May 11, 2009 Version 3.1 has significantly made SoC prototyping on FPGA a much easier task than before
San Jose, California – May 11, 2009 S2C Inc., a leading total solution provider in facilitating systems to chip innovations, today announces the release of TAI Player Pro software version 3.1 that provides a number of new, powerful features for system-on-chip (SoC) designers to reduce the challenges of building design prototypes on field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA). One of the most valuable features in this new release is the Multi-FPGA Internal Logic Analyzer (ILA), which can dramatically increase the productivity of SoC designers by enabling simultaneous debugging of designs partitioned to multiple FPGAs. Overall, TAI Player Pro software enables users to compile SoC designs effortlessly on FPGA prototypes from register transfer language (RTL), debug the mapped design on FPGA and link the prototypes to ESL models in simulation.
S2C's multi-FPGA ILA is automated and fully-integrated in TAI Player Pro’s compile flow. After importing a design, a TAI Player Pro user first selects wires and registers as probes in ease-to-browse RTL design tree. Next, after the design is synthesized and partitioned, the user can specify the trigger and trace signals for ILA in different FPGAs from the available probe list. The user can also choose a different ILA size, depending on available FPGA memory and debugging requirement, and set one of the design clocks as ILA Sample clock for each ILA individually. TAI Player Pro will then automatically insert ILA logic into the FPGA designs and connect selected trigger and trace signals to ILA. Finally, after the design is place-and-routed and downloaded to FPGA, the user can start running ILA similar to any standard logic analyzer by setting trigger conditions, triggering and writing out the VCD waveforms of ILA trace data to the user's personal computer. Additionally, S2C’s ILA provides cross-triggering capability among multiple FPGAs and simultaneous write out of trace data from multiple FPGAs.
“ILA is already a widely-used debugging instrument for FPGA designs; however, most ILA tools only support single FPGA debugging and require many manual steps to set up the probes. S2C’s Multi-FPGA ILA solution is unique in the industry because TAI Player Pro provides an intuitive GUI and control flow, guiding users to compile designs with ILA onto multiple FPGAs and to also debug among them concurrently. The user can then view the waveforms captured by multiple ILA directly in TAI Player Pro”, said Mon-Ren Chene, CTO of S2C. “TAI Player Pro version 3.1 has really made SoC prototyping on FPGA a much easier task than before.”
TAI Player Pro software also provides many additional features to speed up prototyping of the user’s SoC design on FPGA. The RTL level probing function allows the user to easily locate wire and register in any design hierarchy, and to also pull the signals to the FPGA boundary or ILA. TAI Player Pro is also equipped with an EDIF-level partition engine that allows users to easily group design blocks to multiple FPGAs. The new daughter board mapping function noticeably shortens the FPGA pin assignment task by utilizing a pin-map file library of existing daughter boards. Finally, the optional SCE-MI module allows users to Co-model design in FPGA with high-level design in PC on the transaction-level.
TAI Player Pro software version 3.1 works out-of-box with S2C’s third generation rapid SoC prototyping hardware - Virtex-5 TAI Logic Module. One Virtex-5 TAI Logic Module can supply up to 6.6 million ASIC gates of capacity and can be stacked for additional capacity. Users can generate clocks, download to FPGA, self-test hardware, and run ILA through TAI Player Pro software via TAI Logic Module’s on-board USB 2.0 interface.
TAI Player Pro version 3.1 is available now with a new low-cost subscription licensing model. For more information, please visit www.s2cinc.com.or contact us at sales@s2cinc.com.
About S2C
Founded and headquartered in San Jose, California, S2C is the leading total solution provider in facilitating systems to chip innovations. S2C has four solutions for system-on-chip (SoC) development:
Rapid SoC prototyping on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
Third-party silicon intellectual properties (IP)
Customizable, zero mask-charge eASIC semiconductor devices
SoC design, prototype and production Servicess
S2C's value proposition is our highly qualified engineering team and customer-focused sales force that understands our customers' commercial needs in SoC development. S2C's unique FPGA-based electronic system level (ESL) solution, using our patented TAI IP technology, enables designers employ silicon IP to quickly assemble SoC prototypes on FPGA easily and securely, thereby enabling customers to start software development, typically the long pole item in development schedules, immediately. Combining rapid prototyping methodologies with a comprehensive portfolio of silicon IP and advanced design solutions, S2C can reduce the SoC design cycle by up to nine months.
S2C currently has 3 direct offices located in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen to meet the demand for accelerated SoC design activities in China. S2C is also the organizer of the annual SoCIP seminar and exhibition in China, which brings SoC designers/professionals from the Asia-Pacific region together with international silicon IP and SoC solution vendors.
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For more information, please contact: Lawrence Liang, Sales Director of China Region, S2C Inc. +86 21 6887 9287, lawrencel@s2cinc.com Lam Cheng En, Marketing Consultant, S2C Inc., +86 21 6887 9287, lamce@s2cinc.com
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