Opinions, on this newfangled thing, please

I just ran across this:

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It looks like it could be a nifty thing to use in certain circumstances, particularly where one needs a complicated analog block in little space with fairly high bandwidth (yes, I know -- it's digital inside, but I don't care about that if it's analog outside).

Anyone have any mileage with the company or any predecessor products? Do you know of any competing products out there? It looks like a good arrow to have in my quiver, if it can meet the expectations they're trying to set.

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Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
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Reply to
Tim Wescott
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I have been trying to find an excuse to use one of these things in a product - they look so fun! This new device, with in-system

up new possibilities. For the previous generations, you had to either order a gazillion factory-programmed devices or program them by hand using the development kit. That's great for people making hundreds of thousands of boards, and for people making tens of boards, but not for

reconfigurability makes them interesting for a wider range of uses.

Reply to
David Brown

All of this sounds like sex, but what would I use it for? Maybe I need to do more analog (or at least asynchronous) to be able to think of something.

Reply to
Aleksandar Kuktin

I tend to close a lot of control loops in software; there's a definite ceiling in what you can use a microcontroller with because of code execution speed.

Something that I can think of off the top of my head for a chip like this would be as a controller in a snazzy switching supply, assuming that there's enough resources on board to implement a controller as well as a proper PWM generator. At today's switching speeds one can't really do cycle-by-cycle control with a microcontroller -- one should be able to with an FPGA or CPLD.

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www.wescottdesign.com
Reply to
Tim Wescott

Have a look at the XMOS processors and boards. Cheap, many cores (i.e. >10) and execution time for each code block is /guaranteed/ by the compiler. Low jitter and guaranteed timing helps in control loops!

Many of the architectural concepts are by Prof David May, who had a large hand in inventing the Transputer and Occam.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Microsemi bought Actel some time back and their mixed signal FPGA. I have never done anything with it because the price is a bit too high for some apps I've had and the analog performance was too low for others. Mixed signal can be hard to do well. Two companies who could do it well are Analog devices and Silicon Labs. They both have produced mixed signal MCUs with great analog. They just need to branch out into FPGAs, lol.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Hmm... an idea. :)

Yesterday, I also thought of a thread, but I think it was on sci.electronics.design, where it was asked if such-and-such circuit exists, and one of the answers being to implement the required device in digital.

Reply to
Aleksandar Kuktin

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