Actel TCA free and open reference designs and development kits drastically reduce risk, component count, and time to market. The Telecom Computing Architecture (TCA) encompasses a series of standards defined by the more than 250 members of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG®), including AdvancedTCA® (ATCA), AdvancedMC™, and MicroTCA™. These standards reduce the cost of telecommunications, industrial, medical, and military equipment. Manufacturers adopting these standards are engaged in a transition similar to the replacement of the mini-computer by personal computers—a variety of custom electronic equipment can be replaced by a modular, high-availability, low-cost ATCA or MicroTCA chassis. Actel provides a silicon solution for TCA system management.
Actel provides highly integrated solutions for TCA system management.
Actel supports the Fusion-based solutions with reference designs, semiconductor
intellectual property (SIP), software, and customization services that
enable quicker time to market for Actel customers with reduced risk,
lower costs, and improved availability over existing solutions. The high
integration of Actel TCA solutions also provides increased functionality
in a fixed form factor.
Nearly every electronic system needs system management, especially those
with telecommunications-driven standards like ATCA, AdvancedMC, and MicroTCA,
as well as those with server-driven standards like Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). Fusion and ProASIC3
are adept at supporting both proprietary and standards-based implementations.
Actel Fusion enables customers to improve MicroTCA system management implementations. Fusion integrates analog, embedded flash memory, and live at power-up FPGA fabric in a single chip. This integration reduces system cost and board space and provides the flexibility to support proprietary and standards-based system management. Fusion single-chip implementation improves reliability, low-power operation, and system security.
Read more about Fusion Benefits.
Actel provides reference designs and design kits with hardware, software, and semiconductor intellectual property. Actel has partnered with Pigeon Point Systems and MicroBlade® to provide a full range of system management solutions for the Telecommunications Computing Architecture space.
Customers can use the reference design without modification, modify the design, or outsource changes to the design through one of the following resources:
- Pigeon Point Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Actel, is the dominant supplier to leading companies worldwide of world-class management components for modular platforms based on the AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC, and MicroTCA architectures.
- MicroBlade is a pioneer in the growing MicroTCA market, supplying design solutions, firmware customization, and hardware modules and chassis.
- Actel Protocol Design Services provides customization services and support for semiconductor intellectual property.
Actel offers reference design boards and design kits for purchase in sample quantities, and production quantities of the MicroBlade partnered AdvancedMC and MicroTCA Power Module designs as well as a starter kit for the AdvancedMC design including complete source code for the MicroBlade MMC firmware can be ordered directly from MicroBlade.
Free Fusion-Based MicroTCA Power Module Reference
Design
Actel partnered with MicroBlade to develop a Fusion-based MicroTCA PM reference design that
meets the MicroTCA specification version 1.0 and includes an enhanced
module management interface (EMMC). Core8051s and dual CoreI2C cores are
the foundation for an IP and software platform that includes an IPMI
protocol stack per IPMI specification 2.0, which supports the IPMB-0
connection and the power module EMMC interface to the MicroTCA carrier
hub. This is the first free and open reference design available for MicroTCA.
Because Fusion devices enable unprecedented integration in
system management applications, Actel is able to reduce the bill-of-materials
(BOM) cost of typical MicroTCA power modules by over 50%. Fusion
also helps reduce the system management footprint while delivering
better performance than other solutions. Unlike slow, software-based
microcontroller solutions, Actel can achieve the MicroTCA specification
100 µs switchover due to the internal voltage monitoring and switchover
functionality working in FPGA logic gates.
Request a free Fusion-Based MicroTCA Power Module Reference Design.
Free Fusion-Based Advanced Mezzanine Card
Reference Design
Actel also partnered with MicroBlade to develop a Fusion-based Advanced Mezzanine Card (AdvancedMC) reference design. The Fusion-based AdvancedMC reduces the amount of required parts and provides a unique reference design platform that includes hardware, firmware, and intellectual property. The AdvancedMC reference design is ready to plug in to ATCA AdvancedMC carriers or MicroTCA chassis for evaluation and interoperability testing and conforms to the PICMG® AMC.0 ECR001 RC1.0 specification. It includes a module management controller (MMC) based on the Core8051s processor and CoreI2C .
In this design, Actel provides a solution that uses Fusion for single-chip system management. The reduced part count from single-chip system management offers better performance and more features than typical AdvancedMCs, which use microcontrollers and a number of discrete components. Since this Fusion-based solution enables integration of payload and management functions, customers can realize even further levels of component part integration as well as cost savings. Actel flash FPGA devices also enable in-system changes and upgrades often requested by telecom service providers, yielding an obsolescence-proof design.
Request a free Fusion-Based MicroTCA Advanced Mezzanine Card Reference Design.
Use All or Part of an Actel TCA Reference Design
The key benefit of the Actel reference designs is that customers can quickly take advantage of the head start provided by our reference designs by using all or a portion of the design. Many customers in the ATCA or IPMI markets will be able to use existing reference designs to get started. Customers who want to customize a reference design will often find it useful to make their custom changes on a versatile Actel system management board.
Fusion Single-Chip System Management
Actel, the world's only supplier of mixed-signal FPGAs, delivers a single chip that performs system management, as shown in the AdvancedMC reference design. Actel Fusion integrates configurable analog, large flash memory blocks, comprehensive clock generation and management circuitry, and high-performance programmable logic in a monolithic device. This level of integration and configurability establishes Fusion as the definitive system management solution.
Intellectual Property for ATCA, MicroTCA, IPMI, and Proprietary System
Management
Actel IP cores support Actel silicon devices and MicroTCA for processing
as well as MMC, EMMC, and MCMC interfaces. Additionally, Actel IP cores
can be used for shelf management as well as carrier management IPM-C
interfaces. Finally, these cores also support baseboard and network management
as well as satellite control in IPMI.
Actel TCA Partners
Actel's wholly owned subsidiary, Pigeon Point Systems, is the industry-leading supplier of system management components for modular platforms based on AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC, and MicroTCA architectures. Pigeon Point is working to leverage Actel's intrinsically low-power Fusion to develop a wide range of new development kits for the worldwide TCA marketplace.
Actel has partnered with MicroBlade, a leader in MicroTCA design services, to develop the AdvancedMC and MicroTCA Power Module reference designs and to provide support and customization services.
Actel Protocol Design Services provides support for the intellectual property that works on Fusion devices in the power module and AdvancedMC reference designs.
