Microprocessor and Electronics Programming
- Reduces time to implement new electronics designs by speeding up different design strategies
- Reduces development costs by running simulations with a graphical user interface
Graphical User Interface design
OCC designed a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to provide a familiar Windows environment for programmers to design hardware. The GUI also runs simulations for testing the Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) or chips which reduces the initial design process and reduced a 6-month design task to 12 hours!
In computer design, there is a constant struggle between balancing speed and versatility. Microprocessors are general purpose devices which can run a huge range of software and perform several different functions.
Software for integrated chip design
The chips (ASICs) can be integrated into the system separately but their design allows them to perform a limited series of tasks, such as 3-D graphics. Manufacturers of electronic products have to use ASICs to achieve acceptable and competitive performance.
ASICs are limited to their minimal range of predetermined tasks and several hundred are required to produce an integrated circuit. This is time consuming and the market demands constant product improvements so the ASIC design process is neverending and expensive.
Faster all-in-one chip with many configurations
An innovative solution involves a field programmable gate array (FPGA) which is a single programmable chip that can be reconfigured any number of times in milliseconds. A single device can be configured to be a mobile phone, a handheld PC or a music player.
FPGA chips in electronic devices provide enormous speed gains operating up to 200 times faster than ASICs devices. Reconfigurability reduces the initial design process, helping manufacturers achieve faster time-to-market by reducing a 6-month design task to 12 hours!
The complexity of recongifuring these programmable chips is a process that requires manual input from expert chip designers. Celoxica produced the technology that enables software engineers to design hardware - through the use of a high-level programming language similar to C and a set of support tools. This makes it easily accessible to programmers.
FPGAs have enormous impact on Internet acceleration, Internet security, multimedia entertainment and mobile/fixed telephony.
