Flexible ASIC Prototyping Solution - Venus-X
Nowadays, ASIC design centres have to face the abridging development cycles. Concurrently the demands on integrated devices are strongly increasing. While the development process used to be concentrated on ICs and its functionality, today IC manufacturer request new system integrated solutions comprising software as well as peripheries.
Consequently ASIC developers shouldn’t rely on development systems, they need to adapt to. No, they should rather apply systems which are perfectly adapted to their demands: the Venus-X® platform of AMO.
Venus-X – Highest Flexibility
The fully developed interconnection matrix of the Venus-X® system offers true flexibility and all-time scalability compared to similar systems. ASIC prototyping systems often feature a limitation of flexibility facing an increasing complexity, not the Venus-X® platform. Without the risk of wasting switches for further interconnections the matrix interconnectivity allows a connection of interfaces where necessary. Each interconnection request holds its own switch.
Compared to today’s prototyping and emulation platforms the Venus-X® system is able to connect on different logic blocks distributed on different FPGAs with almost arbitrarily adjustable bus amplitude. Time-consuming optimization due to missing boardtraces during partitioning is not necessary anymore, pin-multiplexing could be reduced or eliminated and even overall speed could be increased. Furthermore, through highly integrated and optimized components capacitive charge is minimized compared to equivalent solutions.
Venus-X – Open Prototyping
Furthermore, external capability of connecting is essential for various applications. Again, the Venus-X® platform surpasses each compared system. Further environments could be linked through high density connectors, including logic emulators/- analysers as well as customized circuits applied with the indication of the environment during system development. Standard modules (like memories etc.), as part of the Venus-X® platform, could be added to the system as further resources marginally or not existing on the standard platform.
In case these opportunities are not sufficient, further customer insert modules could be designed fast and easy, on request combined with development services in the area of logic design. As you can see, there are no limits for the Venus-X® prototyping platform.
Venus-X – Everything One-Stop
The Venus-X® ASIC prototyping platform provides you with the long standing prototyping expertise of AMO. Since the application of programmable logic for ASIC prototyping, AMO develops solutions for the optimization of development cycles in close cooperation with design centres. A complex SoC (System on Chip) for example could have been fully integrated into system already three weeks after first silicon.
Such a project success requires long standing expertise. Our expertise is a significant part within this platform. With the Venus-X® prototyping platform AMO developed an efficient tool which perfectly meets today’s demands on development processes.
Product Features at a glance
Capacity | from 3M up to 21+M ASIC gates |
Operation Performance | system level: up to 100M Hz |
FPGA type | Xilinx Virtex XC4VLX100, XC4VLX160, XC4VLX200 (all speedgrades) |
Number of FPGAs | 3,6,9,12,15... |
Memories | extension modules |
Direct Interface | all FPGA IO´s |
Onboard Interfaces | JTAG for all FPGAs |
Communication Interface | via PCI to every FPGA |
Clocking Schemes | - local and global clock domains |
Interconnection | scalable high speed switch matrix routing for all FPGA IOs plus 4 extension busses |
Chassis | cPCI Windows PC |
