SmartFusion Ecosystem

 Hardware Platform - ARM    Compile and Debug    OS/RTOS and Middleware  

Actel has a long history of supplying comprehensive FPGA development tools and recognizes the benefit of partnering with industry leaders to deliver the optimum usability and productivity to customers. Taking the same approach with processor development, Actel has partnered with key industry leaders in the microcontroller space to provide the robust SmartFusion ecosystem.

The diagram below represents the SmartFusion stack. At the foundation is the SmartFusion hardware platform. Built on it is the hardware abstraction layer (HAL), which is based on the ARM Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS). Each of the peripherals has its own driver, whether it is hard IP or soft IP added in the FPGA fabric. Above the drivers is a real-time operating system (RTOS) with protocol stacks and interfaces, provided by third party vendors. The designer can add secret sauce or custom applications involving all or none of the layers below.

Hardware Platform - ARM

By selecting an ARM processor, Actel's customers can benefit from the extensive ARM ecosystem. By building on Actel supplied HAL and drivers, third-party vendors can easily port RTOS and middleware for the SmartFusion devices.

• ARM Cortex-M Series Processors
• ARM Cortex-M3 Processor Resources
• ARM Cortex-M3 Technical Reference Manual
• ARM Cortex-M3 Processor Software Development for ARM7TDMI Processor Programmers White Paper

Compile and Debug

Actel is partnering with Keil and IAR Systems to provide software IDE support to SmartFusion system designers. The result is a robust solution that can be easily adopted by existing embedded developers. The learning path is straightforward for FPGA designers.

IAR Systems

• Designing SmartFusion with IAR Systems
• IAR Embedded Workbench IDE User Guide for ARM
• Download Evaluation or Kickstart version of IAR EW-ARM

Keil

• Designing SmartFusion with Keil
• Using Keil µVision and Actel SmartFusion
  • Programming file for use with this tutorial
• Keil Microcontroller Development Kit for ARM Product Manuals
• Download Evaluation version of Keil MDK-ARM

OS/RTOS and MiddleWare

Micrium

Micrium is consistently recognized as a leader in embedded software components. The company's flagship µC/OS family is recognized for a variety of features and benefits, including unparalleled reliability, performance, dependability, impeccable source code and vast documentation. Micrium supports the following products for the SmartFusion devices and continues to work with Actel on additional projects.

• µC/OS-III™, Micrium's newest RTOS, is designed to save time on your next embedded project and puts greater control of the software in your hands.
  

  SmartFusion Quickstart Guide for Micrium µC/OS-III Examples  Design Files (ZIP, 831 KB, 7/10)

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• µC/TCP-IP™ is a compact, reliable and high-performance stack built from the ground up by Micrium and has the quality, scalability and reliability that translates into a rapid configuration of network options, remarkable ease-of-use and rapid time-to-market.
• µC/Probe™ is one of the most useful tools in embedded systems design and puts you in the driver's seat, allowing you to take charge of virtually any variable, memory location, and I/O port in your embedded product, while your system is running—there's no need to stop.

RoweBots

RoweBots provides an ultra tiny Linux-compatible RTOS called Unison for SmartFusion. Unison consists of a set of modular software components, which, like Linux, are either free or commercially licensed. Unison offers POSIX and Linux compatibility with hard real-time performance, complete I/O modules and an easily understood environment for device driver programming. Seamless integration with FPGA and analog features are fast and easy. Unison comes with 30+ demonstration programs that work out of the box in 10 minutes with SoftScope.

• Unison V4-based products include a free Unison V4 Linux and POSIX-compatible kernel with serial I/O and file system with six demonstration programs, upgraded documentation and source code for Unison V4, and free for non-commercial use Unison V4 TCP/IP server. Commercial License upgrade is available for Unison V4 TCP/IP server with three demonstration programs, DHCP client and source code. » Download Unison V4
• Unison V5-based products include commercial Unison V5 Linux- and POSIX-compatible kernel with serial I/O, file system, extensive feature set, full documentation, source code and 20+ demonstration programs, Unison V5 TCP/IPv4 with extended feature set, sockets interface, multiple network interfaces, PPP support, DHCP client, documentation, source code and six demonstration programs and multiple other features.