PowerSoCs will integrate advanced digital control to improve FPGA power efficiency

The signing of a licensing agreement with ZMDI (Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG), a German-based analog and mixed-signal semiconductor company has been announced by Altera. Altera plans to leverage ZMDI’s world-class digital power management technology to integrate advanced multi-mode digital control (MMDC) power capabilities into Enpirion PowerSoC devices. A design team of digital power experts will focus on expanding the control, adaptability and power saving features of Enpirion PowerSoCs to further improve the power efficiency of Altera FPGAs and SoCs. The ZMDI digital power technology complements Altera’s existing best-in-class power solutions, which integrate high-frequency power IC technology and advanced magnetics engineering into small form factor packages. Adding MMDC technology into Enpirion PowerSoCs will deliver greater control performance between Altera’s FPGAs and its power management ICs. MMDC-enabled Enpirion devices will be capable of supporting various new power modes thereby delivering up to a 30 percent reduction in FPGA power consumption (static and dynamic). A team of experienced engineers focused on developing this leading-edge digital power technology will join Altera’s highly skilled research and development team focused on developing advanced power ICs. Dr. Anthony Kelly, formerly ZMDI’s chief system architect, will join Altera and lead the digital power design team. Dr. Kelly said, “Altera is an innovation engine and I could not be more excited about the possibilities when we combine advanced digital power controller technology with Altera’s Enpirion power products. Integrating our team of highly experienced power management engineers into Altera’s world-class research and development team will allow us to leverage each of our strengths and bring new levels of control and adaptability to FPGA-based systems.” Mark Davidson, general manager of Altera’s power business unit, added, “Broadening Altera’s highly skilled power management design team with a group of proven digital power experts will enable us to deliver even greater value to our customers. The addition of digital control into our highly integrated power ICs will allow us to better address the power supply demands of high-end FPGAs while delivering increased system-level power savings.” Enpirion PowerSoCs address the unique power requirements of FPGAs and SoC FPGAs by offering the highest efficiency and best signal integrity at the highest power density in the industry. ZMDI’s digital power technology allows the implementation of multi-objective, heterogeneous control modes while delivering best-in-class transient response in a programmable digital domain. Integrating advanced digital control technology into Enpirion PowerSoCs will enable Altera to create highly innovative power solutions that are optimized to meet the high-performance demands of Altera FPGAs and SoC FPGAs, says the company.