FS2 Introduces Logic Navigator Trace and Debug Solutions

PORTLAND, OREGON, September 27, 2004 - First Silicon Solutions (FS2) today announced the availability of its Logic Navigator™ System for embedded debug, trace and logic analysis. The Logic Navigator System allows designers to add event monitoring, debug triggering, trace and test mode selection capabilities to any logic implementation and provides lower cost and less pin-intensive debug than traditional logic analyzer tools. Logic Navigator is a complete system solution consisting of FS2 On-Chip Instrumentation (OCI®) blocks, off-chip debug probes and software tools for control, integration and display. Logic Navigator OCI is parameterized IP blocks specifically designed for real time debug and trace. Logic Navigator probes communicate with the OCI via either JTAG or time-multiplexed Test Access Port options, depending on the type of trace configuration selected. Logic Navigator software tools include both a graphical user interface (GUI) and command line interface (CLI) to automate and simplify instantiation and integration of the OCI into the FPGA design. The system allows users to quickly define and setup combinatorial or complex sequential events and triggers. A robust trace capability, similar in look and feel to traditional logic analyzer display, provides both waveform and state-based views of trace information. Logic Navigator supports industry-standard interfaces including JTAG IO, TCL/TK compatibility, XML file formats, and VCD trace output options to facilitate tool integration and interfacing.

Logic Navigator provides a range of capabilities previously unavailable in commercial embedded logic analyzer tools, including trace widths of up to 256 signals, user definable state and counter-based sequential event monitoring, timestamping, external triggering and JTAG-controlled general-purpose register outputs for on-chip mode selection and configuration. Logic Navigator includes the FS2 OCI Generator™ front-end GUI, which automates the definition, setup and integration of Logic Navigator instrumentation into a customer design. OCI Generator supports both flat and hierarchical Verilog and VHDL designs and allows GUI-based definition and integration of all Logic Navigator OCI options in a design.

“Logic Navigator provides a wide range of debug capabilities that expand the ability to debug complex designs,” said Rick Leatherman, president of FS2. “It integrates FS2’s proven Configurable Logic Analyzer Module (CLAM™) technology along with user requested features, providing a world-class debug capability for getting IP and applications running and optimized quickly. It significantly augments the FS2 toolkit for addressing the increasingly complex hardware verification and analysis needs associated with sophisticated ASIC and FPGA designs, from bringing up ‘first silicon’ to enabling system optimization and performance analysis that were not previously possible.”

The initial release for Logic Navigator has been optimized for debug of Actel’s flash-based ProASIC Plus and antifuse-based Axcelerator FPGAs, with customization for other vendors to follow later in 2004.

“As the design requirements for Actel's flash- and antifuse-based FPGAs become more complex, and as design times get longer, tools such as FS2's Logic Navigator have become an indispensable part of the design cycle,” said Saloni Howard-Sarin, director of antifuse and tools marketing at Actel. “Tightly integrated with the FlashPro series of programmers, which support in-system programming through the JTAG interface, the Logic Navigator is specifically optimized to expedite the debugging process, thereby significantly reducing the time required to complete designs with Actel's ProASIC Plus and Axcelerator device families.”

Availability and Architecture Specific Customization
Logic Navigator is currently available with evaluation versions provided in Actel ProASIC Plus and Axcelerator development kits. FS2 will provide Actel customers a free 45-day evaluation. FS2’s near-term focus for Logic Navigator is on providing debug tools for the FPGA market and general-purpose debug capabilities for IP and ASIC developers. Logic Navigator integrates into FS2’s Multi-Core Embedded Debug (MED) System, which provides a customizable toolkit of system-level debug capabilities to address complex architectures with multiple interacting processors, embedded buses and custom IP blocks. Customized versions of Logic Navigator and MED can be configured to address architecture specific requirements, ranging from specialized IP and subsystem analysis capabilities to specialized performance analysis. FS2 also provides design support and services to customers needing specialized debug interface development or debug feature enhancement or capabilities. Prices start at $495 for a single seat annual license.

Logic Navigator technical information is available at www.fs2.com. Visit www.fs2.com for additional information and pricing.

About First Silicon Solutions (FS2)
FS2 specializes in custom silicon IP, design services and OCI (On-Chip Instrumentation) development tools for programming, testing and debug of embedded systems in FPGA, SoC, SOPC, ASSP and ASIC devices. FS2 OCI based products include CLAM (Configurable Logic Analyzer Modules) based Logic Navigator and Bus Navigator tools for IP debug, core specific ISA (In System Analyzer) tools for processor debug and trace, and MED (Multi-core Embedded Debug) tools for SoC debug . FS2 products enable silicon vendors and their customers to develop and more effectively market their products, reduce development cycles, allowing them to focus on delivering all the potential of the system on silicon. Additional information on Logic Navigator is available at http://www.fs2.com.

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