Celoxica Unveils DK1.1 for Rapid Hardware Implementation and Software/hardware Co-design of Reprogrammable System-on-a-Chip.

Business Editors

ABINGDON, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2002

New Features Include Mixed Language Simulation, Extended

Co-simulation and Broad VHDL and Verilog Support

Celoxica Limited today announced the availability of DK1.1, the next version of its Handel-C-to-hardware design suite. DK1.1 includes new features for system-level HW/SW co-design, co-simulation support for ARM and PowerPC embedded processors, improved synthesis, enhanced area and delay analysis, improved VHDL output, Verilog output, 100 times faster simulation/a, and support for Actel, Altera Excalibur and Xilinx Virtex II Pro devices.

The DK1.1 design suite supports the design, validation, iterative refinement and implementation of complex algorithms in hardware. It includes built-in design entry, simulation, and synthesis -- all driven by Handel-C. Handel-C is based on ANSI-C extended with concepts for timing, concurrency, flexible-width variables and resource allocation to let software engineers and hardware designers quickly implement complex algorithms efficiently in hardware.

"With the launch of DK1.1 and introduction of PAL and DSM technologies, Xilinx's relationship with Celoxica is returning real value to its customers," said Rich Sevcik, senior vice president of the FPGA Products Group at Xilinx. "The simplicity of Handel-C, PAL and DSM make it easier to achieve an optimal design partitioning between embedded processors and programmable gates. These products will support Virtex-II Pro designers by providing a unique tool for fully exploiting the potential of Platform FPGAs. We are pleased that Celoxica has chosen our Programmable World events in April as the venue for the first public unveiling of DK1.1."

"The embedding of high-performance programmable processors into high-density programmable logic opens up new possibilities for system design," said Paul Hollingworth, European marketing director at Altera. "In order to fully benefit from the capabilities offered by products such as Altera's ARM-based Excalibur family, designers need a methodology which allows true co-design; enabling the rapid exploration of hardware/software tradeoffs. Celoxica is in the forefront of this field, and we are pleased to continue our partnership with them and support the new capabilities built into DK1.1"

"FPGAs and PLDs are evolving into programmable systems that require knowledge of both hardware and software. DK1.1 provides a co-design environment developed for both software engineers and hardware designers wanting to make informed decisions about the partitioning of systems incorporating algorithms such as data compression, encryption and protocol handling that are creating system performance bottlenecks," said Dennis Nye, senior vice president, worldwide sales and marketing at Celoxica Limited.

New co-design capabilities

DK1.1 allows reprogrammable system-on-a-chip designers to make informed critical decisions about hardware/software partitioning. With the new mixed-language facility users can call C/C++ functions from Handel-C descriptions and Handel-C functions from C/C++ programs. Apart from allowing designers to explore different partitioning schemes using a "what-if" scenario, software functionality can now be converted to hardware iteratively providing designers with a greater level of certainty when implementing elements of a system model in hardware. The mixed-language approach also allows hardware designers to use C/C++ test benches to verify Handel-C designs.

Introduction of Verilog output and improved VHDL and EDIF output

DK1.1 outputs readable, structured Verilog and VHDL with the hierarchy of the Handel-C source code preserved so that hardware designers can debug the Verilog or VHDL output using conventional simulation tools. DK1.1 provides a path to traditional HDL tools for those customers wanting to target ASICs

The HDL output can be generated for a range of synthesis and simulation tools. This new feature allows the designer to specify a synthesis or simulation tool of choice, from which the compiler generates the appropriate HDL output with the necessary tool-dependent attributes. Synthesis tools supported by DK1.1 include Exemplar Leonardo Spectrum, Synplicity Synplify and Synopsys FPGA Express. For simulation, DK1.1 supports Model Technology ModelSim. The EDIF output stage has been modified to shorten design time by producing more readable signal names to aid back reference from place and route tools to the original Handel-C source code.

Extended device support

DK1.1 users can now directly target a wider range of programmable devices with additional support for: Xilinx Virtex II Pro; Actel EX, 54SX, 54SX-A, RT54SX, RT54SX-S, ProASIC and ProASICPLUS; and the Altera Excalibur EPXA10.

Faster simulation

The simulator has been improved with speeds, on average, faster by a factor of 100.

Improved area and delay analysis

DK1.1 has improved synthesis results and enabled early timing and area analysis through a new technology mapper that maps functionality to look-up tables (LUTs) rather than gates. By mapping to LUTs, DK1.1's timing analysis tool gives designers an estimation of time and area before place and route.

Advanced co-simulation

Co-simulation support is provided for the embedded processors shipped with Xilinx VII PRO (PowerPC), Altera's Excalibur XA10 (ARM) via ModelSim, Simulink. Verilog co-simulation is supported via ModelSim, to complement the existing support for VHDL.

DK1.1 supports co-simulation at two levels of abstraction: functional accurate and cycle accurate. Functionally accurate co-simulation is useful in the earlier stages of a project, during system modelling, where Handel-C modules will call functions in C/C++ and vice versa.

Cycle accurate co-simulation with processors (ARM and PowerPC), VHDL and Verilog is provided for more detailed simulation. Cycle-accurate models of the processors are run in ModelSim, which is connected directly to the DK1.1 simulator so that the user can analyse bus interaction. Multiple DK1.1 or ModelSim simulators can be run concurrently to simulate several parts of a design.

High level access to processors and peripherals

Supporting DK1.1 is Celoxica's Platform Abstraction layer (PAL) API and Data Stream Manager (DSM). PAL and DSM borrow a successful model from the software world by leveraging libraries of predefined functionality to access processors and peripherals via common APIs.

PAL is an API for accessing peripherals that abstracts away the underlying devices and presents instead a simple and consistent interface for migrating Handel-C applications between hardware platforms. By providing an OS type environment for Handel-C FPGA/PLD designs, the user saves time by focusing on adding value to the design rather than detailed hardware interfacing issues.

Developed in partnership with Wind River, DSM is an API for communicating between hardware and software that abstracts away underlying bus transport. DSM allows simple integration between microprocessor applications and Handel-C programs. The technology enables multithreaded communication between FPGAs/PLDs and CPUs while shielding the developer from hardware details to reduce development time. Through DSM, FPGAs/PLDs can be quickly deployed as coprocessor accelerators to address CPU bottlenecks by configuring data-intensive software to parallel hardware in real-time.

Price and availability

DK1.1 for Windows 98, 2000, NT and XP is available worldwide from April 2002. DK1.1 for Sun Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and Red Hat Linux version 7.1 will be released in June 2002. DK1.1 is available as a free upgrade to current DK1 users. New licenses cost from $35,000.00. PAL and DSM will be sold separately.

About Celoxica

Celoxica brings software methodologies to hardware design with tools that converge electronics design automation (EDA) and embedded software development (ESD) to improve designer productivity, address design skills shortages, and overcome system performance bottlenecks.

The company's design tools, and their supporting products and services, introduce three aspects of software development to the hardware design process: a C-based language for rapidly describing the functionality rather than the underlying structural detail of the hardware; an integrated development environment (IDE) for hardware design with features such as symbolic debugging as well as synthesis that correlates to software compilation in that it is very fast; and libraries of predefined functions including access to peripherals and processors in hardware via common APIs.

Celoxica has alliances and partnerships with Altera Corporation, Avnet Design Services, Wind River Systems Inc. and Xilinx, Inc. The company is headquartered in Abingdon, UK, with additional offices in Campbell, California, USA; Yokohama, Japan; and Singapore.

Celoxica and the Celoxica logo are the trademarks of Celoxica Limited. Any other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Note to Editors:

For reader enquiries please contact: Will Golby, VP Communications, Celoxica Limited, 20 Park Gate, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4SH, United Kingdom, telephone [phone], facsimile [phone].

For more information about Celoxica, visit www.celoxica.com. For sales enquiries contact: Americas -- [e-mail]; APAC -- [e-mail]; Europe, Middle East, Africa -- [e-mail].

/a Average figure