When a certain web-enabled multimedia smartphone hit the market in 2007, it transformed the way that consumers interact with their handheld devices. Especially engaging is the fluid touch-screen interface that allows users to access an array of applications or scroll through web pages with their fingertips. To develop such sophisticated interfaces with high I/O counts, ease of use, low power, and flexibility to support product differentiation, design with zero-power Altera MAX IIZ CPLDs.

… Read More → "Developing Multipoint Touch Screens and Panels With CPLDs"

Altera’s flash memory configuration controller provides an alternative configuration solution for high-density FPGA-based designs. With the flexibility to use a bigger flash memory to store more configuration data, designers can implement the flash memory controller in Altera’s MAX® II, MAX 3000A, or MAX 7000 devices for use in Stratix series, Arria series, and Cyclone series FPGAs.

Introduction</ … Read More → "MAX Series Configuration Controller Using Flash Memory"

With the advent of low-power CPLDs, low-power electronic product designers now have new options for implementing many of the functions traditionally performed by microcontrollers. This white paper discusses when it is advantageous to use a CPLD instead of a microcontroller, and when it makes sense to use a CPLD as a companion to a microcontroller.

Introduction</ … Read More → "Six Ways to Replace a Microcontroller With a CPLD"

Modulating LED power based on ambient light level increases battery life, a particularly helpful feature in devices where battery life is measured in days. Using a very simple circuit, Altera’s MAX II and MAX IIZ CPLDs can measure the analog light level of their environments and then drive an LED at a proportional analog intensity level. Controlling the LED … Read More → "Using LEDs as Light-Level Sensors and Emitters"

This white paper describes the use of FPGA devices to deliver a multi-standard Industrial Ethernet capability from a single printed circuit board implementation. The benefits of FPGA implementation are described and an overview of the FPGA development flow, tools, and technology used to create a universal but easy to maintain solution is given.

Introduction

< … Read More → "A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet"

This paper describes the use of FPGAs to add a LCD and GUI display to any embedded system. Unlike fixed processor device implementations, this approach is scalable and can support any display interface. Graphics can be generated by any external processor, an embedded processor, or a hardware graphics acceleration engine integrated into the same FPGA design as the display graphics controller. The benefits of FPGA implementation and available tools and IP are described, and … Read More → "Using FPGAs to Render Graphics and Drive LCD Interfaces"

This white paper explores Altera’s low-power FPGA platform and the video design solutions that address the military’s complex, power-budget-constrained EO/IR design challenges and significantly increase designer productivity.

Author: Suhel Dhanani, Sr. Manager, Digital Signal Processing

Mr. Dhanani is responsible for DSP … Read More → "Video Processing on FPGAs for Military Electro-Optical/Infrared Applications"

Corporate objectives, such as increasing profits and sales revenue while utilizing R&D efficiently, are putting severe pressure on today’s design engineering teams. The resulting system level challenges-lowering the cost of new and existing products with fewer people and resources in less time-can be addressed by using a FPGA-based design philosophy. A system architecture using FPGAs as a key component not only reduces new product-development R&D costs but also the … Read More → "Decrease Total System Costs with Industry’s Lowest Cost, Lowest Power FPGAs"

By integrating Altia’s Design and DeepScreen GUI development tools suite, Echelon’s Power Line Smart Transceiver and ShortStack API, and the Altera Cyclone III FPGA and Nios II embedded processor, developers have a powerful platform for developing cost-effective, yet robust energy aware solutions. These solutions allow homeowners to monitor appliance energy use via a home area network, appliance manufacturers to provide improved service to customers, and utility companies to lower energy consumption via the … Read More → "Energy-Aware Appliance Platform: A New Approach to Home Energy Control"

Traditionally, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) for home appliances have been composed of mechanical devices such as buttons and knobs, coupled with display indicators such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs). Today there is a massive transformation occurring throughout the home appliance and consumer device markets. As the cost of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) drops due to the proliferation of LCD technology in televisions, computers, automobiles, and mobile devices, LCDs with highly interactive … Read More → "Implementing a Cost-Effective Human-Machine Interface for Home Appliances"