Altera Corporation, one of the global players in providing high-value programmable solutions, has announced the establishment of its first university development laboratory in India at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.The laboratory will work on the overlapping areas of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and 'system on a programmable chip (SOPC). The Indian Institute of Science will use the lab for research in addition to giving students hands-on training on the application of FPGAs for advanced system designs.Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a type of logic chip that can be programmed and is similar to a programmable logic device (PLD). While PLDs are generally limited to hundreds of gates, FPGAs support thousands of gates. They are especially popular for prototyping integrated circuit designs. Once the design is set, hardwired chips are produced for faster performance.This is the first of several FPGA/SOPC digital design labs to be established in India under the Altera University Program. In addition to providing training, the Altera University Program has passed on to the Indian Institute of Science a variety of development kits featuring Altera's high-density, high-performance Stratix FPGAs, as well as kits for embedded systems development using the Nios II embedded processor. The transfers also includes intellectual property (IP) cores that support emerging interface standards, digital signal processing (DSP) functions."This lab will provide state-of-the-art design facilities for research and development in the area of FPGA-based embedded systems," said Prof H S Jamadagni, chairman of Centre for Electronic Design and Technology (CEDT). "The lab will also be used for training academia and the industry on FPGA and SOPC technology. The Indian Institute of Science looks forward to working together with Altera and strengthening our relationship with Altera.""Altera sees strong opportunities for growth in programmable logic in India, and is committed to working with India's strong educational system to train engineers," said Ben Lee, vice president and managing director, Altera Asia Pacific. "In the coming years, Altera will make significant contributions to advancing technical education throughout the country."The Altera University Program has a strong commitment to education worldwide. "Our software and hardware platforms are ideal for a wide range of design courses, from entry-level logic design to advanced computing architecture. The Altera University Program is dedicated to enabling tomorrow's designers to gain valuable experience with the latest methods and technology," said Mike Phipps, Altera University Program senior manager.
