ISIM is an advanced RTOS simulation environment for the Integrity real-time operating system. Initially available for PowerPC processors, ISIM enables designers to develop and test Integrity-based embedded applications on their PCs or workstations without requiring access to actual target hardware. It's a PowerPC instruction simulator that provides support for PowerPC systems running the Integrity RTOS, including virtual memory facilities, exception handling, and debugging across a LAN. ISIM runs on Windows 95/98/NT and Solaris 2.x host platforms. Unlike conventional RTOS simulators that run as native Unix or PC applications, ISIM simulates the RTOS using the same PowerPC code that runs on the target. ISIM is integrated with the MULTI debugger. It supports both freeze-mode and run-mode debugging. ISIM can simulate Integrity-based PowerPC applications on a Windows or Unix-based host system at a claimed speed of nearly 2 MIPS on a 550MHz Pentium III. ISIM is available for use with Integrity for $2,500 per user. The Integrity RTOS and libraries are bundled with the Multi Integrated Development Environment, a C/C++/EC++ compiler, a board support package, and royalty-free run-time target project license. The complete package costs $7,900 per user on a PC and $10,900 per user on a Unix system.

Green Hills Software
Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 965-6044
www.ghs.com

COTSware is a software designer suite that consists of the latest version of SwiftNet networking and host-to-target communications software, code generation tools, debuggers, real-time operating systems, utilities, and DSP libraries. The COTSware tool suite is available in several packages tailored for DSPs, data acquisition, and software radio applications. ReadyFlow, a new software product that's part of the COTSware suite, consists of a library of board-specific parameter definitions, header files, and C-callable functions for each product. SwiftNet v. 3.5 supplies a unified GUI control panel. This version of SwiftNet also includes SwiftNet Auto-Start, DSP-to-host control windows, and an improvement of J-TAG performance. COTSware DSP packages for 'C6x, 'C4x, and SHARC are available now starting at less than $4,000.

Pentek
Upper Saddle River, NJ
(201) 818-5900
www.pentek.com

The Motorola DSP Developer's Kit simulates and test algorithms for Motorola's 56300 and 56600 families of fixed-point DSPs. It integrates the DigitalDNA development environment with Simulink and MATLAB DSP design tools. Normally, developers have to manually recode algorithms in DSP assembly language, simulating and debugging the algorithms using a separate set of tools. The DSP Developer's Kit provides co-simulation between software tools and the Suite56 simulators, integrated debuggin and analysis, and a foundation library of DSP algorithms packaged as MATLAB functions and Simulink blocks. The kit is available now on PCs running NT, starting at $995 for an individual license.

Motorola
Austin, TX
(512) 895-3131
sps.motorola.com

The MathWorks
Natick, MA
(508) 647-7000
www.mathworks.com

SDK v. 2.0 for the ManArray DSP product family provides the tools for developing high-performance, scaleable, and reusable DSP cores for high-volume system-on-a-chip applications. It allows customers to convert C, C++, and MATLAB files into ManArray assembly code for DSP applications. SDK v. 2.0 offers an integrated development environment, including a system simulator; instruction set simulator; compiler for MATLAB and vector library; GNU-C compiler, assembler, linker, and loader; VLIW packer; register allocator; DSP libraries; and ManArray technical information and coding examples. SDK v. 2.0 is available now. Pricing depends on the options selected.

BOPS
Palo Alto, CA
(650) 330-8410
www.bops.com

Hardware

The TLA7PG2 is a pattern generator module for the TLA 700 Series logic analyzer. The TLA7PG2 is a multi-channel, programmable pattern generator module with sequential control that plugs into the TLA 700. It generates digital stimuli to simulate infrequently encountered test conditions in hardware design and software program testing. It stimulates the prototype with data from the simulator for extended analysis. The TLA7PG2 features up to 64 channels per module and supports a 268MHz clock rate for data output. The product is be available now, starting at $12,995.

Tektronix
Portland, OR
(800) 425-2200
www.tektronix.com

Chips

The newest members of the PIC16F87X family of flash devices are the 28-pin PIC16F870 and 40-/44-pin PCI16F871 flash microcontrollers. With 2K x 14 bits of flash memory and 64 bytes of EEPROM data memory, the PIC16F870 and PIC 16F871 8-bit MCUs feature brownout detection, up to 5 MIPS performance at 20MHz, USART communications capability for peripheral expansion, two 8-bit timers, one 16-bit timer, and an operating voltage of 2.0V to 5.5V. The PIC16F870 has a five-channel 10-bit A/D converter. The PIC16F871 features an eight-channel 10-bit A/D converter and a parallel slave port. Available in SDIP, SOIC, and SSOP packages, the PIC16F870 (28-pin SDIP industrial temperature version) is $3.34 each in 1,000-unit quantities and the PIC16F871 (40-pin SDIP industrial temperature version) is $3.67 each. Volume production is scheduled to start in the summer.

Microchip Technology
Chandler, AZ
(480) 786-7200
www.microchip.com

The TMS320C28x DSP is the next-generation core within the TMS320C2000 DSP platform. Based on a 32-bit architecture with controller instructions, 400 MIPS processing capability, and 32- and 64-bit math operations, the new C28x DSP core is claimed to provide 20 times the processing performance of existing solutions. The C28x DSP core is compatible with both the C24x motor control DSPs and the C27x mass storage DSPs. The C28x instruction set includes on-cycle read-modify-write operations, plus special I/O and branching operations. Extended addressing supports up to 8MB of program memory and up to 8GB of data. The TMS320C28x DSP products based on the C28x DSP core are scheduled to be implemented using 0.13-micron L-effective CMOS process technology. The first silicon samples are planned for the fourth quarter.

Texas Instruments
Dallas, TX
(972) 995-6611
www.ti.com

OEM

The SPARCengine Ultra AXe board targets the ISP and thin server markets. It allows OEMs for service providers to create an integrated platform running on the 64-bit UltraSPARC processor. With a riser card, it fits into a 1ý form factor for thin servers. The SPARCengine Ultra AXe-300 board is now available for less than $1,000.

Sun Microsystems
Palo Alto, CA
(650) 960-1300
www.sun.com

The VMIVME-7697 is a single-board computer that incorporates the Pentium III processor with MMX to the VMEbus platform, offering processor speeds up to 800MHz. It has real-time OS features such as 96MB flash, battery-backed SRAM, three 32-bit timers, and a software-programmable watchdog timer. For Windows NT and RTX applications, the VMIVME-7697 provides an S3 Trio3D AGP graphics adapter with 4MB of SGRAM. A fast/wide SCSI-2 and 10/100 Mbit Ethernet channel are also provided. The VMIVME-7697 is available now starting at $5,116.

VMIC
Huntsville, AL
(256) 880-0444
www.vmic.com
www.datel.com