SmartFusion: Actel's new 'smart' mixed signal FPGAs
By Benny Thomas   |   Thursday, 25 March 2010, 18:59 IST   |    3 Comments
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SmartFusion: Actel's new 'smart' mixed signal FPGAs
Hyderabad: Actel, a supplier of low power FPGAs and mixed signal FPGAs, has unveiled its latest product range christened SmartFusion, which is claimed to be the first 'intelligent' mixed signal FPGA. SmartFusion devices integrate Actel's FPGA fabric, a microcontroller subsystem built around a hard ARM Cortex M3 processor and programmable analog blocks on a flash process. The device was developed by Actel based on the customer feedback it received from its first mixed signal FPGA - Fusion, which was launched in 2005. "Our customers wanted more out of microcontrollers, hence in SmartFusion we have not compromised on that and integrated microcontrollers in the device," says Esam Elashmawi, Vice President of Silicon Engineering at Actel. According to him, understanding the customers' needs is one of the main challenges that the FPGA industry faces today, hence through this new device Actel hopes to address this challenge. SmartFusion devices feature Actel's flash-based ProASIC FPGA architecture. Built on an advanced 130-nm CMOS process, Actel offers densities ranging from 60K to 500K system gates, with 350 MHz performance and up to 204 I/Os. "This combination enables the integration of existing functions from other devices, substantially reducing board space and power consumption of the overall system," says Elashmawi. SmartFusion devices offer a solution in a wide variety of applications, including motor control, system and power management and industrial automation. These applications span the industrial, military, medical, telecommunications, computing and storage verticals. According to Actel, using SmartFusion, embedded designers can optimize hardware/software tradeoffs on the fly without broad-level changes. In the device, all the data transferred from the processor to the FPGA or from the analog to the processor or between the FPGA and the analog is on-chip. In order to keep the intellectual property secure, Actel has also integrated its FlashLock technology in the SmartFusion device. The SmartFusion A2F200 devices are now available in volume production. A2F500 devices are scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2010 and A2F060 devices are expected at the second half of the year. Evaluation kits priced at $99 and a full development kit for $999 are immediately available. The SmartFusion family is supported by Libero Integrated Design Environment (IDE) v9.0, Actel's software toolset for designing with all Actel FPGAs. Libero IDE version 9.0 is currently available for download, free of charge at Actel's website. The Libero IDE includes synthesis, simulation and debug tools from Synopsys and Mentor Graphics as well as timing and power optimization and analysis. Being the largest development centre for Actel outside U.S., the company's Hyderabad center has contributed significantly in the development of SmartFusion, according to Mahendra Jain, Country Manager of Actel India. With a headcount of 75, the center contributes to silicon engineering, software and systems engineering and application development of the company. "Now, we are planning to ramp up our operations with more investments and increasing our employee strength to more than 100 within this year," adds Jain. Apart from using the Indian talent pool for developing its products, Actel is also looking at India as a major market to sell its products. "There is more adoption of FPGAs in the Indian market because of the increase in design houses in the country, hence even we want to grab this opportunity," says Elashmawi. In India, the company is mainly targeting the defense and avionics sectors to sell its goods.

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