Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

Fujitsu Introduces New FlexRay® Evaluation Kit; Designed to Enable Design, Verification Prior to Silicon

San Francisco, CA, March 7, 2005 — Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) today released a new FlexRay® Evaluation Kit, an FPGA-based development platform that enables the design and verification of hardware and software applications before production silicon is available.

The FlexRay Evaluation Kit is the first product in which Fujitsu is using the FlexRay controller IP, which it recently licensed from Bosch. The kit consists of an FPGA board with the FlexRay communication controller, the physical layer, and an MCU starter kit equipped with the MB91369, a 32-bit FR50 core. Along with the hardware comes a software package featuring a ready-to-use communication example. The software package includes a communication stack, which meets series production requirements for evaluation purposes or prototype development of FlexRay products.

The kit is designed to let customers deliver working FlexRay products to the market in the fastest possible time, according to Akio Nezu, senior marketing manager for the Embedded Products group at Fujitsu Microelectronics America. "Fujitsu has made a significant commitment to the FlexRay standard, a newly established, time-triggered protocol for vehicle networks developed to maximize safety features and high performance standards," he said. "This new kit is the first step in a comprehensive development program that will continue with a new standalone device and 32-bit microcontroller."

The modular design of the FPGA board assures that any updates in the protocol or physical layer specifications can be implemented quickly without the need for a complete re-design. The board, which has pre-installed RS485 bus drivers, provides sockets that allow the addition of third-party plug-in modules with FlexRay-compliant drivers. The comprehensive package, combined with the flexibility that FPGAs offer, will meet all the design requirements for developing FlexRay applications.

The MB91369 FR50 RISC core is built with a Harvard architecture featuring a five-stage pipeline with single-cycle instruction execution. This makes the core powerful enough for the most demanding automotive applications. The 32-bit parallel bus interface of the FR50 core allows rapid access to the FlexRay controller.

Fujitsu will build on its FlexRay-based product offerings by releasing a standalone ASSP during 2005, followed by the first embedded FlexRay 32-bit MCU in early 2006. Embedding FlexRay IP into a single-chip MCU will further advance the performance and range of automotive electronic-control applications.

The FlexRay Evaluation kit was featured at the exhibition at Embedded World 2005, Nuremberg, from February 22 to 24, with a demonstration of a FlexRay-CAN gateway.

Medium resolution pictures relevant to this press release can be found by following the links:
http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/imagelib/mcu/lowres/MRPR822.jpg

For high resolution download options please follow the links:
http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/imagelib/mcu/highres/HRPR822.zip

---

About Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) leads the industry in innovation. FMA provides high-quality, reliable semiconductor products and services for the networking, communications, automotive, security and other markets throughout North and South America. For product information, visit the company web site at http://us.fujitsu.com/micro/mcu.

---

Press Contacts

---

All company/product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are used for identification purpose only.