CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
27 September 2004
Product News
Anadigm® Expands Drag-and-Drop Programmable Analog Building Block Options with New Configurable Analog Modules
Now designers can point and click to create square wave oscillators, a voltage-controlled sample and hold circuit, and a sum/difference stage with biquadratic filter. Originally developed by Anadigm® for customer-specific designs, these are among a new group of programmable analog building blocks now available for free download from http://www.anadigm.com .
Each of the Configurable Analog Modules (CAMs) in this new "Customer Collection" can be downloaded to an Anadigm® Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) to implement a software-controlled function in an analog equivalent to the FPGA.
Compared with the standard CAMs provided with the AnadigmDesigner®2 EDA tool used for programming FPAAs, the new Customer Collection CAMs implement more complex, application-specific functions and are the result of customer requests for a drag-and-drop solution to specific design challenges.
The first Customer Collection CAMs being made available by Anadigm® include a sawtooth and square wave oscillator, a triangle and square wave oscillator, a sum/difference stage with biquadratic filter, a multiplier with low corner frequency LPF, and a voltage-controlled sample and hold.
Each of the new CAMs features one or more user-selectable parameters. For example, the sawtooth and square wave oscillator allows users to set the frequency, duty cycle, and peak level. The sum/difference stage with biquadratic filter allows users to choose from low pass, high pass, or band pass filter configurations. The voltage-controlled sample and hold provides users with the ability to select a comparison value for the control signal.
To implement the functions abstracted in the CAMs, users simply drag and drop the CAM into the graphic representation of the FPAA in AnadigmDesigner®2. Once the parameters are selected, the circuit is ready to be downloaded to the FPAA for testing and validation.
"We've always encouraged our customers to come to us with their requests for CAMs that meet specific needs while using circuit resources as efficiently as possible," said Simon Dickinson, Vice President of Operations at Anadigm®. "The Customer Collection of CAMs available on our Web site includes examples of the solutions we've provided for particular customer applications that also have a potentially wide range of applicability to meet the needs of many customers in many vertical market segments."
Anadigm is making available the Customer Collection of CAMs with the recommendation that performance expectations and appropriate applications be discussed with Anadigm® technical support before use. Designers are advised to bench-test circuits constructed with these CAMs to verify that the desired functionality is being achieved.
The Customer Collection of CAMs can be downloaded from a new Download Center within the Anadigm® Web site, which also includes complete starter kits for several complex circuit types, and a Support Forum that allows Anadigm® users to share experiences, design tips, and shortcuts for using FPAAs, AnadigmDesigner®2, and the AnadigmFilter® and AnadigmPID EDA tools.
A free trial copy of AnadigmDesigner®2 v2.4 is available for download. A complete evaluation kit with a development board, entry-level software, and updated documentation is now available at a promotional price of $199. Pricing for FPAA silicon starts at $4.95 in 1,000-piece quantities.
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