Future
Devices Technology International Ltd.'s Vinculo platform allows designers to integrate USB 2.0
interfacing by incorporating FTDI's Vinculum II VNC2-64 dual-channel USB Host/Slave controller with the capability of interfacing to the
growing range of I/O application boards (shields) developed by the Arduino
open-source community. The VNC2 combines a 16-bit/48 MHz CPU core, 256 KBytes
of Flash memory and 16 KBytes of SRAM memory and provides support for external
UART, FIFO, PWM, GPIO and SPI Slave/Master interfaces.
The Vinculo platform brings
together all of the hardware and software needed for rapid development of
innovative, cost-effective embedded systems.
The Vinculo
module integrates an 8-channel, 10-bit analogue-to-digital converter (ADC).
Vinculo also supports 38 general-purpose input/output connections, and USB A
and mini B (host and device) connectors on a board measuring 55.38 x 68.58 mm.
The onboard
A dc simplifies connection to sensors, actuators and other analogue devices
and, in conjunction with the PWM interface on the VNC2, allows
Vinculo to control many analog systems. Existing I/O boards (shields) can
connect to the Vinculum II VNC2 via the GPIO connections.
The Vinculo
programming language utilizes a subset of standard ANSII ‘C' with FTDI supported, free of charge software
development tools, libraries and reference designs. The ‘Proto' board
allows designers to create their own shields. LEDs, connectors and other
components are provided ready for assembly onto the prototyping board, which
has the same board profile as the Vinculo.
Firmware can
be developed using the Vinculum II development
tool chain which provides an integrated development environment (IDE) including
C compiler, assembler, linker and debugger tools. FTDI provides robust device class driver
libraries, including USB Mass Storage, HID (Human Interface Devices), Printer
Class, Image Class, Communication Class and Instrumentation.
Schematics
and PCB layout of the Vinculo board are available free of charge to third party
developers who wish to replicate or enhance the original design. Code
generated by the Vinculo tool chain and FTDI libraries are entirely royalty
free for both commercial and non commercial use.
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Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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