Newsletters

Northwest Logic’s Memory Controllers are available for use in GLOBAL FOUNDRIES advanced process nodes

Northwest Logic and GLOBAL FOUNDRIES (GF) are collaborating to provide complete Memory Controller and PHY solutions for GLOBAL FOUNDRIES advanced process nodes. These solutions combine Northwest Logic’s high-performance, silicon-proven HBM, DDR4/3/2/1, LPDDR4/3/2/1 Controller Cores with GF ASIC PHYs. This collaboration provides GF ASIC customers with best-in-class solution for their next generation high-bandwidth memory needs. Please visit Northwest Logic or GLOBAL FOUNDRIES for more information.

Northwest Logic is a Platinum Member of the Altera Design Solutions Network (DSN)

Altera’s DSN helps Altera’s customers accelerate product innovation by connecting them with companies offering products or design services using Altera’s FPGA devices. Northwest Logic is a Platinum Partner in Altera’s DSN and delivers complete IP solution for PCI Express, Memory and MIPI, supporting all Altera FPGA device families.

For more information on Altera’s DSN, please go to https://www.altera.com/solutions/partners/partner-profile/northwest-logic.html.

“Start Your HBM/2.5D Design Today”, What Just Happened?

On March 9th 2016, SK hynix, Inc, Amkor Technology, Inc., eSilicon, Northwest Logic and Avery Design Systems presented a complete HBM supply chain solution at a “Start Your HBM/2.5D Design Today” seminar. HBM is a JEDEC memory standard that provides more bandwidth with a smaller footprint and much less power than DDR4. The seminar was attended by over 100 local technical experts from the Silicon Valley’s leading technology firms. The seminar was followed up with a webinar (click here to watch) and an HBM white paper.

“HBM/2.5D design is definitely a team sport. Strong collaboration and effective execution is needed for success. The same was true for the seminar, webinar and white paper. We brought together the collective expertise of five different companies to provide a cohesive, integrated story. This collaboration will ensure our customers can successfully bring to market HBM/2.5D products.” Mike Gianfagna, VP of marketing, eSilicon Corporation. Northwest Logic is excited to be part of this ecosystem and look forward to many successful customer deployments.

Mercury Systems And Northwest Logic Show IP Reuse Successes

Northwest Logic’s mission is to provide high-performance, high-quality, easy-to-use IP solutions. Having long term clients like Mercury Systems is validation of our commitment to this mission. Mercury Systems is the leading commercial provider of secure processing subsystems designed and made in the USA. “I have a really good impression of Northwest Logic’s products, support and documentation,” said Robert Stevens, Firmware Manager and lead FPGA design engineer at Mercury Systems’ Embedded Sensor Products Group. “We have worked with them for several years through various generations of FPGA families. Their IP is easy to integrate and accelerates our design times by allowing us to focus on our own IP development. This allows us to provide our end-users with an IP framework that in turn allows them to focus on their application designs. We have successfully used Express 3.0 Core and DMA IP over the years and I am a very satisfied customer.” Please click here for more info on Northwest Logic’s PCIe solutions.

Northwest Logic’s PCI Express 4.0 solution certified at the April PCI Express 3.0 Compliance Workshop!

Northwest Logic’s PCI Express 4.0 solution, including the Expresso 4.0 Core (PCIe 4.0 core) and Expresso DMA Bridge Core, in combination with the Xilinx Virtex-7 PHY (VC709 board), passed all Gold and Interoperability tests at the April 2016 PCI-SIG Compliance Workshop resulting in its certification. This testing was done with 8 lanes running at up to 8 Gbit/s. See the PCI-SIG Integrators List at http://pcisig.com/developers/integrators-list.

Northwest Logic will certify its Expresso 4.0 Core @ 16G as soon as PCI SIG offers this capability at a Compliance Workshop. The PCI Express 4.0 solution provides a robust and proven platform for developing PCI Express 4.0/3.1/2.1/1.1 based products. This solution is available for ASIC, structured ASIC, and FPGA platforms.

Northwest Logic and M31 Technology Corp. Collaborate To Provide Complete Solutions

M31 Technology Corp. is a professional silicon IP provider who closely collaborates with world-class semiconductor companies. M31 provides a wide range of PHY IP for TSMC and SMIC processes. M31 and Northwest Logic are collaborating to provide complete PHY and Controller solutions. “M31 continues to execute on our vision of deploying high quality, silicon-proven solutions. We look forward to closely collaborating with Northwest Logic to serve our mutual customers,” said Scott Chang as VP Engineering, M31 Technology. Click here for more information.

CSI-2 Controller Core V2 Now Available

Northwest Logic has released its second generation CSI-2 Controller Core V2. This core utilizes a 64-bit core width to support the fastest D-PHY and C-PHY data rates available now and anticipated in the future at controller clock frequencies which are easy to close timing. This core fully supports the MIPI D-PHY 1.2/2.0 (up to 8 lanes) and C-PHY 1.0/1.1 standards (up to 4 trios). Leveraging over 6 years of MIPI experience, this second generation core provides the same easy-to-use, silicon-proven functionality of the first generation core with lower latency and lower power. For more information, contact Northwest Logic.

Live HBM/2.5D Seminar, March 9, 2016 in Mountain View, CA

SK hynix, Amkor Technology, eSilicon, Northwest Logic and Avery Design Systems have joined forces to offer a complete High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) supply chain solution. HBM is a JEDEC-defined standard that utilizes 2.5D technology to interconnect an SoC and an HBM memory stack. Many companies are already using HBM to create very high-bandwidth, low-power products. This seminar will present a complete HBM supply chain that is delivering and supporting customer HBM/2.5D designs now.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016
4:00-7:00 PM Pacific time
Computer History Museum
Mountain View, California
Learn More Register

FIDUS/Inrevium MIPI D-PHY Board Available

FIDUS’s Meticom-based, dual-MIPI FMC Board supports two MIPI D-PHY interfaces (1 Tx and 1 Rx). Each of these interfaces can be used for 1-4 lane CSI-2 or DSI operation. This MIPI FMC card connects with a large number of Inrevium and other vendors’ FMC-compatible FPGA baseboards. This board enables system designs which interface to CSI-2 image sensors or DSI displays to be quickly created. Northwest Logic’s CSI-2 and DSI Controller Cores fully support this board. To view a demonstration of a MIPI reference design which includes Northwest Logic’s cores, click on this link: YouTube. Contact Fidus or Northwest Logic for more information.

Northwest Logic and Toshiba are collaborating to expand capabilities for the Toshiba FFSA™ and ASIC platforms

Northwest Logic and Toshiba have combined efforts to provide a complete, high-performance DDR and PCIe integrated solution for Toshiba’s custom LSIs including the Toshiba Fit Fast Structured Array (FFSA™) and ASIC platforms. This complete offering consists of Northwest Logic’s DDRx controllers and PCI Express cores fully integrated and verified with Toshiba DDR and PCIe PHYs. These solutions are available now and are being implemented by our first customer through this joint effort. “Through our collaboration with Northwest Logic, we are able to offer robust pre-verified PHY/controller sub-systems increasing the added value and reducing customer time to market,” said Doug Day, vice president Engineering Design Solution Group, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. Please contact Northwest Logic for more information.

Rambus and Northwest Logic PCIe ASIC solution

Northwest Logic’s Express 3.0 Core has been fully integrated and validated with the Rambus R+ Multi-protocol PHY for PCIe at a leading-edge foundry. This complete solution is silicon-proven in a 28nm testchip which will be used for PCIe-SIG certification. “As SoC design complexity continues to increase, this integrated offering provides an easy-to-use, comprehensive solution for PCIe 3.0 Endpoint applications,” said Khalid Ansari, VP, High-Speed Interface Marketing at Rambus. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Northwest Logic as we continue to design and deliver high-quality solutions for our customers.” For more information contact Northwest Logic or Rambus.

Northwest Logic Launches Its New and Improved Website

Visit the new and improved website at www.nwlogic.com

Northwest Logic Adds New Asia-Pacific Sales Reps

Northwest Logic has brought on the following sales reps to further expand our Asia-Pacific presence:

Apston and Soar Solutions are supporting Northwest Logic solutions in South Korea. 2APAC are supporting Northwest Logic solutions in China and Taiwan

We look forward to serving our customer needs in in the Asia-Pacific with the assistance of these companies.

Northwest Logic Celebrates its 20th Anniversary

Northwest Logic was started in November of 1995 in the garage of one of the founding partners with an initial focus on providing FPGA-based design services. Over the years, we have grown into a provider of high-performance, high-quality IP Cores with a world-wide set of industry-leading customers. We want to thank all of our customers, partners, vendors and employees who been part of this journey. We look forward to continuing to work with you for another 20 years!

Thanks again, the Northwest Logic Team

Northwest Logic’s Memory Solution for 14nm Customers of Intel Custom Foundry

Northwest Logic’s DDR4/3 Controller Cores have been fully integrated and validated with Intel Custom Foundry’s DDR4/3 PHY. This complete solution is fully silicon-proven in a 14nm testchip. “With the successful integration of Northwest Logic’s DDR controller and Intel Custom Foundry’s DDR PHY IP, we now offer comprehensive DDR support to our customers”, said Tony Pialis, Director of Analog Mixed-Signal IP of Intel Custom Foundry. “Our customers can leverage the robust and silicon-ready IO solutions offered by Intel Custom Foundry and Northwest Logic.” Northwest Logic is one of the Intel Custom Foundry Eco-system partners. For more information, contact Northwest Logic or Intel.

CSI-2 Controller with C-PHY Support Released

Northwest Logic has released its CSI-2 Controller with full support of the MIPI C-PHY standard. The C-PHY uses 3-phase symbol encoding to carry data over 3 pins per lane (also known as trios). The C-PHY can support up to 3 trios at rates up to 2.5 Gsym/s for a peak bandwidth of 17.1 Gbit/s. This utilizes the same number of pins as a four lane D-PHY running at 2.5 Gbit/s/lane, but can carry 70% more data. The Northwest Logic CSI-2 Controller can support C-PHY, D-PHY and combo C/D-PHY. For this release, Northwest Logic delivered the controller integrated and verified with a combo C/D-PHY from Mixel. For more information, contact Northwest Logic.

Complete, Silicon-Proven PCI Express Solution

Northwest Logic provides a complete, silicon-proven, easy-to-use PCI Express solution for use in ASICs, Structured ASICs and FPGAs. The PCI Express and DMA IP cores have been used in a variety of designs including networking, storage, and military applications and on advanced process nodes including 16, 20, and 28 nm. For more information on this solution, please visit: www.nwlogic.com

DINI Group uses Northwest Logic’s PCI Express Solution to bring-up its ASIC Prototyping Platforms

DINI Group continues to use Northwest Logic’s PCI Express solution to bring up its ASIC prototyping platforms. The Kintex Ultrascale ASIC prototyping platform is one of their latest offerings. Visit DINI Group to see their complete selection of boards. “We have had very positive experience using Northwest’s IPs and we continue to use them for our ASIC board bring-up. We have been working with Northwest Logic for close to a decade now. They are our first choice for PCIe and memory interface IP,” said Mike Dini, President of DINI group. “DINI Group’s ASIC prototyping platforms, in combination with Northwest Logic’s silicon-proven PCI Express Cores, enable large PCIe-based designs to be quickly prototyped.”

MIPI D-PHY FPGA Prototyping Support from S2C

S2C’s MIPI D-PHY Interface Module provides both 4 channel MIPI D-PHY Rx and 4 channel MIPI D-PHY Tx support using the Meticom MC20901 Rx and MC20902 Tx chips. The list price of S2C Meticom MIPI D-PHY Interface Module (part number: P-MIPIPHYIB) is $400.00. Contact S2C for details.

Altia Systems Selects Northwest Logic’s MIPI Solution for its PanaCast 2 Video Camera

PanaCast 2 is the world’s first Panoramic-4K Plug-and-Play USB real time video camera that connects directly to your PC or Mac. It delivers a 180º wide by 54º tall panoramic video stream (3840X1080) and high fidelity stereo audio. “We use the Northwest Logic CSI-2 Rx Controller Core to bring MIPI data into the Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA inside our PanaCast 2 camera” said Yashket Gupta, Lead Engineer, Hardware Design. Adding, “We found the core easy to work with and support is top notch”. Please click here for more info in PanaCast 2. Please click here for more info on Northwest Logic MIPI Solutions.

HBM Controller Core has been Hardware Validated

Northwest Logic’s HBM Controller Core has now been hardware validated using a platform from eSilicon which consists of a Xilinx Virtex-7, SK Hynix Gen1 HBM Device and an organic interposer. This platform performs error-free, high-performance transfers between the controller and the HBM. The HBM Controller Core supports all HBM Gen2 features including Pseudo Channel, Per Bank Refresh, etc. It also includes several interface options to enable a broad range of system applications. The controller is fully released and available. Click here for more information on SK Hynix’s HBM devices. Click here for more information on eSilicon’s HBM support. Click here to get more information on Northwest Logic’s HBM Controller Core.

Northwest Logic’s DMA PCI Express Solution used in over 700 Designs

Northwest Logic’s PCI Express Solution has been deployed in over 700 designs worldwide. These designs include standard cell ASICs (for ASIC providers/foundries such as eSilicon, Intel, OnSemi, Renesas, SMIC, TSMC, UMC), Structured ASICs (eASIC and Toshiba) and FPGAs (Altera and Xilinx). In addition, Northwest Logic provides complete Controller and PHY integration support for the customer selected PHY. Northwest Logic’s DMA Cores, which is part of its PCI Express Solution, has also been utilized in multiple Xilinx connectivity kits. Contact [email protected] for more information on the PCI Express solution including Gen 4 support.

Northwest Logic CSI-2 Controller Cores Validated on Arrow MAX10 DECA Board

The Northwest Logic CSI-2 Rx Controller Core and CSI-2 Tx Controller Core have been fully validated on the Arrow DECA Development Kit. This kit uses Altera’s low-cost, low-power Max 10 device with a low-cost, passive D-PHY approach. The combination of the Max10 and passive D-PHY approach provides a very cost effective, small footprint CSI-2 Tx or Rx solution. Click here for more information on the DECA Development Kit. Click here for more information on Northwest Logic CSI-2 Controller Cores.

Northwest Logic and Altera RLDRAM 3 Support for Arria 10 Coming Soon!

Northwest Logic and Altera Corporation have collaborated to offer a hardware-proven 2,133 Mbps Reduced Latency DRAM (RLDRAM) 3 memory interface solution for use in the 20 nm Arria 10 FPGAs. The RLDRAM 3 solution combines Northwest Logic’s full-featured RLDRAM 3 Controller Core and Altera’s auto-calibrated RLDRAM 3 hard PHY to enable RLDRAM3 designs for high-end networking applications needing high memory throughput. Watch for the full announcement including hardware evaluation support. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Northwest Logic and Invecas Collaborate to Provide Complete Solutions

INVECAS, Inc. is developing a wide range of IP’s for GLOBALFOUNDRIES advanced nodes including PHYs and associated Test Chips. These PHYs include high-speed multi-protocol SERDES, DDR3/4, LPDDR3/4 and MIPI PHYs. INVECAS and Northwest Logic are collaborating to provide complete PCIe, DDR4/3, LPDDR4/3 and MIPI Controller and PHY solutions. “INVECAS is pleased to be working with its strategic partner Northwest Logic to provide high-performance, high-quality, silicon-proven solutions for GLOBALFOUNDRIES advanced process nodes.” Click here for more information.

Toshiba FFSA Support

Northwest Logic now supports the Toshiba FFSA devices with its high-performance Memory and PCIe Controller IP Cores. Toshiba FFSA devices use metal configurable technology to create quick-turn, high-performance, low cost SoCs. Northwest Logic and Toshiba have collaborated to fully validate the interoperability of Northwest Logic DDR3, and PCIe 3.0 Controller Cores with the Toshiba DDR3 and PCIe PHYs. These complete DDR and PCIe solutions enable customers to quickly create and bring to market high-performance, cost-effective SoC designs. Click here for more information

PCI Express 4.0 Core

Northwest Logic is now offering PCI Express Gen 4 support as part of its high-performance PCI Express solution. Northwest logic’s PCI Express solution has been widely deployed in cutting edge ASIC and FPGA designs. Some of the key features of the PCI Express 4.0 Core include:

• Endpoint, Root-Port, and Switch support
• 16 Gb/s, 8.0Gb/s, 5.0 Gb/s, 2.5 Gb/s line rate support
• x16, x8, x4, x2, x1 PCI Express Lane support
• Bifurcation support
• High Reliability – AER, ECRC, ECC, and Parity support
• Multi-Function and SR-IOV support with up to 256 total Functions
• Flexible PIPE interface can support all PIPE compatible PHYs
• High-performance AXI Bridging and DMA solutions support

This solution is available for standard cell ASICs, Structured ASICs and FPGAs. Please contact [email protected] for more information

Northwest Logic’s DMA Core is Now Included in Vivado 2015.1 IP Catalog

Northwest Logic’s high-performance, scatter-gather AXI DMA Back-End Core is now included in the latest release of the Vivado IP catalog. This support enables our Xilinx customers to easily integrate the NWL DMA Core into their design as part of the IP integrator flow. The AXI DMA Back-End Core is part of a larger offering of high-performance DMA Cores from Northwest Logic. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Complete CSI-HDMI Demo

Northwest Logic and Mixel have created a new CSI-HDMI demo. This comprehensive demo takes 4K video output from Omnivision 13850 camera (4 MIPI lanes running at 1.2 Gbit/s). This CSI video stream is then processed by the combination of Mixel D-PHY Test Chip and Northwest Logic’s CSI Controller Core running in a Virtex-7. The video stream is then formatted and sent via HDMI to a 1080P display. Click here to see the demo on YouTube.

HBM Gen 2 Controller Coming Soon

High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) enables a system to achieve significantly higher memory throughput than a DDR4-based system. HBM is a 2.5D based solution where 8 channels of 128 bit memory are connected to an ASIC using a silicon or organic interposer. Each channel can be further subdivided into two 64-bit pseudo-channels. Northwest Logic will be releasing its HBM Gen 2 Controller including Pseudo Channel and IEEE 1500 support shortly. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Northwest Logic and S2C Deliver Hardware Validated MIPI Solution

Northwest Logic and S2C, Inc. announced that Northwest Logic’s Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Camera Serial Interface (CSI-2) Controller and Display Serial Interface (DSI) Controller have been fully validated on S2C’s FPGA Prototyping Platforms. Click here to see press release.

RLDRAM 3 Solution Availability for Arria 10

Northwest Logic and Altera Corporation have collaborated to release a hardware-proven 2,133 Mbps Reduced Latency DRAM (RLDRAM®) 3 memory interface solution for use in the 20 nm Arria® 10 FPGAs. The RLDRAM 3 memory interface solution combines Northwest Logic’s full-featured RLDRAM 3 Controller Core and Altera’s auto-calibrated RLDRAM 3 HardPHY to significantly ease RLDRAM3 designs for high-end networking applications needing high memory throughput. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Visit Northwest Logic at DAC

Northwest Logic will be at DAC 2015. Visit us in the Mixel booth or TCI booth. We are also happy to setup a private meeting with you ahead of time. To set up a meeting to discuss your PCIe, memory or MIPI design needs, please send an email to [email protected]

Customer Testimonial: QuintessenceLabs

QuintessenceLabs has recently rolled out its latest Key Manager product which uses Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) to generate unique keys for encryption and decryption. QRNG uses vacuum fluctuation in quantum optics to produce raw entropy that is extremely fast and very stable. To transfer the large amount of random numbers, Quintessencelabs employs the Northwest Logic AXI DMA Back-End core to consolidate multiple numbers of high speed DMA sources into a single PCIe DMA channel. “This IP core is stable, and integrates seamlessly into our proprietary logic without needing support. As a result, it allowed us to speed up the prototyping cycle and reduced the product development time line significantly.” Said Dr. Raymond Chan, Principle Engineer at QuintessenceLabs

New MIPI Camera-to-Display Demo

A new MIPI camera to MIPI display end-to-end demo is now available. This demo highlights the comprehensive MIPI support available from Northwest Logic and features:

• Northwest Logic’s CSI-2 Rx Controller Core
• Meticom’s MIPI-FPGA Bridge Chips
• Supports memory-mapped and streaming (FIFO) DMA operation
• Xilinx Kintex-7 and KC705 board
• Omnivision camera
• Seiko display

Check out this demo video along with others on the Northwest Logic YouTube channel. For more information, contact us.

Northwest Logic supports Xilinx IP Integrator tool flow

Northwest Logic, a Xilinx Premier IP partner, now supports the IP Integrator tool flow within Vivado® Design Suite for its market leading DMA Cores. The IP Integrator flow makes it easy for customers to integrate AMBA® AXI4 interface based IP seamlessly into their designs. Northwest Logic’s high performance AXI DMA Back-End Core is now fully available for customers to utilize in IP Integrator based designs. The IP Integrator support is available for all Xilinx devices including the latest UltraScale device families for Vivado® Design Suite tool release 2014.4 and above. “We are excited to make this support available for our Xilinx customers. This will make it even easier for our customers to integrate our IP into their designs. As always, our DMA IP deliveries include a complete reference design and PCIe testbench with optional Windows/Linux DMA driver support,” said Brian Daellenbach, President of Northwest Logic. Contact us for more information on this support for your new designs.

Northwest Logic Offers MRAM Controller IP compatible with Everspin’s ST-MRAM

Northwest Logic’s high-performance MRAM Controller Core has been validated with Everspin’s EMD3D064M ST-MRAM on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA platform and is now available for designs needing low-latency, high memory throughput using MRAM technology. Click here for Press Release.

Northwest Logic Expresso DMA Bridge Core Shipping in Xilinx KCU105 Evaluation Kit

The Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA KCU105 Evaluation Kit is shipped with a 12 hour hardware time out evaluation netlist for the Northwest Logic PCIe DMA Bridge Core. This hardware time out evaluation netlist allows the customer to use this IP for evaluation purposes, however after 12 hours the core will time out in hardware. This time-out can be reset for another 12 hours by resetting the PCIe bus. Once evaluation of the core provided is complete, Northwest Logic can be contacted to obtain a Full Production license. Click here for more information.

High-Performance DMA Drivers Support Latest OS

Northwest Logic’s High-Performance DMA Drivers are used in conjunction with Northwest Logic’s high-performance, scatter-gather PCI Exress DMA Cores. These drivers now support the latest operating systems (OS) which includes Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14.04. The drivers are written in “C” and made available to customer in full source code. Contact us to access the complete Driver User Guide.

MIPI Face to Face

Northwest Logic and Mixel will be showing a variety of MIPI Camera and Display demos at the MIPI Alliance Face to Face Meeting in Seattle on March 12. These demos highlight our comprehensive CSI-2 and DSI Controller + PHY solution. This complete solution supports both Host and Device applications and is silicon-proven in a broad range of applications and process technologies. For more information, click on the following links: MIPI Alliance, MIPI Controllers, MIPI PHYs.

Northwest Logic Uses Blue Pearl Software’s Analyze RTL™

Northwest Logic uses Blue Pearl Software’s Analyzer RTL™ to comprehensively lint our IP Cores including CDC Analysis. As part of this process, Analyzer RTL is configured for the design rules and coding style checks appropriate to our internal HDL quality standards. Using Analyze RTL enables Northwest Logic to maintain IP core quality from a very early point in our design flow through the final stage of IP Core configuration and customer delivery. We are also currently exploring the use of newer Analyze RTL feature such as User Grey Cell™ and Advanced Clock Environment (ACE)™ for enhanced CDC analysis. For more information on Blue Pearl Software and their Analyze RTL Product, visit their website.