Fujitsu launches ARM1176 prototyping kit

Significantly reduces SoC development time by around 50%

Langen, Germany -- July 15, 2008 -- Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) announced the launch of an ARM1176 prototyping kit, designed to shorten the development time for customers using its ASIC and COT services to develop SoCs that include the ARM1176JZF-S™, ARM926EJ-S™, or ARM946E-S™ processor cores.

The new prototyping kit consists of an evaluation board equipped with a 90nm platform chip incorporating four ARM® cores: 2 x ARM1176JZF-S, 1 x ARM926EJ-S and 1 x ARM946E-S. The board also includes an FPGA (with a reference design) for loading user logic and for evaluation.

In addition, the kit includes a sample program, a logical simulation model and the user manual. A dummy module (including the bus structure) is installed in the FPGA reference design, allowing customers to develop their SoC with the ARM1176JZF-S simply by replacing it with their own module.

Therefore, prior to completion of the ARM1176, it is possible to evaluate the developed functional user logic and the driver, in order to improve the speed performance of the customer developed SoC, resulting in a faster design process.

With digital audio-visual equipment continuing to integrate more features and greater functionality, embedded SoCs are becoming larger and more complicated. This trend heightens the importance of, and need for, more streamlined development cycles.

To shorten development lead times for SoCs used in equipment that processes still or moving images – such as digital still cameras, digital camcorders, and mobile phones – in addition to logic simulation, it is essential to execute verification in an environment that resembles as closely as possible the fully-developed SoC. Fujitsu’s new prototyping kit for the ARM1176JZF-S makes this possible, thereby enabling ‘first-shot full operation‘ of engineering samples and further shortening of the development lead time.

Key Features

Verification can be performed in near real conditions

Performance of the external AXI bus - which connects the evaluation device for ARM processors on the evaluation board with the FPGA loaded with the customer’s logic circuit – was improved by a range of from 8 times to up to 16 times (comparison by Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited) compared to previously available products. This makes it possible for customers to verify their own logic under conditions that closely resemble the resulting SoC. Due to the fact that SoCs for still images or video processing take a considerable amount of time to verify using logic simulation, practical testing that resembles the actual SoC environment can shorten the development lead time.

FPGA reference design helps shorten device development lead time

Because the FPGA reference design includes dummy modules that comply with ARM’s industry-standard advanced microcontroller bus architecture (AMBA) customers can simply switch the dummy modules with their own modules to easily build a prototype design of a SoC based on the ARM1176JZF-S.

Using this FPGA, customers can verify their custom logic and develop device drivers before the SoC has been fabricated, thereby reducing the development lead time. The evaluation board is compatible with the HapsTrak specification of the prototyping board from Synplicity, with an expandable FPGA domain.

Key Specifications of the ARM1176 Prototyping Kit

1: AXI: Advanced eXtensible Interface. A high-speed bus conforming to ARM’s AMBA 3.0 specification. Used as processor bus for ARM1176JZF-S 2: FCBGA: A multi-pin package that includes flip-chip bonding technologies.
Evaluation Board	Device	ARM processors evaluation device and FPGA
	External Bus	64-bit External AXI¹ (DDR, max. 100MHz)
	Memory	Flash memory 32MB Mobile DDR SDRAM 128MB
	External Interface	Ethernet, UART, ICE
Device used to evaluate ARM processor	Multi-core processor	ARM1176JZF-S (max. 500MHz), ARM926EJ-S (max. 400MHz), ARM946E-S (max. 400MHz)
	Process technology	CMOS 90nm low power-consumption process
	Package	FCBGA² 1156 (35 x 35mm)
	Power consumption	1.2 W (ARM1176JZF-S: operating at 500MHz, typ.)
Other	FPGA reference design, sample program, simulation model, user's manual

Availability

The new ARM1176 prototyping kit will be available from July 2008. A prototyping kit for customers developing SoCs using the ARM926EJ-S and ARM946E-S processor cores is already available.

About Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) is a major supplier of semiconductor products. The company provides advanced systems solutions to the automotive, digital TV, mobile telephony, networking and industrial markets. Engineers from design centres dedicated to microcontrollers, graphics controllers, mixed-signal, wireless, multimedia ICs and ASIC products work closely with FME's marketing and sales teams throughout Europe to help satisfy customers' system development requirements. This solutions approach is supported by a broad range of advanced semiconductor devices, IP and building blocks.

For more information, please see: http://emea.fujitsu.com/microelectronics