Introducing Lattice Propel

No matter what the application or industry, device developers are under constant pressure to get their products to market quickly and efficiently. It’s why when a developer is familiar with a particular hardware platform, they tend to want to use that platform again and again. They don’t have the time to develop the expertise required to implement their applications using unfamiliar technology.

Here at Lattice, we obviously understand the power and potential of the low power FPGA to enable Edge applications (if that’s a topic you’d like to learn more about, try reading this and this). Which is why today we’re particularly proud to announce the Lattice Propel™ design environment. Propel combines two powerful tools, Lattice Propel Builder (for IP system integration) and Lattice Propel SDK (for application software development). Propel makes it easy for developers of any skill level, from a novice FPGA developer to a seasoned pro, to quickly design Lattice FPGA-based applications for any of the markets our products serve, including communications, computing, industrial, automotive, and consumer.

For example, novice users unfamiliar with how to write RTL code can still create designs using Lattice FPGAs thanks to Propel’s easy-to-use GUI. They simply drag-and-drop the required IP blocks into their design, and Propel automatically updates the design layout to incorporate the new IP. Alternatively, an experienced FPGA developer can quickly optimize their applications or port them to another Lattice FPGA by making direct edits to the FPGA’s code using Propel Builder’s script-level editing tool.

Propel also makes it easy to implement processor-based applications thanks to support for eight different processor core and peripheral IP blocks at launch, with more to come in the future. Particularly significant is Propel’s support for a RISC-V IP core; Lattice is the first Flash and SRAM-based FPGA supplier to do so. As RISC-V is open source, the processor architecture is increasingly popular with hardware developers as it keeps them from being locked into using proprietary processing IP.

In addition to enabling fast hardware development, Propel also lets software developers start developing before the hardware design is complete, another big development time saver. The Lattice Propel SDK makes this possible by providing industry-standard software development tools and libraries so developers can quickly and easily build, compile, analyze, and debug their application software.

There’s a lot to learn about Lattice Propel, so Lattice is hosting a webinar for anyone interested in learning more about the design environment’s features and capabilities, including a step-by-step development of a working system using the design environment. Join us on June 23 at 10 a.m. PDT to see how we can take a system from initial concept to “Hello World” in under ten minutes. Visit the Lattice Webinar page to register.

At launch, Propel supports the Lattice MachXO3D™ FPGA for secure system control, and we’ll be adding support for our FPGAs targeting Edge AI and smart vision applications very soon.

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