electronic newsletter for SoC designers
N^o 2. August
2008

MAIN TOPIC

HOT NEWS

Don’t worry about DIS. CONTINUE.

Have you ever thought what would happen if your supplier gave up the production process of your chip? Are you sure you have the last word in discussions with companies your SoC depends on? If your answer to any of those questions is “no”, Evatronix is ready to provide you with its future-proof solution – obsolete parts replacement our company has been working on for 11 years now.

From a big whole to a small hole
Although the documentation of an original device serves as a basis for specification of the core modeled after it, the papers provided by the chip manufacturer are chi-users-oriented and they usually do not contain all the details of chip behavior that are necessary to recreate its full functionality. Therefore analysis of the original documentation results in a list of ambiguities that have to be reduced by testing the original chip. A proper approach in this matter can save time and money spent on development of a chip replacement.

Hard(a)ware modeling
Hardware modeling, understood as the use of a real circuit as a model inside a simulated system, may solve many of these ambiguities during research and test development stage. It plays the greatest role in reverse engineering, when it’s aimed at recreation of the obsolete parts’ functionality with various degrees of original timing accuracy. Hardware models ensure full (tick-to-tick) or just functional equivalency between virtual components and reference chips.

The process of hardware modeling proves to be useful in testing the FPGA prototypes of virtual components.

Making it Personal...

Obsolete parts replacement IP cores Z80-family based Microprocessor & Peripherals Zilog™ Z80 CPU 8-bit Microprocessors MOS Technology™ 6502 16- and 32-bit Microprocessors Intel™ 80c186xl, Motorola™ MC68000 DSP & Numeric Coprocessors TI's TMS320C25™, Motorola™ DSP56002, Intel™ Intel387SX, Intel™ 80c187

Development of more complex hardware models results in emergence of many problems like simulation overcomplexity, long-lasting preparation of a new model or simply lack of ability to reflect some physical features in a model. Demand for knowledge of a unique BMD language and unusual simulation environment add up to severe obstacles in hardware modeling.

Evatronix Personal Hardware Modeler enhanced existing hardware modeling tools with significant improvements, namely bigger number of configurable examined device pins, virtually unlimited simulation time, device portability (serial communication with a PC) and compatibility with standard VHDL simulators. Other advantages include the same environment for virtual component and hardware model simulation as well as the possibility to use the PHM system as hardware simulation accelerator for FPGA post-route verification.

...and beneficial
Vast experience Evatronix gained by developing tools for effective obsolete parts replacement and creation of the parts themselves can bring immediate benefits to all customers who are interested in continuing supplies of their products even when the technology becomes too old or unprofitable for main manufacturers to go on.

By instant implementation of our IP you become independent and future-proof – we can supply you with any configuration of our obsolete parts anytime, anywhere.

Feel free to ask for a combination of the desired IP with our other products. This will eventually save you even more time and get you to market faster.

Click this link to read more about our proprietary Personal Hardware Modeler.

Both subplatforms are only a part of our downloadable product catalog.

• Evatronix announces T8051 - world's smallest 8051 IP core
  
• C80186XL and C6502 IP cores introduced
  
• Gigabit Ethernet IP cores enhanced with PCS sublayer
  
• HDLC Connectivity Platform
  
• SDIO Host Controller
  

SUCCESS STORY

Evatronix’ R8051XC microcontroller IP core helps Fingerprint Cards AB develop its flagship product - the FPC2020.
What Fingerprints needed was a very small, highly configurable microcontroller to provide their solution with the best power-to-gates number ratio within a limited amount of the latter. The business plan assumed quick release of the ASIC and thus required the controller to be silicon-proven to guarantee seamless introduction to the market.
Read more»

OUR FEATURED PRODUCT

T8051 - world's smallest 8051-compliant IP core
Limits are set to be broken - the T8051, with its number of gates lower than 6.000, is the world.s smallest 8051 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) compatible microcontroller. The CPU itself covers an area of less than 3.000 gates. To cut the story short - T8051 fits where other 8-bit microcontrollers don't.
The T8051 is a single-chip 8-bit microcontroller which executes ASM51 instruction set. It also provides an interface for serial communication, a timer, multi-purpose I/O ports, hardware interrupts and a debugger interface.
To meet the lowest possible gate count requirement, a wide range of resources is effectively shared between several stages of instruction execution inside the CPU.
The T8051 is aimed at applications in which the microcontroller replaces a hard-coded control logic, being easily re-programmable and allowing for modifications to the control algorithm without the need for re-design of the chip.
The solution's value is further increased by an implemented complex debugging system.
Read more»

PARTNERS' CORNER

Innovasic Semiconductor is an ISO 9001-certified, fabless semiconductor company focused on serving long life-cycle electronic equipment manufacturers. The company has completed over 150 IC designs and shipped over a million ICs. The majority of our designs have been microcontrollers, peripherals and custom ICs developed to replace products that were discontinued by the original manufacturer.
More information on www.innovasic.com.
Innovasic relied on Evatronix obsolete parts replacement skills to develop IA8044, Intel’s 8044 equivalent.

Fingerprint Cards AB has developed electronic systems that determine personal identity by analysing the unique fingertip patterns of individuals. The central business concept is to deliver both components and complete systems of Fingerprints' original fingerprint technology from within a variable framework of licence agreements.
Evatronix cooperated with Fingerprint Cards on their latest, third generation biometric processor ASIC, which is powered by Evatronix’ R8051XC IP core.
Learn more about Fingerprints at www.fingerprints.com

To contact our Sales Departament write to ipcenter@evatronix.pl
To contact our Technical Support write to support@evatronix.pl
www.evatronix.pl

Headquarters
ul. Przybyly 2, PL 43-300 Bielsko-Biala, Poland
tel/fax +48 33 499 59 15, +48 33 499 59 18

Electronic Design Department
ul. Dubois 16, PL 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
tel/fax +48 32 231 11 71, +48 32 231 30 27

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