ProDesign Sets New Standards for High-Speed Verification with CHIPit Platinum V4

CHIPit Platinum V4 is the first ASIC prototyping system on the market that can handle up to 21 Xilinx Virtex4 FPGAs with a flexible programmable connection topology for a large number of different configurations. This scalable system can be chosen as version with 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 or 21 Xilinx Virtex4 FPGAs (XC4VLX100/160/200) and can handle designs from 2.3-20 million ASIC gates. This scalability enables users for example to start with a system configuration of six FPGAs and later upgrade easily to a configuration with 9, 12, 15, 18 or 21 FPGAs. A patented 3D switching technology allows for architectural trade-off optimizations with different design structures of the SoC design to achieve highest performance up to 200MHz. As soon as more than two FPGAs are necessary for verification, the system's connection topology can be changed in software at any time - which is a vital requirement with regard to the re-usability of the system for other projects.

Other major enhancements of CHIPit Platinum V4 are new debugging features including host-controlled debugging and separate debugging interfaces as well as an enhanced debugging and system handling software package.

CHIPit Platinum V4 gives ASIC & SoC design and verification engineers unprecedented speed and flexibility to validate algorithm performance and to verify and debug their ASIC designs. This very cost-effective and flexible solution for all stages of hardware-assisted verification - in the initial phases of algorithm creation, during the basic IP development and debugging, or when early prototyping for software development and verification is necessary - shortens the time to market by eliminating costly respins and by providing an early prototype for the software development.

"We are excited to introduce the second generation of the CHIPit Platinum series with CHIPit Platinum V4, hereby once again setting a new standard for high-speed ASIC verification," said Gunnar Scholl, ProDesign's Director of Marketing and Business Development. "Due to the increasing complexity of today's ASIC designs, our customers constantly demand more capacity, a higher performance and best debugging capabilities. With CHIPit Platinum V4 was developed with the input and help of our key customers, resulting in a very cost effective ASIC verification system solution that fulfills highest requirements concerning capacity, speed, flexibility and debugging capabilities. We are proud to say that we already shipped the first fifteen CHIPit Platinum V4 systems to key customers. This number emphasizes the acceptance of our new high-speed rapid prototyping system, and shows us that we are on the right way."

Like the previous version, CHIPit Platinum V4 is a standalone system that communicates with the host via ProDesign's proprietary 528 Mbit UMRBus communication system technology, allowing for multiple independent communication channels between host and design to be set up for interaction with the ASIC design. Users can choose between a C/C++ and a Tcl/Tk programming interface and have the option to store and load the configuration data with an integrated CF card interface.

The software package

CHIPit Platinum V4 comes with a comprehensive software package including CHIPit Manager, Visibility Tool, HDL Bridge and Signal Tracker. The CHIPit Manager for complete project administration and system configuration supports design implementation (synthesis/place & route) and handles design partitioning on the prototyping system. The Visibility Tool eases debugging of the design by executing the internal design signals after synthesis/place & route which can then be analyzed for example with tools such as logic analyzers. Other highlights for debugging are 'HDL Bridge' and 'Signal Tracker'. HDL Bridge is a powerful tool that provides a direct link between a simulation environment (RTL or gate level) to part or the whole DUT (design under test) that is loaded in the CHIPit system. This ensures that the entire design or parts of it run in hardware already in the simulation phase. Combined with Signal Tracker for visualization of the internal signals in the simulator, the designer is provided with an ideal solution for rapid design debugging.

About CHIPit hardware-assisted verification platforms

The CHIPit line provides an integrated set of tools with debug capabilities that provide a dual solution for hardware and software verification and validation throughout the project life cycle. Based on FPGAs, modular CHIPit platforms give design engineers unprecedented speed and flexibility to validate algorithm performance, verify hardware implementation, and assist in hardware/software co-development and co-verification. The CHIPit platforms can handle capacities up to 10 million ASIC gates and run at system speeds of up to 200MHz. Over 150 CHIPit systems are installed worldwide at customers including ST Microelectronics, Philips Semiconductors, Thomson Multimedia, Sony Semiconductors and many more.