Java Microcontroller Core Breakthrough

Java Microcontroller Core Breakthrough
By David Larner, Embedded Systems
August 24, 2001 (7:13 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010824S0013

Digital Communication Technologies (DCT) joins Xilinx AllianceCORE programme and offers Lightfoot Java CPU as IP Customisable, single-chip solution that delivers fast time-to-market for embedded applications.

The embedded Java specialist DCT announces the availability of its Lightfoot Java processor in the form of a programmable core for Xilinx FPGAs. Target applications include networked devices such as internet appliances, wireless terminals, and set-top boxes.

Offered as part of the Xilinx AllianceCORE intellectual property program, the 32-bit processor operates from a tiny memory footprint -- providing a design solution for embedded system OEMs. This implementation of the core can provide performance levels of over 40 MIPs from Virtex-II FPGAs - allowing designers to realise powerful single-chip control solutions for connected embedded systems without the cost and time associated with ASIC development.

The processor's architecture and vi rtual machine employ a number of proprietary features to speed up and simplify Java language execution, these allow the processor to execute most bytecodes in a single instruction cycle. The processor also allows users to create custom instructions, without making any changes to the supplied FPGA netlist.

The Lightfoot core is compatible with J2ME and JavaCard and executes native Java bytecodes directly in hardware, providing an efficient means of exploiting the benefits of the language in real-time systems. It additionally supports C, providing a practical means of migrating legacy code to new-generations of embedded system architectures.

Lightfoot will run on Xilinx Spartan-II, Virtex-E and Virtex-II FPGAs.