Trends in Electronics Design with Applications in Astronomy

Trends in Electronics Design with Applications in Astronomy Presented by David Warren University of Tasmania (Astronomy) Altium Ltd. (Electronic Design Tools)

“Old” Electronic Design • Before the late 70’s electronic devices were all hardware. – Component based. (switches, relays, valves, transistors, IC’s, VLSI IC. ) – Limited functionality – Time consuming – Iterative hardware proving – Very expensive

The Microprocessor • Developed in 1972 by Intel for the calculator market. • By ~1980 the microprocessor was – Fast (~1 M instructions/sec) – Powerful (full featured instruction set (Z 80)) – Cheap !! (

The Soft Design Revolution • The advent of the Microprocessor meant that Electronic Engineers could move a large part of their design into the mutable “Software Space”. • You all saw what happened! • Explosion of appliances and devices. • The PC, communications • And now GOOGLE EARTH!

The FPGA Revolution • By 2005 the FPGA has become; – Fast (100 s of MHz) – Powerful (1 M gates+) – Cheap (~US$20) – Ubiquitous (multiple manufacturers) So What Revolution? ? ?

The “Soft Hardware” Revolution • FPGA’s are very large arrays of electronic logic hardware which have not yet been configured. • They will be told what to become by the User. That’s YOU. • They can be reconfigured almost instantly. • So we have Soft Hardware!!

Implications of Soft Hardware • Engineers can now move much of the remaining (not Software) design into Soft Hardware. • Very little of the design need be immutable (fixed Hardware). • The target PCB becomes Connectors, powersupply, and FPGA. Very little else is required in many cases.

The Post-Processor World • The Von-Neumann world has limitations • • • Instructions & data distinguished by usage. - Sequential memory (one dimensional) - Data has no inherent meaning “Word at a Time” operation & bottleneck So Ditch the Processor! HDLs, esp. VHDL & VERILOG High Level language to RTL translators. C to RTL, or more exactly C to VHDL to RTL

New Generation of Design Tools • Most FPGA design tools are Vendor Dependent. • • (YOU don’t want this) Existing tools remain fragmented. Strong need for Integrated Approach. As designers for Astronomy we want an integrated system which provides all the tools we want. We want to finish the design and get on with the SCIENCE.

Altium Designer • Let’s see how we can do this…….

Familiar Design Paradigm

Generic Logic Library

Mixed Block/Schematic/HDL/ASS/High Level Design Entry

FPGA based Instruments

Embedded Processor and Nanoboard Facilities

Embedded Processor Library

Embedded Design – No HDL (necessary)

Device Chain – FPGA’s, u. P’s, Test Insts.

Full PCB - FPGA Interface management

Main Points • Integrated Tool Kit • FPGA based System Design • VHDL Support • Embedded support • Test Instruments • PCB Design • PCB – FPGA Management • Vendor Independent

Video Demo’s http: //www. altium. com/Evaluate/Demo. Cent er/altiumdesigneroverview/ >>>>>>END>>>>

The future is soft Hard-wired design Design function is fixed and cannot be changed after manufacture Processor-based design Hard-wired components are fixed, but software can be changed after manufacture ‘Soft’ design Both software and soft-wired components can be changed after manufacture –- freedom of system implementation • The movement of design into the ‘soft’ realm brings great benefits to the electronic • product development process – Critical design decisions can be made later in the design cycle – Different implementation options can be considered throughout the design cycle – Product can be brought to market earlier and then upgraded in the field – The hard-wired platform and the embedded intelligence can be developed concurrently – The methodology facilitates easier design reuse and modularisation of design To capitalise on these benefits and move into the future your design tools must be ready and capable of facilitating this new design paradigm.

Anticipating the next big thing • • FPGAs allow embedded intelligence to encompass not only software, but soft-wired physical device blocks FPGAs allow more of the design to be done in a ‘soft’ realm – Blocks of the physical design can be soft-wired – Soft-wired components can be easily changed throughout the development process The emergence of highly-capable FPGA devices at relatively low cost is fuelling an explosion in ‘soft’ system design In this paradigm electronic product development involves two elements – Defining a hardwired platform to house the programmable elements using off-the-shelf components and connection interfaces – Developing the embedded intelligence that resides within the programmable elements.

Altium Designer integrated technology coverage Soft-wired hardware Software Board-level system design FPGA-level system design Embedded Software design • Hierarchical, multi-channel • Mixed schematic block diagram • • • • and HDL design entry Ready-to-use, FPGA-based functional components, including processors and peripherals Vendor-independent device selection and design HDL functional simulation RTL-level synthesis FPGA-based virtual instruments for Live. Design interactive system design and debug Centralized control of design processing and download to FPGA Bi-directional PCB-FPGA design constraint propagation • Integrated embedded Hardware Software co-design • schematic capture Mixed analog-digital SPICE circuit simulation Pre- and post-layout signal integrity analysis Rules-based PCB design and layout Situs Topological autorouting Automatic and interactive FPGA pin optimization for routing PCB-FPGA I/O synchronization CAM file generation, inspection and editing FPGA-PCB co-design Hardware • • • software development for supported FPGA-based and discrete processors Viper optimizing compilers Source-level debug Debug from source and disassembly views Simulator-based debug Language-aware, configurable code editor Software profilers

Who is this Dave Guy Anyway? • • • • { Dave's life is deeply schizophrenic with half of his brain focused on the business of software tools for electronic design, and the other half focused on hedonistic pursuits which include a large dose of astronomy. Another half is deeply involved in the promotion of Physics & Maths at the Uni. of Tas and generally. If that's too many halves, well that's how I often feel. The truth is that Dave is a sad refugee from the Grand Old Days of Australian X-Ray Astronomy (Greenhill school of applied integrated technology (read as "honours student tech slave")) of the early 80's. After failing to complete numerous Ph. D's in variously x-rays, cosmic rays, and physiology, Dave stepped sideways into technology companies one of which grew into Protel Technology which begat Altium Ltd, the Australian ASX listed electronic CAD company. Dave never quite left involvement with astronomy and has returned with vigour to this favorite pastime in recent years. Anyway, Dave has 25 years experience in electronics, both for science and industry, and 20 year experience in the design, development and selling of CAD tools for electronic design. In the last years Dave has gotten real interested in electronics design for radio astronomy. In particular Altium Ltd has developed significant tools for integrated FPGA design. These tools allow the "non-expert" electronic designer to jump into the FPGA world with unprecedented ease. . }