProASIC Plus devices are no exception.

    With enhanced synthesis and place-and-route tools, version 5.0 of Actel's Libero integrated design environment (IDE) delivers a performance gain of more than 60% for the ProASIC Plus FPGAs. Actel's Designer v5.0, the physical design tool suite within the Libero IDE, delivers a comprehensive user-driven floorplanner and a powerful graphic interface.

    Also included within Libero are expanded interfaces to external tools, such as Mentor Graphics' Precision and LeonardoSpectrum synthesis tools, Synplicity's Synplify Pro synthesis tool, and Actel's own programming and debugging tools.

    The environment features Synplicity's Synplify 7.3 software, which has been enhanced for improved quality of results for Actel's FPGAs. Also featured are SynaptiCAD's WaveFormer Lite v9.0 and Mentor's ModelSim v.5.7.

    The ChipPlanner floorplanner lets designers achieve optimal tradeoffs between design density and performance by managing regions, logic placement, I/O assignment, and routing. Also new is the Multi-View Navigator, a graphical interface that provides simultaneous displays of the floorplanner, netlist, package, I/O attributes, hierarchy, and log window.

    The suite manages all design and report files, seamlessly passing data between tools. It supports mixed-mode design entry, giving designers the choice of mixing Verilog or VHDL blocks with schematic modules in a design.

    Libero IDE v5.0 comes in Silver, Gold, and Platinum versions. Silver and Platinum evaluation editions are free via Actel's Web site. Pricing for the IDE starts at $595. The Platinum version starts at $995.

    Actel Corp.www.actel.com
    About the Author

    David Maliniak | MWRF Executive Editor

    In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.
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