Johnson Controls Uses Altera Devices to Reduce Costs and Expand Product Capabilities
San Jose, Calif., May 27, 2003--Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced the availability of select FPGAs and CPLDs for use in extended temperature range applications. By broadening the qualified temperature range for members of Altera's Cyclone™, ACEX® 1K, and MAX® 7000AE device families, Altera is providing developers of infotainment, automotive telematics, and other temperature-sensitive applications with the cost advantages and flexibility of the industry's leading programmable logic devices (PLDs).
"For our new automotive audio video system, we have selected Altera's FPGAs because their performance, quality, and temperature specifications meet our automotive requirements," said Francois Lepinette, product engineering manager at Johnson Controls, Inc. "The flexibility and programmability of Altera's devices combined with its powerful Nios® embedded processor provide us with the perfect solution for developing new products."
As automotive suppliers develop more sophisticated passenger infotainment and telematics applications to differentiate their product offerings, demand for semiconductors that can be used for automotive subsystems is on the rise. According to recent data from Gartner Dataquest, the automotive semiconductor market is expected to reach an estimated $12.8 billion in 2003, growing to about $20.8 billion in 2007.
The re-configurability afforded by Altera PLDs enables automotive suppliers to deliver a wide variety of products while simultaneously lowering the costs of their subsystems.
"We selected Altera® devices for our combined analog/DVB-T TV-receiver product based on their low cost, high quality, and extended temperature capabilities," said Dr. Wolfgang Sautter, a hardware design manager at Hirschmann Electronics GmbH. "With the cost of ASICs on the rise, the flexibility and programmability of Altera devices allow us to develop new products quicker while lowering our development costs."
Extended Temperature Range Devices
Altera's MAX 7000AE CPLD family features predictable timing and instant-on capability and has been qualified for a junction temperature of -40 degrees to +130 degrees C. In the extended temperature range, the MAX 7000AE CPLDs range in density from 32 to 256 macrocells and are available in thin quad flat pack (TQFP) and Fineline BGA® (FBGA) packages.
Altera has included two FPGA families-the Cyclone and ACEX 1K families-in the extended temperature range product offering to provide designers with a variety of low-cost density and package offerings. Both FPGA families are low-cost, production-ready solutions for high-volume systems. Densities for the Cyclone FPGAs range from 2,910 to 20,060 logic elements (LEs) while densities for the ACEX 1K FPGAs range from 576 to 4,992 LEs. The Cyclone FPGAs operate at 1.5 V and the ACEX 1K FPGAs operate at 2.5 V. In addition, these FPGA families are qualified to a junction temperature range of -40 degrees to +125 degrees C and will be supported in the popular TQFP, plastic quad flat pack (PQFP), and FBGA packages.
"As more and more information needs to be processed in an automobile, the system complexity and subsequent development costs continue to grow," said Jeff Lamparter, director of the industrial and automotive business unit at Altera. "Engineers in these markets can now reduce their overall costs and accelerate their time-to-market by leveraging Altera devices' new extended temperature range capability."
Availability
ACEX 1K, Cyclone and MAX devices are available today. Customers can contact their local Altera representative for pricing information.
For more information on Altera's Cyclone FPGAs, please visit www.altera.com/cyclone.
For more information on Altera's ACEX 1K FPGAs, please visit www.altera.com/products/devices/acex/acx-index.html.
For more information on Altera's MAX 7000AE CPLDs, please visit www.altera.com/products/devices/max7k/m7k-index.html.
About Altera
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services, Altera provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. More information is available at www.altera.com.
