Elan Picks Actel

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL) today announced that its single-chip, flash-based ProASIC3 field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have been selected for use within the USBscope50, part of Elan Digital Systems' portfolio of miniature USB-based test and measurement equipment. Actel's secure, low-power A3P250 solution will perform vital signal processing functions at the heart of current and future products that can turn a desktop or laptop PC into a professional-grade digital sampling oscilloscope (DSO).

"Actel's ProASIC3 FPGA device was the only design option that fully satisfied our requirements for single chip, security, price, power consumption and performance. The unparalleled security features of the ProASIC3 devices were particularly critical, allowing us to securely outsource our manufacturing and assembly and hence, drive our costs down," said Julian Barnard, managing director of Elan. "As a result, we were able to quickly deliver the USBscope50 with its own unique combination of low overall price, small form factor and high performance."

Key to the design was the implementation of sizeable memory blocks and timing critical constructs. Able to handle such functionality, Actel's nonvolatile FPGA links the high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a USB interface device, providing ADC interface timing, control and data transfer; data storage; and a UART interface for data transfer.

"With our single-chip ProASIC3 FPGAs, we are able to provide the valuable cost, area, security and power benefits often required by emerging portable, battery-operated applications," said Martin Mason, Actel's director of silicon product marketing. "Through our differentiated and successful flash technology, Actel plans to continue to offer new products suitable for portable applications in the industrial, consumer, medical and communications markets."

Actel Corp.