Anadigm Offers Customers New Cost-Reduction Path with FreezeFrame Program Delivering Functional Equivalents to Field Programmable Analog Arrays.TEMPE, Ariz. -- Anadigm(R), the programmable analog company, today launched a new program that will provide customers using its field programmable analog arrays (FPAAs) in high-volume applications with a cost reduction path yielding savings up to 60 percent over the life of a given design. Under the new Anadigm(R) FreezeFrame(TM) program, customers who are using FPAAs in production designs can arrange with Anadigm(R) to obtain a lower-cost, structured ASIC A type of application specific IC (ASIC) chip that contains blocks of logic, called "tiles" or "modules," that have their transistors already wired together forming gates along with some combination of multiplexors, flip/flops, look up tables and the like. that serves as a drop-in replacement for the FPAA FPAA Field-Programmable Analog Array FPAA Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association FPAA Fairmount Park Art Association (Philadelphia, PA) FPAA Fresh Produce Association of the Americas FPAA Fire Protection Association of Australia device. By removing programming and configuration resources that are not needed for their specific application, Anadigm(R) is able to provide customers with a reduced die area device that is more cost effective. Because the basic building blocks and process technology are identical, the performance of the FreezeFrame(TM) device is guaranteed to match that of the original configured con·fig·ure tr.v. con·fig·ured, con·fig·ur·ing, con·fig·ures To design, arrange, set up, or shape with a view to specific applications or uses: FPAA. "Our FreezeFrame(TM) program gives embedded system Any electronic system that uses a CPU chip, but that is not a general-purpose workstation, desktop or laptop computer. Such systems generally use microprocessors, or they may use custom-designed chips or both. designers a new perspective on how programmable analog can fit into high-volume designs where eventual cost reductions must be planned for," said Nathan John, vice president of worldwide marketing at Anadigm(R). "By creating FreezeFrame(TM), we're responding to this need for a number of existing customers who are in a position to take advantage of the program, as well as addressing high-volume opportunities for FPAAs in general." Because Anadigm(R) guarantees that its FreezeFrame(TM) devices will be compatible with the original FPAAs on which they are based, customers can confidently move to production with an FPAA and bring products to market faster, knowing that the opportunity to migrate to a FreezeFrame(TM) solution is ready whenever they are. Customers can thus allow time for a design to stabilize prior to committing to a custom solution and thus minimize their risks. FPAAs, the analog equivalent of FPGAs, greatly reduce the time, effort, and expense required to create and implement analog interfaces in audio, telecommunications, and industrial applications. By abstracting analog functions to software that can be controlled, modified, and reconfigured in real time, FPAAs bring the analog segment of an embedded system into the same software-controlled world as the microcontroller/microprocessor while maintaining a front-to-back analog signal An analog or analogue signal is any time continuous signal where some time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity. It differs from a digital signal in that small fluctuations in the signal are meaningful. path. The EDA (1) (Electronic Design Automation) Using the computer to design, lay out, verify and simulate the performance of electronic circuits on a chip or printed circuit board. software provided by Anadigm(R), AnadigmDesigner(R)2, makes programming the devices a simple drag-and-drop process in which circuits are constructed using software Configurable Analog Modules (CAMs) for which the user sets the parameters. To participate in the Anadigm(R) FreezeFrame(TM) program, customers who have achieved stable production designs with an FPAA will simply provide Anadigm(R) with the AnadigmDesigner(R)2 file that was used to configure the device. Anadigm will use the file to create a FreezeFrame(TM) equivalent and deliver working prototypes back to the customer for evaluation. Once the FreezeFrame(TM) device has been approved by the customer, production quantities can be available in four weeks. The first FPAA devices for which Anadigm(R) will offer FreezeFrame(TM) equivalents are the AN120E04 and AN121E04. NRE (Non-Recurring Engineering) Refers to the cost of creating a new product, which is paid up front. Contrast with "production cost," which is ongoing and based on the quantity of material produced. charges for developing a FreezeFrame(TM) device will be calculated based on the specific requirements of the customer's program. A multimedia demonstration of the AnadigmDesigner(R)2 EDA tool can be viewed at the Anadigm(R) Web site at www.anadigm.com. A complete evaluation kit with a development board, entry-level software, and updated documentation is now available for $199. About Anadigm(R) Anadigm(R) brings platform-based design to the analog world with pre-qualified software and hardware components that allow complex analog circuits analog circuit, electronic circuit that operates with currents and voltages that vary continuously with time and have no abrupt transitions between levels. Generally speaking, analog circuits are contrasted with digital circuits, which function as though currents or to be implemented in an analog equivalent to the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. . Designed to implement signal conditioning Imagine feeding the output of a temperature sensor, which is in millivolts, to an Analog-to-digital converter to be processed. Is it possible for the Analog-to-Digital converter to process such a minute voltage amplitude? The answer is probably no. , filtering, data acquisition, closed-loop control, and other analog functions in a wide range of embedded systems Embedded systems Computer systems that cannot be programmed by the user because they are preprogrammed for a specific task and are buried within the equipment they serve. , Anadigm(R) FPAAs are the first programmable analog ICs that can adapt on the fly to perform multiple functions, adjust to different environmental conditions, or compensate for aging equipment. Founded in January 2000 as a venture-backed technology spinoff Spinoff A new, independent company created through selling or distributing new shares for an existing part of another company. Notes: Spinoffs may be done through a rights offering. from Motorola, Anadigm(R) maintains U.S. headquarters in Tempe, Ariz. and European headquarters in Crewe, UK. For further information, visit Anadigm on the Web at www.anadigm.com. Anadigm(R) is a registered trademark of Anadigm(R). All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. |
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