FS2 Announces AMBA Navigator Logic Analyzer for On-Chip AMBA AHB Bus Debug.

Business Editors

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2003

DESIGNCON2003--First Silicon Solutions (FS2)(R) today announced the AMBA Navigator(R), a logic analyzer for real-time logic analysis of AMBA AHB on-chip busses.

The AMBA Navigator is a turnkey solution consisting of a synthesizable OCI(R) (On-Chip Instrumentation) block for AHB signal capture and off-chip transmission, along with supporting probe interface and host software for viewing and analysis of AMBA AHB signals.

The AMBA Navigator provides unique off-chip trace and event triggering features which enable users to reduce the time required to debug and optimize the system while minimizing system gate resources and device pins. The system supports real-time trace and analysis of a combination of 100 AHB and user defined signals with predefined support for AMBA interfaces with up to 4 master cores. It provides real-time bus processing options including modes for alignment of transfer and response phases of the AHB bus cycle. This simplifies event triggering and automatic filtering of invalid bus cycles from the signal trace for improved visualization and analysis of AMBA operations.

"In providing instrumentation and debug solutions for a range of embedded products, we have seen the continuous and growing use of on-chip busses, most notably AMBA, in the ASIC and FPGA domains," said Rick Leatherman, President of First Silicon Solutions. "Our OCI (On-chip Instrumentation) intellectual property and debug tools are positioned to fill the gap in tools which support the analysis and debug of these increasingly sophisticated embedded busses. The AMBA Navigator offers the unique proposition of simplified visualization of bus conditions and trigger-based interaction with the AMBA bus -- features that are difficult or impossible to duplicate with traditional test instruments and methods. This allows developers new capabilities in bus analysis, including the ability to monitor, understand, and tune bus and system performance based on a range of operational parameters."

The initial AMBA Navigator system supports AHB bus operation at speeds up to 50 MHz and is focused on FPGA and ASIC prototyping environments. Up to 32K bus cycles (consisting of 100 traced signals plus 40-bit timestamp) can be traced, processed, and stored. Higher performance and increased capability products will be introduced later in 2003.

About the AMBA Navigator product

The AMBA Navigator consists of FS2's OCI IP module, a hardware probe for communications with the SoC target, and Windows-based control and display software. The system IP is configurable with multi-state trigger, timer/counter, and trace resources, offering a large range of options for trace and triggering. Other products in the family of FS2 OCI enabled logic analyzer tools provide support for Actel ProASICPLUS devices and QuickLogic QuickMIPS and Eclipse devices.

Pricing and Availability

The AMBA Navigator is currently in beta release and will be available in Q1, 2003. Pricing for the initial external trace version is $3,995. For further information, please contact Chuck Swartley at FS2, 503/292-6730 x103 or visit the FS2 website at www.fs2.com.

About First Silicon Solutions

FS2 provides silicon IP and design services using OCI(R) (On-Chip Instrumentation). This includes custom development tools for programming, testing and debug of FPGA, SoC, SOPC, ASSP and ASIC devices. FS2 products help silicon vendors and their customers develop and more effectively market their products, reducing development cycles, and allowing them to focus on delivering all the potential of the system on silicon. Additional information is available at www.fs2.com.

FS2, OCI, and Navigator are registered trademarks of First Silicon Solutions. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.