Symtavision tools get faster

Symtavision - SymTA-S

SymTA/S – Symtavision’s model-based system for timing design, performance optimization and timing verification

Symtavision, which specialises in timing analysis solutions for planning, optimising and verifying embedded real-time systems, has announced the release of SymTA/S 3.6 delivering up to 20x faster system distribution and worst-case analysis runtime performance.

SymTA/S 3.6 delivers runtime speed improvements for system distribution and worst-case analyses of between two and 20 times, and often more, depending on the system complexity.

Overall memory usage for analysis runs has also been significantly reduced with 100+ runs also now requiring no more RAM than that required by a single run previously.

Data consistency analysis of multicore systems has been enhanced with an improved capability to explicitly model call types for variable access, added modelling of protected variable accesses such as double buffering and improved performance for systems with many variables.

The FlexRay system distribution analysis now facilitates analysis of frame displacement in the dynamic segment, data loss and used/unused slots per cycle.

The ability to determine system distribution analysis starting behavior has also been enhanced with explicit modeling of the starting points of elements to facilitate the simulation of start-up behaviour and enable user-defined activation patterns. There is also a new data annotation element enabling any kind of additional information in a model to be stored in a generic way.

The AUTOSAR 3.x/4.x importer now supports ARXML files generated by Vector DaVinci and the extraction of more information from incomplete ARXML files. Additionally, trace import in SymTA/S and TraceAnalyzer now works in conjunction with Symtavision’s Lauterbach Trace32 interface and supports more detailed traces such as wait-release behavior.

david manners

FPGA makes supercomputer run faster

IBM_POWER8Altera and IBM have designed an FPGA-based reconfigurable processor to improve the performance of supercomputers.

The firms have created the first FPGA-based accelerator for a POWER8 CPU which features shared virtual memory between the FPGA and processor and so improves system performance in high-performance computing (HPC) and data centre applications for data compression, encryption, image processing and search.

Altera and IBM are presenting several POWER8 systems that are coherently accelerated using FPGAs at SuperComputing 2014.

FPGAs are connected to the POWER8 CPU using IBM’s Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI). This makes the FPGA appear as simply another core on the POWER8 processor.

The expectation is this will shorten development time by greatly reducing lines of software code and reduced processor cycles versus conventional IO attached accelerators. A single FPGA-accelerated POWER8 server is able to operate at industry-leading levels of efficiency, allowing system architects to cut their data center footprint in half.

“With rapidly changing workloads, it is imperative we build in flexible accelerators to make IBM POWER processors more efficient in IBM Power Systems and all OpenPOWER compatible systems,” said Brad McCredie, vice president of IBM Power development and OpenPOWER president.

“The work Altera has done to provide FPGA-based reconfigurable hardware acceleration to our POWER processors enabled through CAPI allows software developers to build highly efficient, highly flexible, performance optimised systems,” said MCCredie.

Altera and IBM have worked with board partner Nallatech to develop an OpenPOWER CAPI development kit for POWER8 that features Nallatech’s FPGA-based 385 card, the industry’s first CAPI FPGA accelerator card.

richard wilson

Europe’s distributors have a strong Q3

DMASS Chart Q3-2014

DMASS Chart Q3-2014

The European semiconductor distribution industry is looking forward to a healthy growth in 2014.

According to DMASS (Distributors’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Semiconductor Specialists) semiconductor distribution sales in Q3 grew by 7.3% to €1.57bn.

The UK, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Iberia, Austria and Israel all grew above the 7.3% market average. France and Italy reporting lower growth.

Q3 sales in Germany were €510m, in UK 135m and France 121m.

“The 7.3% has set us on a growth course for 2014 of 6 to 7% for DMASS total, which is remarkable after the 2-year spluttering of 2012 and 2013. 2014 will end up a little short of the record year 2011,” said Georg Steinberger, chairman of DMASS.

Over 9 months Germany accounts for 32% of the European market, 9.8% for Italy, 8.5 for the UK, 7.7% for France, 9% for Nordic and 11.2% for Eastern Europe.

Georg Steinberger: “In general, considering the macro-economic environment for Europe at the moment, the outlook for 2015 is only moderate. However, Europeans tend to see glass half-full far too often for my taste. Let us be hopeful that 2015 will have some positive surprises for our industry.”

richard wilson

FTDI Chip launches USB 3.0 ICs

FT600Q and FT601Q are FTDI Chip’s first generation USB 3.0 products that function as SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to FIFO bridges, providing data bursting rates of up to 3.2Gbps.

The FT600Q comes in 56-pin QFN package and has a 16-bit wide FIFO bus interface, while FT601Q comes in 76-pin QFN package and has a 32-bit wide FIFO bus interface.

Both these chips support up to 8 endpoints, other than the management endpoints. The endpoints are linked to a configurable endpoint buffers of 16kByte length for IN and 16kByte for OUT.

Both FT600Q and FT601Q support two interfacing modes; the 245 FIFO mode and the multi-channel FIFO mode, and thus provide more flexibility for system designers.

The 245 FIFO mode has a simpler protocol, but for more sophisticated customers, the multi-channel FIFO mode supports up to 4 logical FIFO channels and data structures optimised for higher throughputs. The FIFO is provided with a 16kByte configurable buffer.

The remote wake up function on these chips can be used to rapidly bring the USB host controller out of suspend mode. The USB battery charger detection function enables USB peripheral devices to detect the presence of a higher current power source in order to boost charging capabilities.

It means that the FT600 can detect connection to a USB-compliant dedicated charging port (DCP) and transmit a signal allowing external logic to switch to charging mode. The IC can also benefit from the higher power delivery capabilities that the USB 3.0 standard supports while still being able to transfer data.

Engineers are furnished with a great deal of flexibility to configure FT600/1Q to their desired application. Among these are multi-function printers, scanners, high resolution video cameras, still image cameras, high definition displays, data acquisition systems, surveillance equipment and medical/industrial imaging systems.

The FT600Q and FT601Q ICs have an operating temperature range that covers -40⁰C to 85⁰C. Catering for a design which incorporates multiple data endpoints, a completely new driver architecture has been developed and optimised to extract full performance from the system whilst maintaining FTDI Chip’s standard D2xx API. Driver support provided allows the device to be used with Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems.

david manners

Electronica 2014 – Latest News Roundup

electronica 2014A concise roundup of the latest news from around Electronica 2014, which runs 11-14 November in Munich, at the Messe Munchen.

At Munich? You are welcome to meet the Electronics Weekly team at stand Hall A6 Booth 569. (If you drop by you can pick up a free copy of the magazine, but there are also a couple of competitions running.)

Pre-show

Dev kits, bootstraps and IoT, Europe is changing

Mouser builds design community around NI MultiSIM Blue

Industrial Ethernet kit has pre-loaded stacks

Electronica: Fraunhofer to reveal 10Gbit/s in-car network, and IoT receiver

Electronica: What to see at the show, part I

Electronica news: What to see at the show, part II

Electronica news: What to see at the show, part III

 

 

Alun Williams

Dev kits, bootstraps and IoT, Europe is changing

electronica 2012The internet of things (IoT), industrial automation, robotics, wearable tech and 3D printing will no doubt be high-profile trends at Electronica this year – and all present huge opportunities for growth in the electronics industry, writes Richard Curtin.

Visit the team at Electronics Weekly’s stand in Hall A6 – 569

However, with new electronics trends seemingly appearing ever more frequently and the traditional boundaries of the industry blurring, it’s becoming clear that simply focusing on the distribution of components alone is no longer enough for a distributor to survive.

Instead, engineers and purchasing professionals are looking to the distribution industry to supply everything that they need to innovate and see their designs through to production. They want information, research, products, collaborative working and manufacturing services all in one place.

Crucially, modern customers are looking for pre-developed packages of technologies that they can integrate directly in to their projects. These solutions are vital if they are to cut costs, reduce the number of suppliers they work with and shorten their time-to-market. This makes sense when considered in the context of the complex technology that enables most modern trends.

Take the IoT, for example: developing an IoT project from scratch would require designers to understand and make decisions about communication standards, radio equipment and interoperability issues before focusing on their build. This is valuable time not spent creatively working out new solutions to the specific challenge they’ve set out to overcome.

This is why designers are becoming increasingly interested in purchasing pre-created design modules to bootstrap their projects, handling the basic technology set-up and allowing them to focus on innovation.

This expanding remit of what businesses in our sector should offer has opened up a host of new opportunities, but it has also had a significant impact on how businesses in the European market operate. A year ago my conversations with suppliers would typically be about how many components from their latest product offering we hoped to add to our catalogue. Now we talk to their product development teams directly and work with them to add value through new product offerings that are able to support customers in a variety of applications.

These relationships are vital to anyone hoping to take advantage of the opportunities. Ever evolving trends, technologies and approaches to design mean that businesses supplying these packages need to listen to their customers and respond, creating new solutions that suit their needs.

This requires close links with suppliers and, as in our case strategic acquisitions like Embest, CadSoft and AVID, that strengthen the broader proposition to support development projects through design, test and manufacture.

Together, these changes are seriously disrupting the dynamics of design, distribution and supply in the European electronics market. Customers are no longer approaching designs in the same way and they expect to be supported right from the start of the design process all the way through to production.

For the business that can carefully approach this in the right manner – and listens to its customers – a host of exciting new opportunities are there for the taking.

Richard Curtin is global director of strategic alliance at Farnell element14

 

richard wilson

First 1kV integrated power switch

Fairchild FSL4110LR Fairchild has integrated a 1kV power switch, claiming it to be the first in production.

In an ac-dc converter chip called FSL4110LR, the switch is a VDMOS SenseFET (BVDSS=1,000V).

The IC also includes a PWM with built-in line compensation for a 45 to 460Vac input range, input over-voltage protection, and a safe auto-restart mode for all protection conditions.

Maximum output power is 9W (Vin 85-460Vac), and 4W down to 45Vac

Fairchild FSL4110LR block“Fairchild’s power switch is the only solution of its kind that provides ‘abnormal over-current protection, which protects the power converter from transformer abnormalities and is particularly important for smart metering applications,” said Fairchild v-p Gaurang Shah. “With the world’s highest breakdown voltage, the FSL4110LR is an excellent solution for any designer implementing flyback converters that need to meet three phase input voltage or unstable single phase input voltage requirements.”

Fairchild FSL4110LRPWM operating frequency is 50kHz within a few percent right across -40 to +125C, with random fluctuations to reduced measured EMI, plus there is a burst mode. Power can come from self-biasing or from a bias winding.

Current limiting is pulse-by-pulse, and thee are further protections for: overload and over-hot die (with hysteresis). Under-voltage lock-out is included.

Applications are expected in smart meter, appliance and industrial systems.

Fairchild is exhibiting the switch at Booth A4.506 at Electronica 2014 in Munich.

steve bush

NI director: Fixed personality devices are dead

Rahman Jamal

Rahman Jamal

Electronic instruments designed for a single function are becoming as out-dated in industrial markets as they are in the consumer market.

In that market products such as mobile phones and TVs are becoming multi-function devices defined by the software which runs on them.

According to Rahman Jamal, marketing director at National Instruments, single function, or fixed personality devices, are becoming less attractive in industrial automation and test applications.

“Custom design, fixed personality devices are dead,” said Jamal, speaking at the NIDays technology conference in London.

“The industry must meet the expectations of users, as has happened in the consumer market. As a resul,t fixed-personality devices are becoming out of date,” said Jamal.

He said it is now possible to have modular hardware systems which can have their function defined by software, similar to the way that downloadable apps change the function of a smartphone.

“Very soon there will be an app store for industrial instruments,” said Jamal.

This is an area of product development for NI, which already has software-defined instruments, such as its vector signal transceiver.

Earlier this year it introduced a number of instruments which can have their function defined in software for automated test and research applications in mobile, semiconductor, automotive and aerospace/defence sectors.

In these instruments digital functions are defined by programming a processor or FPGA in the instrument.

According to Jamal, the extent to which the test or measurement function can be defined by the user will ultimately increase to other elements of the instrument, as has happened with the mobile phone, which can become a music player a digital camera or navigation device.

“This represents a big change for users and the industrial automation market is not immune to this change,” said Jamal.

 

richard wilson