Enhancements Increase System Performance and Deliver Significant Benefits To
Embedded Designers
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS CONFERENCE, SAN FRANCISCO, April 23
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX) today announced version
3.2 of its Embedded Development Kit (EDK), offering significant enhancements
to the Xilinx(R) MicroBlaze(TM) 32-bit soft processor core and embedded design
tools supporting both MicroBlaze and the Virtex-II Pro(TM) PowerPC. With new
capabilities in the MicroBlaze core such as LocalLink interconnect technology,
barrel shifter, instruction and data caches, and hardware divider, designers
can now significantly increase system performance while reducing cost.
Additionally, new embedded tool enhancements include added support for the
Solaris Platform, Block Editor View, and extended debug facilities for
multi-processor systems. Designers interested in learning more about Xilinx
processor solutions should attend Programmable World 2003. For complete
program and registration information, visit http://www.xilinx.com/PW2003.
(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020822/XLNXLOGO )
"Our embedded customers are enthusiastically adopting EDK with MicroBlaze
because it eases design development and enables both high performance and low
cost embedded processing," said Per Holmberg, director of Programmable Systems
at Xilinx, "With over 20K users of Xilinx soft processor solutions, designers
are recognizing the value of flexible partitioning between hardware and
software to reduce overall system and development costs."
"The MicroBlaze solution has proven to be far more than a companion
microprocessor to our FPGA compute engines. It has become quite an integral
part in shaping the way we are solving problems and is helping reduce our
engineering costs," said Ricardo Ramos, president and CEO of Interativa
Paineis Eletronicos. "Currently, we use the MicroBlaze processor in our 68
billion Color LED display system to manage calibration and setup routines for
the video processor module. The ability to easily modify these functions
without completely changing the design allows us to offer a cutting edge
product."
New MicroBlaze Features
-- User-Configurable Caches: The MicroBlaze soft processor includes
direct mapped, level one (L1) instruction and data caches that are
configurable up to 64 KB. Memory is divided by address to provide 1 GB
of cacheable memory space and 3 GB of non-cacheable memory space to
significantly reduce instruction execution time and code space.
-- LocalLink to Simplify Software to Hardware Implementations: LocalLink
offers a 300 MB/sec direct processor interface and point-to-point
connection for custom functions and hardware. This high-bandwidth,
configurable depth FIFO interface to the CPU is ideal for streaming
applications. Each of the 32 input/output LocalLink connection uses
SRL16 for the FIFO which consumes only 36 LUTs for a 32-wide, 16-deep
FIFO.
-- Hardware Debug Module: The MicroBlaze debug module offers JTAG support
for multi-processor debug. Debugging options include configurable break
points and watch points, non-intrusive debugging, debugging ROM code.
-- 32-Bit Barrel Shifter: The 32-bit barrel shifter is particularly
advantageous for applications that shift data logical left or
right -- a normal code style for C programs. Independent of the shift
amount or direction, the barrel shifter instructions take only two
clock cycles. It can boost shift execution up to 15 times.
-- Hardware Divide: Xilinx has implemented a dedicated MicroBlaze
instruction with hardware support for divide functions. Users no longer
need to run a software library function to perform divides. The
hardware divider combined with other enhanced features results in
higher processor performance.
The MicroBlaze core delivers unparalleled performance running at
68 Dhrystone-MIPS in the recently announced Spartan-3(TM) FPGA and 125 DMIPS
in the Virtex-II Pro FPGA. A typical MicroBlaze system that includes the soft
processor core, bus structure, Timer, GPIO and UART peripherals connected to
the IBM CoreConnect (TM) bus and/or the new LocalLink direct interface
consumes less than 5% of the total available logic resources in the
3S1500 Spartan-3 FPGA.
New features in Embedded Design Tools
The new version of the Embedded Development Kit provides embedded
designers with an environment to debug hardware and software portions of an
embedded system using the MicroBlaze core or the Virtex-II Pro PowerPC. With
this enhanced capability, users can leverage a JTAG based on-chip debug which
allows non-intrusive control, monitoring of the entire processor system and
its associated memory and provides the capability of viewing the signals from
the processor interface. Advanced debug capability with the new version of EDK
supports hardware break-points and address and data watch points in processor
systems that use multiple PowerPC or MicroBlaze cores, as well as a
combination of MicroBlaze and PowerPC cores. With the new debug capabilities,
embedded designers can now complete system verification both in hardware and
simulation, cutting down dramatically on the debug time and improving time to
market. Block Diagram View is another new EDK capability that allows users to
define and generate a FPGA-based embedded system. With this new feature, users
can simply define and generate an embedded system according to their
specification with little intervention, streamlining design complexity and
freeing resources for other tasks.
Pricing and Availability
The Embedded Development Kit is available immediately with promotional
pricing at $495 until the end of 2003. The MicroBlaze soft processor core is
included in the EDK. For more information about the EDK and MicroBlaze, visit
http://www.xilinx.com/processor .
Programmable World 2003
Customers can learn more about the new MicroBlaze features at Programmable
World 2003, May 6, 2003. The event will include an in-depth technical session
from Xilinx on how to optimize system performance and cost by using Xilinx
FPGAs with soft processor cores. For complete program and registration
information, visit http://www.xilinx.com/pw2003.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader of programmable logic solutions. Additional
information about Xilinx can be found at http://www.xilinx.com .
SOURCE Xilinx, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.xilinx.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020822/XLNXLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840
CONTACT:
Jennifer Wright of Xilinx, Inc.,
+1-408-879-7727, or jennifer.wright@xilinx.com
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