Smarter Systems: The Transition Has Begun

Smarter Systems: The Transition Has Begun

The entire electronics industry is undergoing a transition to smarter systems. The drivers behind this change are all connected to many aspects of system design including efficiency, productivity, security, quality, and of course cost. The enemy is waste. Systems reduce waste when they use only the required resources to deliver only the desired goods and services when and where they are needed. To achieve these goals, systems must be able to obtain, process, and make decisions based on a wide variety of information from remote and local databases, sensor information, and other inputs.

What does this transition mean to system vendors? It means that there must be more decision-making intelligence in every new system. The networks that convey essential information must be transformed from dumb pipes to smart ones. Buildings are becoming smarter so that light and heat are delivered only where needed. Highly integrated networking has come to the factory floor to ensure that every system in the factory has access to critical data needed to make decisions. Robots within these factories combine information from databases with machine vision to become more efficient. Energy grids are becoming smarter so that electricity infrastructures can handle the changing loads of complex societies. Automobiles are becoming smarter through vision systems and wireless communications to increase drivers' safety and to help drivers handle the increasing traffic congestion in urban areas.

Smarts in Everything You Can Imagine

Xilinx is leading the industry to usher in the trend to smarter systems. We call this trend "All Programmable and Smarter Systems" and we have focused on providing hardware- and software-programmable devices and a complete portfolio of SmartCORE IP and system-level expertise to help the rapid design and implementation of smarter systems.

All Programmable and Smarter Systems

For more than 25 years, Xilinx's core competency has been the development of programmable technologies starting with the introduction of the first FPGA. Today's All Programmable FPGAs and SoCs provide unprecedented levels of programmability that is supported by a large and growing portfolio of IP cores, SoC-strength development tools, design specialists with market-specific design expertise, and design services to help you integrate and customize your design solution.

Over the past several years, Xilinx has been making a transition from the leading FPGA vendor to a provider of All Programmable Solutions for Smarter Systems. But just what do those words mean?

It means that the FPGA fabric, the fundamental building block of all Xilinx silicon products—FPGAs, 3D ICs, and SoCs—has reached a critical threshold at the 28nm process node. This threshold marks the transition boundary between "glue logic" and complete systems. At 28nm, Xilinx silicon is capable of replacing entire ASSPs and ASICs, which means that a Xilinx All Programmable device equipped with the right IP and software may well be the only significant integrated circuit needed to implement many end products.

A Generation Ahead 28nm Process Technology

Xilinx and technology and manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) developed a high-κ metal gate (HKMG), high-performance, low-power 28nm process technology for FPGAs. This new 28nm process technology builds upon the achievements of 40nm FPGA process development and introduces a new HKMG technology to maximize usable system performance through lower power.

Our technology, although unique in the FPGA industry, is already being embraced by other leading-edge IC suppliers because it dramatically reduces static power when compared with alternative process technologies. At the 28nm node, static power is often a more significant portion of the total power dissipation of a device. Therefore, to achieve maximum power efficiency, the choice of process technology is paramount.

Dramatic reductions in FPGA static power at 28nm leaves more of the system power budget for active, dynamic power, yielding higher levels of both integration and system performance. This gives designers the flexibility to implement products at lower power, or alternatively, create products that increase capacity and performance within the same power budget.

Breakthrough in Optimization and Integration

Five product families with breakthroughs in integration and optimization that change the game in price/performance/watt and enable programmable systems integration. With a broad portfolio of All Programmable FPGAs, SoCs and 3D ICs, you are empowered to maximize system performance, lower power, and reduce BOM costs, while preserving design flexibility across a wide range of markets and applications.

Setting a new industry standard for programmable systems integration

• Logic Integration - at 2M logic cells, 85 Mb RAM, 3600 DSP48E slices, the 7 series delivers unchallenged industry leadership in logic, memory, and DSP capacity
• SerDes Integration - unmatched total SerDes count, bandwidth, and channel optimization enable the industry’s leading integrated systems with the highest performance and signal integrity
• Analog Mixed Signal - on chip integration of digitally customizable AMS eliminates multiple devices yielding unmatched BOM savings, system reliability, and security
• Embedded Processing - on chip integration of an industry-standard ARM® dual-core Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ processing sub-system delivers breakthrough, All Programmable SoC capabilities

Devices optimized for critical market needs, from the highest performance to the most cost-sensitive

• Extreme Bandwidth and Capacity - the industry’s new watermark for bandwidth and capacity leadership; 2.7Tb/s serial bandwidth, 5T MAC/s, and 2M logic cells
• Performance - greater than 2X system performance vs. previous generations, and up to 40% average performance advantage vs. equivalent competitive product families
• Price/Performance/Watt - optimized features and performance leveraging TSMC’s 28HPL process to deliver game changing value that is unmatched in the industry
• Price and Power - combining process technology, design techniques, and architectural enhancements to deliver the lowest in-class power consumption and price

Staying a Generation Ahead: 20nm Portfolio

Xilinx’s 20nm portfolio, which includes the next-generation 8 series All Programmable FPGAs and 2ndgeneration of 3D ICs and SoCs, builds upon the breakthroughs that were proven at 28nm to provide an extra generation of system performance, lower power and programmable system integration.  Co-optimized with Xilinx’s Vivado Design Suite for the highest productivity and quality of results, the 20nm portfolio will address a wide range of next generation systems and provide the most compelling programmable alternative ever to ASICs and ASSPs.

Source:http://www.xilinx.com/about/all-programmable-leadership/index.htm

CST STUDIO SUITE FOR MICROWAVE ENG.

The electromagnetic simulation software CST STUDIO SUITE® is the culmination of many years of research and development into the most accurate and efficient computational solutions for electromagnetic designs. It comprises CST’s tools for the design and optimization of devices operating in a wide range of frequencies - static to optical. Analyses may include thermal and mechanical effects, as well as circuit simulation.

CST STUDIO SUITE benefits from an integrated design environment which gives access to the entire range of solver technology. System assembly and modeling facilitates multi-physics and co-simulation as well as the management of entire electromagnetic systems.

CST STUDIO SUITE can offer considerable product to market advantages such as shorter development cycles, virtual prototyping before physical trials, and optimization instead of experimentation.

CST STUDIO SUITE comprises the following modules:

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® (CST MWS) is the leading edge tool for the fast and accurate 3D simulation of high frequency devices and market leader in Time Domain simulation. It enables the fast and accurate analysis of antennas, filters, couplers, planar and multi-layer structures and SI and EMC effects etc.

CST EM STUDIO® (CST EMS) is an easy-to-use tool for the design and analysis of static and low frequency EM applications such as motors, sensors, actuators, transformers, and shielding enclosures.

CST PARTICLE STUDIO® (CST PS) has been developed for the fully consistent simulation of free moving charged particles. Applications include electron guns, cathode ray tubes, magnetrons, and wake fields.

CST CABLE STUDIO® (CST CS) for the simulation of signal integrity and EMC/EMI analysis of cable harnesses.

CST PCB STUDIO® (CST PCBS) for the simulation of signal integrity and EMC/EMI EMI on printed circuit boards.

CST MPHYSICS® STUDIO (CST MPS) for thermal and mechanical stress analysis.

CST DESIGN STUDIO™ (CST DS) is a versatile tool that facilitates 3D EM/circuit co-simulation and synthesis.

Source: http://www.cst.com/Content/Products/CST_S2/Overview.aspx