Gaisler Research Announces Nucleus OS Support for The LEON Processor

April 11, 2008 -- Gaisler Research AB, the leader in System on Chip (SoC) design, today announced that Mentor Graphics Nucleus® Operating System (OS) is now supported on the LEON3 processor. This off-the-shelf solution improves the design productivity and reduces the design cost of next generation embedded systems. A port, a board support package and a demonstration application are now available for the GNU based SW development environment.

"Mentor Graphics leadership in royalty-free real-time operating systems makes them an ideal partner,” said Jiri Gaisler, Founder & CTO of Gaisler Research. “The Nucleus OS is widely deployed in embedded applications including consumer electronics, set-top boxes, mobile phones, and other portable and handheld devices. Scalable to a functional footprint as small as 13 KB, including both code and data space, the Nucleus OS truly unlocks the full performance of the LEON processor family. Because the Nucleus-based development platform already includes the latest in networking, file, storage, and USB capabilities, developers can now create and deliver innovative applications to their customers in less time.”  

The LEON3 is a high-performance 32-bit SPARC V8 processor that provides computing capabilities to cost-sensitive embedded microcontroller applications at a cost equivalent to legacy 8- and 16-bit processors. The processor is available as a soft core for instantiations into both FPGAs and ASICs, and is targeted at military, aerospace, industrial and consumer electronics applications, such as satellites, digital set top boxes, and industrial power control devices.  The LEON3 processor provides high performance and flexibility that meets the demands of any System on Chip design. The fault tolerant version offers protection against soft errors, key requirement in military and aerospace applications.

"We are pleased to support Gaisler Research and the LEON3 processor,” commented Roger J. Butterfield, strategic alliance manager at Mentor Graphics.  “The scalability of Nucleus OS enables developers that rely on LEON3 processing power to optimize the software for their specific embedded applications.  This ‘exact fit’ approach conserves hardware resources and brings out the best system performance.”

Shipping and Availability

Nucleus OS solutions are available under license from Mentor Graphics. For more information and pricing for Mentor Graphics embedded solutions, please call 1-800-547-3000 or e-mail embedded_info@mentor.com .  The LEON3 port and the BSP are available from Gaisler Research when licensing the LEON3 processor. 

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronics and semiconductor companies.  Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $875 million and employs approximately 4,350 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

About Gaisler Research

Gaisler Research AB is a provider of SoC solutions for exceptionally competitive markets such as Aerospace, Military and demanding Commercial applications. Gaisler Research's products consist of user-customizable 32-bit SPARC V8 processor cores, peripheral IP-cores and associated software and development tools. Gaisler Research solutions help companies develop highly competitive customer and application-specific SoC designs. Please visit http://www.gaisler.com/ for more information.