Actel Announces Power Management Solution for SmartFusion Intelligent Mixed Signal FPGAs

Power Management Solution Delivers GUI, Source Files and Hardware for Single Chip Multi-rail Power Sequencing with Trimming for Embedded Designers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 22, 2010 — Actel Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTL) today announced a power management solution for its newly introduced SmartFusion™ intelligent mixed signal FPGAs. Actel's Mixed Signal Power Manager (MPM) Solution includes a complete reference design with graphical configurator to enter power sequencing and trimming requirements. The design takes full advantage of the capabilities of SmartFusion devices and is targeted to the MPM Daughter Card which can be used with either the SmartFusion Evaluation Kit or SmartFusion Development Kit. This complete power management solution enables the integration of power rail management into embedded designs.

The SmartFusion MPM solution delivers advanced power management that is easily configured via a configuration GUI, enabling system designers to effortlessly integrate and configure intelligent power management with their ARM® Cortex™-M3 based embedded designs. Actel's graphical design configuration approach enables power management thresholds to be set, voltage trimming to be configured and sequencing functionality to be updated without changing the circuitry programmed into the FPGA fabric.

SmartFusion MPM demonstrates power-up sequencing, management and power down sequencing of up to 32 independent power regulators (rails) with 8 rails supporting closed loop voltage trimming using PWM. Also demonstrated are five user configurable flags per regulator channel, exponential decay filtering, and up to 32 digital 'trigger' outputs using single level combinatorial logic, enabling the combination of internal states with 32 corresponding off-chip digital inputs to build complex system-level state signaling.

MPM for SmartFusion using the MPM Daughter Card with SmartFusion Evaluation Kit or SmartFusion Development Kit offers these key benefits:

• Intelligent power management leveraging 100 MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 in SmartFusion intelligent mixed signal FPGA
• Configurable power management using intrinsically low power, high-reliability, flash-based SmartFusion intelligent mixed signal FPGA on A2F-DEV-KIT or A2F-EVAL-KIT mother board
• Power management functions reconfigurable via standalone PC GUI over JTAG or directly (register peek/poke) via I2C
• Implements power management in hardware for comprehensive evaluation
• More features and channels than current ASSP solutions
  • Nonvolatile
  • Live at power-up (LAPU)
  • Low power
• Single chip and low power solution simplifies board design
• Low power FPGAs reduce thermal management and cooling requirements
• Proven in hardware, ready for use

To learn more about the SmartFusion Mixed Signal Power Manager, view the video: www.actel.com/support/webcasts/default.aspx?f=mpm_dc.

For more information on Actel's Power Management solutions, visit www.actel.com/products/solutions/powermgt.

Pricing and Availability

Available for purchase now are the SmartFusion Evaluation Kit (A2F-EVAL-KIT, list price $99), SmartFusion Development Kit (A2F-DEV-KIT, list price $999) and MPM Daughter Card Kit (MPM-DC-KIT, list price $299). For additional information please contact your local Actel Sales representative.

About SmartFusion Intelligent Mixed Signal FPGAs

SmartFusion, the industry's first intelligent mixed signal FPGA, is the only device that integrates an FPGA, hard ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontroller subsystem (MSS) and programmable analog, offering full customization, IP protection and ease-of-use. Based on Actel's flash technology, SmartFusion devices are ideal for hardware and embedded designers who need a true system-on-chip (SoC) solution that gives more flexibility than traditional fixed-function microcontrollers without the excessive cost of soft processor cores on traditional FPGAs. SmartFusion is an innovative solution for the industrial, medical, energy, communications and military markets in diverse applications, including system management, power management, motor control, industrial networking and display.

About Actel

Actel is the leader in low power FPGAs and mixed signal FPGAs, offering the most comprehensive portfolio of system and power management solutions. Power Matters. Learn more at www.actel.com.