New hardware programmer to support Actel's flash FPGAs

New hardware programmer to support Actel's flash FPGAs Actel Corporation has released the company’s newest hardware programmer supporting Actel's flash FPGAs: the IGLOO series and ProASIC 3 series (including RT ProASIC3), SmartFusion and Actel Fusion families.

The FlashPro4 programmer also supports FPGA embedded software program and debug managed by Actel's SoftConsole Integrated Design Environment (IDE) for embedded processors.

FlashPro4 offers high performance communication through the use of USB 2.0 and is high-speed compliant for full use of the 480 Mbps bandwidth. For IGLOO nano 1.2 V core FPGAs, 1.2 V programming is supported.

"FlashPro4 provides our flash FPGA customers with the latest hardware technology for performing both hardware design implementation and software program implementation for embedded processor designs," said Wendy Lockhart, senior manager, design solutions, Actel. "In addition, it provides a common approach for facilitating FPGA debug for tools such as Synopsys Identify RTL debugger and Actel's on-chip debug, plus SoftConsole, Actel's embedded software IDE. It is also low enough in cost that our customers can include it with their end systems, so their customers and support personnel can readily perform in-system programming updates in the field."

Key features

Provides programming for hardware design for all current Actel flash FPGAs and embedded software design and debug for embedded ARM Cortex-M3, Cortex-M1, 8051s, and future embedded processor designs.

• Common interface for hardware and software debug for Synopsys Identify, Actel on-chip debug, and Actel SoftConsole embedded software IDE
• Low cost in-system programming (ISP) hardware for a single FPGA or chain of Actel flash FPGAs
• Supports 1.2 V programming for Actel IGLOO nano 1.2 V core FPGAs
• Replaces and is fully backward compatible with the previous FlashPro3 programmer

Availability and Pricing

Actel's FlashPro4 programmer is now available for 49 US Dollars. The part number is FLASHPRO4. The kit includes a USB cable, a ribbon cable with 10-pin JTAG connector, and a quickstart card.

The FlashPro software is available for free, either standalone or as part of all Actel Libero Integrated Design Environment (IDE) versions.