Actel and Aldec Partner to Offer High-Reliability Design Solutions for Aerospace and Avionics Markets
Companies Deliver Solutions for DO-254 Verification
and Flash-Based RTAX-S Prototyping
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., November 06, 2006 —
Actel
Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTL) today announced it has partnered with Aldec,
Inc., to offer two highly integrated solutions designed specifically
for Actel's field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in high-reliability
avionics and aerospace applications. With the industry's first hardware/software
verification package to ease DO-254 certification, the two companies
are alleviating the verification bottleneck in the design assurance process.
In addition, Aldec and Actel are unveiling a flash-based prototyping
solution for Actel's space-optimized RTAX-S
FPGAs, allowing aerospace customers to tap the flexibility and reprogrammability
of flash-based prototypes for multiple aerospace applications.
"For space and avionics designers, even moderate reductions in
time and development costs can make a critical difference in meeting
program timelines and budgets," said Rich Brossart, vice president,
product marketing at Actel. "These new high-reliability design
solutions address the time and cost consciousness and underscore the
flexibility, reliability and security advantages nonvolatile, single-chip
FPGAs offer."
"Actel's strong presence in the avionics and aerospace markets
with its single-chip, firm-error immune FPGA technologies makes them
an ideal partner with whom to deliver these high-reliability design solutions," said
Dave Rinehart, vice president at Aldec. "We are particularly excited
about the industry's first DO-254 hardware and software verification
platform, which will greatly reduce the development expenses associated
with the verification and testing of avionics designs."
"Actel's Protocol Design Services Group provides customers with
design and verification services and solutions for electronic systems,
including FPGA-based avionics applications that require DO-254 compliance," said
Tony Farinaro, Actel vice president and general manager of the Protocol
Design Services Group. "Our DO-254 design and process flow expertise
combined with the new Actel and Aldec verification platform could be
instrumental in ensuring the flight-worthiness and safety of our customers'
avionics designs."
DO-254 Verification Solution
Adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the DO-254/EU80 (Design
Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware) specification provides
design assurance guidance for the development of "safe" airborne
electronic hardware, including FPGA designs intended for flight use.
Aldec's hardware/software verification platform includes software tools
to capture and compare simulation data with a golden set of vectors as
well as a customized board for the functional verification phase of the
DO-254 compliance process.
RTAX-S Prototyping Solution
Aldec's RTAX-S prototyping solution allows customers to take advantage
of Actel's flash-based reprogrammable ProASIC3/E devices. Currently,
RTAX-S prototyping is achieved using a commercial one-time programmable
antifuse-based FPGA. Because several of these devices may be needed to
validate a flight-unit design during prototyping, the availability of
a reprogrammable solution allows for a much more cost-effective strategy.
Further, the use of this new tool allows rapid reconfiguration of development
platforms for space-flight computing, permitting faster integration and
co-development of hardware and software.
As part of the solution, a prototyping adaptor is provided, which maps
the footprint of Actel's ProASIC3/E device to the footprint of an RTAX-S
device. Customers can therefore use the reprogrammable prototyping tool
without altering the layout of their space-flight printed circuit board
(PCB).
Pricing and Availability
The complete prototyping solution includes an adaptor board, programming
kits and the hardware and software tools needed for design conversion,
mixed VHDL and Verilog simulation, mapping and programming. Pricing is
dependent on the target RTAX-S device and package. The RTAX250S/RTAX1000S
in a CQ352 package are priced at $4995. The first board will be available
December 2006.
Pricing for the DO-254 hardware/software verification solution is determined
by the device, features needed (customization) and amount of support
required to obtain certification. For more information, visit the Actel
Web site at www.actel.com/products/solutions/milaero/ or
the Aldec Web site at www.aldec.com.
For more information about Actel's Protocol Design Services Group, visit
the Actel Web site at www.actel.com/products/services/protocoldesign/.
Telephone: 800-453-4035 or 973-770-4700.
About Actel
Actel Corporation is the leader in single-chip FPGA solutions. The Company
is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol ACTL and is
headquartered at 2061 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, Calif., 94043-4655.
For more information about Actel, visit http://www.actel.com.
Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835).
Contact: Gwen Carlson, Microsemi Corporation, 949.221.7173
