Reliable and cost effective programmable logic development

5th April 2017

Anna Flockett

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Providing a range of electronic design services to meet the need of a wide range of customers, LDD Technology works with development houses and major international OEMs. The company has extensive FPGA and programmable logic design expertise and in-depth knowledge of devices from major semiconductor manufacturers including Altera and Xilinx.

LDD is very experienced in the use of Quartus II, Vivado and ModelSim design tools and the development of designs using VHDL and are always happy to recommend tools and silicon to suit specific customer requirements. LDD are familiar with many older programming tools and so are well placed to provide support for customer’s ongoing legacy projects.

Recent designs delivered by LDD include:

Multi-processor, Compact PCI board containing six Statix IV devices
Multiple FPGA Board performing complex real time processing (sonar processor)
Memory card interfaces (SD card and CompactFlash)
Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Many of the solutions developed by LDD involve the use of NIOS II embedded processors and/or IP cores.

Malcolm Locke, Managing Director of LDD Technologies said: “Many software designers are familiar with programming in straight-forward ‘linear’ languages such as C.”

He continued: “Programming in VHDL, where many processes are happening in parallel, is significantly more complex as the time ‘dimension’ needs to be carefully managed to ensure operations are completed in the correct sequence.”

System designers are increasing their use of FPGAs and other complex processors to multiply the activities being carried out by individual devices, simplify and cost reduce manufacture and reduce the size of end products. The use of FPGAs is growing rapidly as costs reduce and power requirements decrease.

Locke added: “It’s our experience that an FPGA may be selected for a design by a hardware manufacturer who then has to find experienced programming expertise or run the risk of in-house trial-and-error programming which can be costly and delay end product introduction. Individual projects rarely justify the expense of recruiting a highly skilled programmer and using short term contractors has the inherent dangers of lack of continuity and long term support. LDD has the experience to provide extensive knowledge of programmable logic, input into design for manufacture, cost effective programming and long term support.”