Embedded Systems Design Europe - March 2008 - (Page 24)

feature full suite of analog tools. Cortex-M1 is fully backwards compatible with ARM’s Thumb architecture, so designers can port existing application code to the PSC. Although implementing a CortexM1 design on a PSC might be a new challenge to some engineers, certain tools and techniques can make this a relatively painless design cycle. Often the easy approach from a time-tomarket point of view is the expensive approach from a cost point of view. But when the design tools are created by a silicon supplier, the motivation is to help the designer get to silicon as fast as possible. IMPLEMENTING INTELLIGENT POWER CONTROL Standard FPGA design can take several different forms: Full HDL code or schematic • • • starting from scratch. Combination of existing versions of design plus some new code and features. Combination of purchased or custom IP, existing design, and new code. The same styles apply to both mixed-signal FPGAs and soft ARM processors on FPGAs. The hardware and software implementation steps are shown in Figure 2. To simplify terms, the hardware implementation involves designing the processor and programming it to the FPGA. The software implementation involves developing code for the processor on the FPGA to complete the application. First, the designer identiﬁes available industry-standard processors (8051 or ARM, for example) for the design and then looks through offer- ings from each supplier to ﬁnd the best list of peripherals for the design. If the perfect list of peripherals can’t be found, then a CPLD or companion FPGA can be added to the board. When implementing a soft processor on an FPGA, the supplier should provide a list of available peripherals. Ideally, the user selects the processor from a list. Then, the bus type, which is often dictated by the processor, is chosen. Once the bus is selected, the user simply drags and drops peripherals into the design. Peripherals may include interfaces such as serial peripheral interface, universal serial bus, timers, or UARTs. Unlike an ASSP processor, users can add any combination of peripherals until they run out of peripheral ports. The tool should provide the ability to auto-connect peripherals where possible and allow users to conﬁgure all other parameters and 24 MARCH 2008 | embedded systems design europe | www.embedded.com/europe 022-023-024-025_EETE.indd 24 5/03/08 14:10:10 http://www.embedded.com/europe

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Embedded Systems Design Europe - March 2008

Embedded Systems Design Europe - March 2008 Distributors to Increase Embedded Focus Kontron and Quanta to Join Forces Coverity Raises $22m as European Business Booms Help is at Hand for Europe's Industrial Control Developers Milestones in Embedded Systems Microsoft is Recruiting for Embedded Center in Aachen European Designers to Win Cash for Green Designs Duo Work on Smaller Form Factor Europe Invests in Real-Time Java for Multicore Systems Curtiss-Wright Buys Pentland Systems Designing DSP-Based Motor Control Using Fuzzy Logic Lower the Cost of Intelligent Power Control with FPGAs Virtualizing Embedded Linux Back to the Future: Manchester Encoding Is Multicore Hype or Reality New Products Advertising Contacts

Embedded Systems Design Europe - March 2008

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