August 2011Integration with Lattice Diamond Design Environment Delivers More Advanced Digital Design Options
Version 6.1 of the Lattice PAC-Designer mixed signal design software, with updated support for Platform Manager, Power Manager II and ispClock devices, is now available. Users designing with Platform Manager devices will now have access to the new Lattice Diamond 1.3 software design environment. This integration of the PAC-Designer 6.1 and Diamond 1.3 design software tools will make more advanced digital design options available with Platform Manager products. An automated simulation environment not previously available to Platform Manager designers is a primary benefit of the design software integration.
Whether testing the functionality of critical analog I/O pin functions controlled by the Platform Manager's internal CPLD, or checking the integration of enhanced digital control functions coded in Verilog or VHDL within the Platform Manager's FPGA control section, PAC-Designer 6.1 software integrates seamlessly with Diamond 1.3 design tools to compile the entire design, create the necessary stimulus template file and then automatically generate initial timing waveforms within the Aldec Active-HDL simulator. This previously complex, manual design flow has been optimized and automated in PAC-Designer 6.1 software to generate all the necessary design files and deliver the initial timing flow diagram with just the click of a mouse.
PAC-Designer 6.1 Simplifies Platform Manager Simulation
PAC-Designer 6.1 software provides a GUI-based design methodology for analog engineers that uses intuitive dialog boxes to configure the Platform Manager's analog sections; LogiBuilder design methodology to integrate power management functions into the on-chip CPLD; and LogiBuilder or Lattice Diamond Verilog/VHDL design methodology to integrate digital board management functions into the FPGA section of the Platform Manager device.
PAC-Designer 6.1 software includes four reference designs specifically targeted for the Platform Manager Development Kit. These include:
Eleven more reference designs compatible with Platform Manager devices are available on the Lattice website, including, among others, PWM Fan Control, Connecting an I2C Slave to SPI Master Bridge and a BSCAN1 Multiple Scan Port Addressable Buffer.
Thirty-one additional design examples are also available from directly within PAC-Designer 6.1 software that provide instructions and solutions for Power Manager II and ispClock devices.
The integrated PAC-Designer 6.1 and Lattice Diamond 1.3 software includes the Synopsys Synplify Pro advanced FPGA synthesis for Windows. The Aldec Active-HDL Lattice Edition II simulator is also included for Windows.
In addition to the tool support provided by the OEM versions of Synplify Pro and Active-HDL, Lattice devices are also supported by the full versions of Synopsys Synplify Pro and Aldec Active-HDL. Mentor Graphics ModelSim SE and Precision RTL synthesis also support Lattice devices.
Named 2010 Product of the Year by Electronic Products magazine, the Platform Manager product family consists of two devices, the LPTM10-1247 and LPTM10-12107. The LPTM10-1247 device can monitor 12 voltage rails and supports 47 combined digital inputs and digital outputs, while the LPTM10-12107 monitors up to 12 voltage rails and supports 107 combined digital inputs and digital outputs. Functionally, these devices include both a power management section and a digital board management section. The power management section consists of a programmable threshold, precision differential input comparator block with an accuracy of 0.7%, a 48-macrocell CPLD, programmable hardware timers, a 10-bit analog to digital converter and a trim block for the trimming and margining of supplies. The digital board management section consists of a 640-LUT FPGA and programmable logic interface I/O.
PAC-Designer 6.1 and Lattice Diamond 1.3 software are available now for free download from the Lattice website. Once downloaded and installed, PAC-Designer 6.1 software requires no license. Lattice Diamond 1.3 software can be used with either the Lattice Diamond free license or the Lattice Diamond subscription license. The Lattice Diamond free license can be immediately generated upon request from the Lattice website and provides no cost access to the Platform Manager product family as well as many other popular Lattice devices such as the MachXO2 and MachXO PLD families, the LatticeXP2 FPGA family and the LatticeECP2 FPGA family. The Lattice Diamond free license enables Synopsys Synplify Pro for Lattice synthesis as well as the Aldec Lattice Edition II mixed language simulator.
© Lattice Semiconductor Corporation 2012
