Issue 33: Xilinx Online Technology Allows you to Reconfigure your Designs Remotely

63 Pages·1999·2.1 MB·English

Issue 33
Third Quarter
1999
PPRROODDUUCCTT IINNFFOORRMMAATTIIOONN
New-CoolRunner CPLDs
DDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTT SSYYSSTTEEMMSS
New-Alliance/Foundation Series2.1i
New-WebPACK and WebFITTER
AAPPPPLLIICCAATTIIOONNSS
ADSL Modem
Unusual Clock Dividers
CCOOVVEERR SSTTOORRYY
CCOOLLUUMMNNSS
Xilinx Online technology Industry Analyst - New!
allows you to reconfigure HDL Advisor
your designs remotely Applications Q & A
F R O M T H E E D I T O R
Xilinx Online -
The End of Single-use Hardware
We are on the verge of an exciting new paradigm in
logic design—one that could forever change not only
how you design but also change what you design.
A
EDITOR computer can "become" a word ble, they are much less expensive as
Carlis Collins processor, a communication ter- well, opening many new applications
[email protected] minal, a calculator, a video that once required custom, inflexible
ASICs.
408-879-4519 game, or an almost unlimited number of
l Development Tools - With our tools
other machines, simply by loading in a
SENIOR DESIGNER you can create very large, complex
new machine description or "program." It
designs, and then simulate and debug
Jack Farage
is this reprogrammable aspect of comput- them quickly and easily. Plus, with our
BOARD OF ADVISORS ers that make them so useful. Now imagine new team-based design capabilities,
Dave Stieg that the hardware of your computer (or any multiple designers, in separate loca-
Dave Galli other device) is just as programmable as tions, can easily collaborate.
lIntellectual Property - Many new cores
Mike Seither the software; that the machine itself can
are being developed every day, giving
Peter Alfke "morph" into almost any function, instantly
you a low cost headstart on your next
adapting to new requirements, and eventu-
design. Xilinx LogiCOREs and third
ally becoming things not yet dreamed of.
party AllianceCOREs also give you the
Imagine that this upgradable system is advantage of fast, predictable perfor-
connected to the Internet, allowing it to be mance, no matter where the cores are
2X1il0in0x L, oIngcic. Drive automatically modified, remotely, as often placed, in any combination, saving you
San Jose, CA 95124-3450 a lot of time and effort.
Phone: [phone] as needed. The implications are staggering;
AX: 408-879-4780 lNetworks - The Internet is everywhere,
©1999 Xilinx Inc. the possibilities are unlimited; it's called
All rights reserved. which means that you have a standard,
Xilinx Online™.
Xcell is published quarterly.XILINX,the built-in, infrastructure for remotely
Xilinx logo,and CoolRunner are regis- This futuristic capability, a combination reprogramming your designs. Through
tered trademarks of Xilinx,Inc.Virtex,
LogiCORE,IRL,Spartan,SpartanXL, of several technologies, has just arrived, the Internet (or any communication
Alliance Series,Foundation Series,CORE yet it's already beginning to have a dra- medium) you can repair, upgrade, or
Generator,XPLA,Fast Zero Power,
WebFITTER,WebPACK,ChipViewer, matic impact on the way new systems are enhance existing equipment, saving
Select RAM,Block Ram,Xilinx Online,
and all XC-prefix products are trade- designed. These enabling technologies you and your customers a lot of time
marks,and The Programmable Logic and expense.
include:
Company is a service mark of Xilinx,Inc.
lSoftware Enabling Technologies - The
Other brand or product names are trade- lDevice Architecture - The Xilinx Virtex™
marks or registered trademarks of their Java™ language enables Xilinx to create
FPGA family now has the speed, densi-
respective owners.
universal applications for remotely pro-
ty, and system-level features you need
he articles,information,and other gramming, testing, and verifying your
materials included in this issue are pro- to create complete systems in pro-
vided soley for the convenience of our grammable logic, systems that are designs. These tools make it easy for
readers.Xilinx maes no warranties, you to manage your systems in the
express,implied,statutory,or otherwise, easily modified remotely.
and accepts no liability with respect to lProcess Technology - With our latest field.
any such articles,information,or other
materials or their use,and any use deep sub-micron manufacturing tech Xilinx Online presents the obvious next
thereof is solely at the risk of the user. nologies, Xilinx programmable logic step in the evolution of logic design, and
Any person or entity using such informa-
tion in any way releases and waives any devices are not only much more capa- this issue of Xcell shows you what it's all
claim it might have against Xilinx for any
loss,damage,or expense caused therby. about.
2
A R T I C L E S
Inside This Issue:
Xilinx Online - The End of
Single-use Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4
COVER STORY Xilinx Online - A Revolution
in Logic Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Xilinx Online - A revolution in logic Industry Leaders Discuss
the Role of the Internet and
design. With our latest technology,
Programmable Logic..........................6
you can create unique new systems Xilinx Receives Three IRL
Industry Awards.................................7
that can be remotely reconfigured
Who’s Using Virtex and Spartan
and maintained at your customers'
FPGAs in Xilinx Online Applications..8
premises, anywhere in the world. Voice Technologies Group Creates
Adaptable, Netlist Controls...............11
14
DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS How to Add Features
and Fix Bugs - Remotely...................12
New 2.1i Software ............................14
New 2.1i software – shortens design
Xilinx Acquires CoolRunner...............19
cycles and improves productivity. The
WebFITTER–Now Better Than Ever...20
latest release of the Xilinx Alliance
NewWebPACK–PacksaCPLDPunch..21
Series and Foundation Series soft-
Get a Head Start with a New Virtex
ware is now available. Development Board..........................23
ADSL Modems - using Spartan.........24
19 Advanced Packaging........................28
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Unusual Clock Dividers.....................30
Xilinx acquires the CoolRunner® The Long-term Industry Outlook......32
32-Channel (Duplex) ADPCM
Line of CPLDs - combining very low
Transcoder for Virtex FPGAs............34
power with high speed, high density, The Virtex Family–a Powerful
ASIC Alternative...............................35
and high I/O counts.
Verilog GSR/GTS Simulation
Methodology–Changes in the
Alliance Series 2.1iSoftware.............38
24
APPLICATIONS The Evans &Sutherland Ensemble
Image Generator...............................41
Questions & Answers........................44
Low cost Spartan FPGAs used in
FlibGen, FlibTime, and ChipView –
ADSL modems - managing DMA Power Tools for FPGA Design...........48
transfers and implementing the com- New FPGA Compiler II–
For Million-Gate Designs..................50
plex system-level glue logic required
New EDIF Netlist Controls................52
for the USB interface.
FPGA-on-Board Timing
Verification Using Tau......................54
32 Xilinx Design Series Text Books.......57
COLUMNS
Web-integrated Software Manuals....58
Device Selection Guide.....................60
New Industry Analyst column - pro-
Software Selection Guide..................62
grammable logic continues to outpace
the overall electronic industry growth.
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3
Xilinx
Online- in our industry there is an increasing level of
competition between many new standards, for
everything from interface specifications to com-
munication protocols. This competition
A Revolution between emerging standards creates open-
ended delays for new product introductions and
in Logic Design it can significantly decrease the life span of
your designs. However, using Xilinx Online
technologies, you can enter the market far
With our latest technology, you can ahead of your competition and easily adapt to
create unique new systems that can the changing standards, long after your systems
be remotely reconfigured, upgraded, are installed.
and maintained at your customers' lSystems that adapt themselves to a
premises, anywhere in the world. changing environment, on-the-fly.For
example, imagine MPEG decoders or pattern
recognition devices that can automatically
by Wim Roelandts, adapt their algorithms to match the quality of
CEO, Xilinx
the incoming data. Plus, you can download
X
ilinx Online repre- new algorithms, as they are developed, without
sents a whole new interrupting system operation.
concept in logic In the future it will become even more cru-
design. Now for the first time, cial for you to have the capability of adapting to
it's very practical and cost- many different evolving standards and chang-
effective to design hardware ing environments. If you wait to see which
that easily adapts to a changing competing standards win, or to see which
environment; the advantages of options your customers are buying, you run the
this new technology are enormous and far risk of always being behind the technology
reaching. This capability is expected to soon curve, and your product life span (and prof-
replace many conventional fixed-logic designs itability) will be significantly reduced.
because the benefits are very compelling. By creating reconfigurable hardware, you
will extend the life and profitability of your sys-
New Possibilities
tems, and you can also generate new, on-going
Using the reconfigurable logic capability of our revenue from existing systems. For example, its
Virtex FPGAs, and our new software technolo- not difficult to imagine "universal" Internet-
gies that enable its use, you can create unique based appliances that can become whatever
new designs such as: your customer chooses (and is willing to pay
lSystems that can accept new features for). With this type of device you can continue
and bug fixes over any network, including to create and sell new designs, long after your
the Internet. For example, imagine shipping initial system was purchased, without shipping
new systems, even before their final specifica- any new hardware.
tions are complete. This is very useful, because
(Continued)
4
It's Happening Now
can also be implemented in an FPGA if neces-
Researchers have been investigating this con- sary, so a separate microprocessor is not
cept for years, and a few forward-looking com- required.
panies have already created FPGA-based prod- l The new system-level, Virtex FPGAs
ucts that can be reconfigured from afar. IBM, from Xilinx now have enough speed and
for example, currently markets an ATM switch capacity to implement high performance appli-
whose FPGA-based logic can be changed over cations. Our advanced sub-micron fabrication
the network to bring it into accord with the lat- technologies have enabled us to significantly
est changes in the ATM standard. While such reduce our prices while increasing density and
reconfigurable hardware is not yet mainstream, performance.
a number of Xilinx customers—including large Our Virtex family was designed from the
communications companies—are very interest- beginning to allow complete or partial reconfig-
ed in the idea and are well along the way with urability. This means that you can change part
major designs efforts. of the FPGA while the other parts are still run-
The types of systems that could benefit from ning. These features, along with abundant on-
being field upgradable are wide-ranging. chip RAM (of various types), advanced clocking
Almost any system that has some type of con- capability (using Delay Locked Loops), and sup-
nectivity to the "outside world" can benefit port for many different I/O types (up to eight
from the Xilinx Online technologies. Typical different standards simultaneously), makes the
products include network appliances, set-top Virtex family the perfect choice for remotely
boxes, security systems, network diagnostic upgradable applications.
equipment, cellular base stations, and satellite Most systems today already come with
communications systems. Other likely applica- some form of built-in communications or
tions are HDTV, video and image processing, microprocessor interface, making the addition
encryption, military communications, surveil- of remote field update capability a simple mat-
lance, radar, and sonar. ter. And, many new tools are being developed
that will make it even easier for you to create
The Enabling Technologies
field upgradable products.
Three enabling technologies have recently
Summary
come together to make it possible for you to
easily upgrade your hardware remotely: The capability to remotely upgrade and debug
l Pervasive networks such as the Internet your systems brings many compelling advan-
provide the infrastructure that allows you to tages over conventional fixed-logic designs;
easily communicate with any type of system, you can get to the market much sooner, stay in
anywhere in the world. Through networks (or the market much longer, and sell new features
any type of communication medium), new as they are developed. Clearly, manufacturers
FPGA designs can be downloaded and tested, who create remotely upgradable systems today
remotely. will be the ones who lead their markets in the
l The Java language makes it easy to imple- not-too-distant future.
ment universal software applications. Using By incorporating Xilinx Online capability,
Java we can create applets that perform the your equipment is cheaper to maintain, and it
necessary functions of transporting, program- will not become prematurely obsolete—benefits
ming, and verifying FPGA designs, on any type that your customers will appreciate and pay for.
of host system. A Java "virtual machine"
5
Industry Leaders Discuss the Role of
the Internet and Programmable Logic
Xilinx Webcasts from DAC '99 present the views of industry leaders.
by Ann Duft, Public Relations
Manager, Xilinx,
[email protected]
T
his year at the Design Automation market into the marketplace. In that case, I
Conference (DAC) '99 in New Orleans, would see Xilinx providing the platform prod-
Xilinx presented Webcasts of prominent uct."
leaders in our industry—another industry first. John Chambers compared the Internet revo-
There were talks by John Chambers (CEO of lution to the industrial revolution. Plus he
Cisco Systems), Scott McNealy (CEO of Sun offered a five-year look ahead. "Voice will
Microsystems), Aart de Geus (CEO of almost ride for free in a connection with voice
Synopsys), Geoffrey Moore (author of Crossing and video over a single network. Imagine the
the Chasm), and Wim Roelandts (CEO of challenges the major phone companies will
Xilinx). have when 90 percent of their revenues and
Geoffrey Moore spoke on the emerging sys- profits will become commodities and be free.
tem-on-a-chip market. "One of the most excit- The Internet will level the playing field between
ing things that Xilinx has brought to the market big companies and small companies. There will
is this notion of a reprogrammable chip that be a globalization of companies and resources
can be functionally changed and modified after at a pace that we're just beginning to under-
shipping. This is particularly attractive in my stand. Almost every electronic device in our
view for people in the hand-held device mar- home, in our work, in our cars, or even on our
kets, notably wireless phones, but increasingly bodies will be networked."
in the Internet appliance market currently infil- Chambers noted that the Internet will
trating our lives. change the attitudes of business and the busi-
“The challenge for the systems provider, ness principles; it will be viewed as the compet-
who is deploying a service, is that the appli- itive advantage; change and rapid adaptation to
ances become an expensive consumable. God change will become key requirements for cor-
forbid there's a bug in one of these things and porate culture. It will be an era where business
you have to do a recall on the product. What's must lead and government must follow. In
exciting to me about the Xilinx offering is that short it will change everything. To quote their
as the technology moves forward and the cus- primetime commercial, he asks, "Are you
tomer wishes to increase their subscription in a ready?"
service, someone at a remote systems manage- When asked about the importance of pro-
ment monitoring console can actually repro- grammable logic in his future product plans,
gram the device, live, without the customer Chambers responded, "Very simply, it's
having to do anything. extremely important to our future in terms of
"This is going to be extremely compelling to cost-of-ownership and flexibility for our cus-
the systems houses. And these houses with tomers."
hand-held devices that will need modification,
may very well be the "crossing the chasm" tar-
get segment that pulls the system-on-the-chip
6
Xilinx
Receives Three be recognized with other
winners at an award cere-
IRL Industry Awards mony in October in
Chicago during the
National Communications
The Xilinx IRL methodology combines computer ne-t Forum, a networking and
works, the Java programming language, and the new communications confer-
Xilinx Virtex FPGAs, to create a new class of electronicence.
systems that can be fixed, modified, or updated after The International
Engineering Consortium is
installation at the end users’ premises.
a cooperative, public ser-
by Mike Seither, Director of vice organization dedicated
Public Relations, Xilinx,
to positive change in the
[email protected]
I information industry and
nternet Reconfigurable Logic (IRL™), the
university communities. For more than 50
new methodology that enables you to cre-
years, the IEC has provided educational oppor-
ate Xilinx Online upgradable systems, con-
tunities for industry professionals and promis-
tinues to win awards for innovation from the
ing students.
electronics industry.
Electronique International Hebdo
Electronique
Last November, Electronique International
The latest IRL award came from Electronique,
Hebdo, the Paris-based weekly newspaper for
the monthly magazine of record for the elec-
the electronics business in France, chose the
tronics industry in France. The magazine
Xilinx IRL methodology as the top technical
ranked the IRL methodology as one of the
achievement in the semiconductor industry for
industry's best innovations for 1998. In its June
1998. The publication said that a majority of
1999 issue, the magazine called the approach
electronic products would be using the Xilinx
for creating Xilinx Online upgradable systems
IRL technology in the 21st Century. These Xilinx
"a great leap forward for programmable logic."
Online upgradable systems can range from
Xilinx won top honors from Electronique for
multi-use set-top boxes and wireless telephone
active components, one of several product cat-
cellular base stations to communications satel-
egories recognized for excellence. An indepen-
lites and network management systems.
dent panel of customers, consultants, and
"We're once again honored to receive this
design services judged more than 80 products
recognition for our IRL methodology, which has
nominated for the magazine's annual awards.
clearly resonated with the design engineering
Xilinx accepted the award at a recognition din-
community," said Xilinx president and CEO
ner in June in Paris.
Wim Roelandts. "Since we announced our
unique approach for expanding the reach of
International Engineering Consortium
programmable logic, there has been a growing
Citing market impact and customer benefit, the
interest in this exciting technology. IRL is the
International Engineering Consortium selected
backbone for creating Xilinx Online upgradable
the Xilinx IRL methodology as a winner of the
systems, and we expect these products to pro-
organization's 1999 InfoVision Award. Xilinx
vide tremendous new levels of flexibility for our
was a winner in the Internet category and will
customers' customers."
7
Who's Using Virtex and Spartan FPGAs
in Xilinx Online Applications?
Though it was only recently introduced, Xilinx Online
technology is already being used by some leading-edge
companies to create unique new field upgradable systems.
by Wallace Westfeldt,
Marketing Manager IRL, Xilinx,
[email protected]
M
any companies are now taking tems to which it is connected. "The Emerge
advantage of the enormous benefits family addresses several needs regarding
provided by the Xilinx Online pro- remote server management," said Kevin J.
gram, which was created to enable, identify, Hafer, president and CEO of Apex. "IT man-
and promote field upgradable applications agers require speed, security, ease-of-use, and
based upon the award winning Internet the ability to manage servers without burdening
Reconfigurable Logic (IRL) methodology from server or network performance. Our team
Xilinx. These field upgradable applications are worked very closely with Xilinx to ensure that
defined as being those that are connected to a Emerge 2000 meets all these key require-
private or public network (such as the Internet), ments."
with the ability to be updated, fixed, or modi- Emerge 2000 is expected to be a key cost-
fied after they have been deployed in the field. reduction component of server management
Such applications are being widely developed strategies for data centers, Internet service
today by a growing number of leading-edge providers, and "server farms" of all types, espe-
companies; many use Virtex devices for their cially for round-the-clock mission-critical appli-
size, speed, and flexibility; others use Spartan cations. It allows operators to manage large
FPGAs for their lower cost. numbers of servers connected to local area net-
works, wide area networks, or the Internet
Apex
using only a single console, mouse and key-
Apex is one of the fastest grow-
APEX Emerge 2000
ing network companies; they
were recently ranked fifth in
Business Week’s list of “100
Hottest Growth Companies,”
and the company has been in
the top five of this list for three
consecutive years. Apex uses
SpartanXL FPGAs in their latest
remote server management
product introduced in August.
The Emerge 2000™ system
from Apex is a breakthrough
remote server device that can
dynamically update its perfor-
mance characteristics depend-
ing on the workload and sys-
Figure 1 8
TSI TelSys
board, without the need to load software or
hardware directly on each server. "Our customers include many of the world's
Emerge 2000 customers can access racks of space agencies and leading aerospace firms,"
servers from remote locations through dial-in said Toby Bennett, Vice President, TSI TelSys.
modems, networks, or Internet protocol "Their satellite ground station facilities, which
addresses. When combined with Apex’s utilize our protocol agile communication prod-
OutLook® and ViewPoint® console switches, ucts, are often located in remote, inhospitable
Emerge 2000 permits system administrators to regions such as near the North Pole. TSI TelSys
remotely switch among, view, and control up to develops Xilinx Online applications so that our
hundreds of servers. systems can be easily maintained and updated
Emerge 2000 can be reconfigured to support over the Internet." Figure 2 shows a TSI TelSys
the operating system, BIOS, video subsystem, board.
keyboard map, or mouse pointing system of a
NDS
given server, and it provides compatibility with
the display resolution, color depth, and refresh NDSalready makes great useof fieldupgrades,"
rate parameters for the server's console. said John Simmons, Project Leader, NDS, Ltd.,
Additionally, Emerge supports various physical speaking on their downloading procedures for
connections between the console and the serv- making post-installation upgrades. "For exam-
er farm, ranging from broadband optical and ple, all our FPGA design data is stored in flash
T-1 to dial-up modem. memory and the flash is upgradable via the
The key element of Emerge is a compactly Ethernet. Field upgradability is essential to our
designed PCI circuit board (Figure 1). One of its success. It allows fast, cheap resolutions to the
Xilinx SpartanXL FPGAs serves as a 32-bit, 33- rare problems that we get in the field, and is a
MHz PCI interface (based on the Xilinx Real PCI delight to our customers." NDS provides broad-
LogiCORE) and a video signal processor. The cast systems for HDTV.
other SpartanXL FPGA is reconfigured dynami-
Xilinx Online Reference
cally, with digital signal processing algorithms,
Designs on the Web
to overcome problems associated with remote
access. The Emerge 2000 system swaps com- In addition to these customer examples, Xilinx
munications optimization algorithms in the continues to enable field upgradable applica-
SpartanXL FPGA almost every time it switches tions by providing, information, discussion, and
to another server. The reconfiguration data is reference designs through the Xilinx Online
stored on disk and read into the SpartanXL website (http://www.xilinx.com/xilinxonline/).
FPGA in milliseconds. Recently published on this website is a descrip-
"Apex is to be congratulated on its forward tion of an Internet-upgradable application for
looking design of the Emerge 2000 and its use Virtex, based on the WildCard general purpose
of the Xilinx Internet Reconfigurable Logic reconfiguration card from Annapolis
methodology to create advanced server man- Microsystems.
agement products," said Xilinx CEO Wim This application, demonstrated at DAC '99,
Roelandts. "The Emerge 2000 systems exempli- allows users to select Photoshop filters (config-
fies the beginning of a new generation of Xilinx ured for a Virtex FPGA) from an Internet appli-
Online field upgradable applications whose ance website, and securely download them
FPGA-based hardware can be modified after using Java-based technology. These filters, are
installation at the customer's premises." downloaded to a laptop and then programmed
(Continued)
9
TSI TelSys Board
Conclusion
into a Virtex
FPGA on a The number
PCMCIA card, of Xilinx
for high speed Online appli-
graphics pro- cations is
cessing. growing
"In this quickly
demonstration because of the
application, many benefits
Figure 2
which provides offered by this
hardware acceleration for Photoshop filters, we revolutionary technology. Xilinx Online field
wanted to show a complete system using stan- upgradable applications are currently being
dard tools available today for doing field used in network equipment such as ATM
upgrades," said Rich Sevcik, senior vice presi- switches, cellular base stations, and satellite
dent software, cores, and support at Xilinx. communications systems, and the Xilinx Online
"With our tools, the Virtex FPGAs, our design program is additionally targeting opportunities
service partners, and the reference designs, we in emerging markets such as network appli-
are providing a complete environment to ances, multi-use set top boxes, and mobile net-
enable our customers to build the next wave of work devices.
programmable logic applications."
Virtex FPGAs
The Virtex family was developed to address system-level designs and field upgradable systems,
integrating 200 MHz system interfaces and timing management capabilities within a
million–gate FPGA that includes a hierarchy of memory resources. Virtex FPGAs support partial
reconfiguration, thus allowing new circuitry to be downloaded while standard operation contin-
ues within the device.
A fast 400Mb/second reconfiguration rate ensures that a full reconfiguration can be done in
milliseconds and a partial reconfiguration can be done in microseconds. Reference designs will
be available on the Xilinx Online Web page within the Xilinx website. These Web pages also
contain frequently asked questions, a user forum, application notes, white papers, links to
third-party reconfiguration companies, and links to design service companies supporting the
development of Xilinx Online field upgradable applications.
Spartan FPGAs
Spartan FPGAs are targeted as gate array replacements for low-cost, high-volume designs
under 40,000 system gates that require on-chip RAM and can benefit from pre-defined software
cores. Current Spartan devices operate at 3.3 volts and 5 volts.
10