Harnessing Programmable Devices
In a typical electronic product today, much of the ‘intelligence’ is embodied in the embedded software running on a microprocessor. Consider then the impact of the emergence of low-cost, high-capacity programmable devices such as FPGAs. These allow the intelligent portions of the design to encompass not only software in the traditional sense, but the soft-wired blocks of hardware implemented inside an FPGA.
Altium Designer is unique in that it allows you to change the way you think about developing electronic products and fully exploit the potential offered by today's large-capacity programmable devices. By unifying FPGA design and software development and using the programmable fabric of an FPGA as a system platform, you can work within an easily updateable soft realm where you can change software and hardware with equal ease.
The recent emergence of low-cost, high-capacity programmable devices such as FPGAs is redefining the boundaries between software and hardware, and leading to shift in how designers think about adding intelligence to their products.
Design using soft-wired components >
With Altium Designer you can take ready-to-use FPGA-based components and wire them together at the block level within Altium Designer's schematic editor to create the circuit design.
Work with processors and embedded software >
Altium Designer allows you to easily work with programmable devices using the same skills and convenience currently enjoyed at the board level.
Download and interact ‘live’ with your design >
Altium Designer allows you to connect live to the programmable elements within your design, and interact with the system under development.