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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
XILINX AND SANDIA NATIONAL LABS TEAM TO DRIVE
RECONFIGURABLE LOGIC TECHNOLOGY INTO SPACE
New Triple Module Redundancy (TMR) software tool
coupled with Xilinx's QPRO Virtex-II FPGAs mitigates single event
upsets for harsh environment applications
MAPLD, WASHINGTON D.C., September 8, 2004 - Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX)
today announced the immediate availability of the industry's first
stand alone Triple Module Redundancy (TMR) software tool for programmable
devices, co-developed with Sandia National Labs. The TMR Tool, combined
with Xilinx's QPRO Virtex -II radiation-tolerant platform FPGAs,
mitigates the effects of single event upsets in harsh radiation
environments enabling the benefits of reconfigurable technologies
to be employed in very high reliability applications including deep
space, avionics, satellite and communications. With the new tool,
Xilinx firmly establishes its leadership position in enabling multi-million
gate reconfigurable technologies as the solution of choice for high-reliability
aerospace and defense applications.
"Recent space programs such as the Mars Rover, have heightened
both the public and the space communities awareness of the extreme
benefits of being able to reconfigure a system after it has been
deployed. With the TMR Tool, Xilinx enables designers to realize
the significant advantage of reconfigurable logic in a harsh environment
by combining the benefits of reprogrammability, high density and
high reliability into a single solution," said Mustafa Veziroglu,
general manager of the Market-Specific Product Division at Xilinx.
"As the leading FPGA supplier to the Aerospace and Defense
markets, we expect the adoption of Xilinx solutions to continue
as designers rapidly realize the benefits of deploying reconfigurable
technology over fixed logic technology for harsh radiation environments."
"Sandia National Laboratories has utilized the Xilinx Virtex-II
FPGA series to achieve new levels of performance in the complex
high data rate on-board data processing systems for a new advanced
technology satellite payload," said Kurt Lanes, senior engineer
for the Monitoring Systems and Technology Center at Sandia National
Laboratories. "This system demands the highest level of reliability,
availability, processing performance and throughput. The cooperation
between Sandia and Xilinx in developing the TMR Tool has yielded
excellent results. It has provided significant productivity enhancements
and implements effective SEU immunity for space radiation environments.
We envision using Xilinx FPGAs and the TMR Tool for Sandia's future
space programs."
"Today's announcement shatters the myth perpetuated by fixed-logic
suppliers that SEU immune designs cannot be implemented with reprogrammable
FPGAs. Fixed-logic suppliers are driven to perpetuate this myth
given their inability to deliver the multi-million gate densities,
performance and flexibility achieved with Xilinx FPGAs," said
Rick Padovani, general manager of the Aerospace and Defense Division
at Xilinx. "With efficient design tools to implement triple
module redundancy, designers of space-based systems can take full
advantage of Xilinx technology and reliability."
High Productivity and Proven Reliability
The XTMR tool dramatically improves productivity by automatically
generating redundant and associated voting circuitry. Designers
now only need to generate a design once while the parametrically
selectable software tool replicates the design twice. Because this
task was previous done manually, the time it takes for this task
is greatly reduced and the potential for error eliminated.
Xilinx continues to expand both its product portfolio and investment
in the Aerospace and Defense industry by driving industry consortia
such as the Single Events Consortium (SEE). Formed in 2002, by Xilinx
in cooperation with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and experts from
industry, government and academia, the SEE consortia focuses on
the test and characterization of radiation effects for reconfigurable
FPGAs. Through their efforts, the effectiveness of innovative radiation
mitigation techniques such as Configuration Scrubbing and Triple
Modular Redundancy have been evaluated and documented enabling the
Aerospace and Defense market to derive the significant benefits
of reconfigurable logic.
QPRO Virtex-II Family
With the QPRO Virtex-II family, designers can take advantage of
a complete suite of design solutions including the broadest library
available of proven connectivity IP, system solution boards, and
development platforms. Well-established partnerships and certified
interoperability with key industry standards yields a design ecosystem
that is unparalleled in the industry. The QPRO Virtex-II family
offers high-performance I/O signaling technology supporting up to
840 MBPS in both plastic and ceramic packages while offering up
to 1104 user I/O. By combining such high-performance features as
144 independent blocks of 18Kbit embedded memory and superior DSP
performance with a flexible fabric, the Virtex-II QPRO devices address
many of today's industry challenges.
Online Design Resource
The Xilinx eSP web portal dedicated specifically to the design and
development of defense and aerospace application, provides a comprehensive
resource for system designers, delivering a powerful array of solutions
and information in a single location. Visit www.xilinx.com/esp/milaero
for more information.
Pricing and Availability
The TMR Tool v6.31 is immediately available and comes packaged with
complete customer training. Complete information can be found at:
www.xilinx.com/products/milaero/tmr/index.htm
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic
solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.
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