BittWorks II Toolkit - Is it Even Necessary for my FPGA Development?

What is a Software Toolkit? 
Putting it simply, a software development toolkit is a set of tools that provides an interface between a hardware platform and a host system. Toolkits are critical if you want fast time to market. This is especially important for BittWare customers...

Why do I Need One?
BittWare has leveraged years of experience to provide a solid base for developers to make a start on their application, and the Toolkit has been an integral part of existing customer's success. They have been able to see first hand the value of the BittWorks tools, because they are so critical in getting projects up and running quickly. This software allows BittWare to properly support our customers.

More: BittWorks Toolkit

The BittWorks II Toolkit is a suite of development tools for BittWare’s FPGA-based hardware. The Toolkit includes drivers, libraries, utilities, and example projects for accessing, integrating, and developing applications for the BittWare board. Utilities and drivers connect the board to the host via PCIe, USB, Ethernet, or serial port, and provide easy access to the board’s system monitoring features and Flash programming.

Extensive libraries provide a consistent, intuitive API for integrating the board into the system and example projects illustrate data movement and provide a starting point for development. The Toolkit supports 64-bit Windows and Linux platforms and is tightly integrated with BittWare’s FPGA Development Kit (FDK), which provides FPGA board support IP and integration for BittWare’s FPGA-based boards.

The Nerdy Stuff
The BittWorks II datasheet is a great tool and clearly outlines what is provided and how it can help you get your application up and running quickly.

View Datasheet

Do I Need To Pay For It?
Well, yes. But BittWare doesn't currently charge for support (unlike some of the other board manufacturers in this market space) and this is only possible because of the development tools available. If a developer has the BittWorks Toolkit BittWare are able to provide the utilities they need to use the board as well as provide known working examples for the customers to leverage.

Toolkit licenses are handled per project/per location.  For a single project at one location there is a maximum of 3 licenses to be purchased. This means is that if there are 10 developers working on Project X you only need to buy 3 licenses.

Tell Me More...
If you'd like more information on how the BittWorks Toolkit and FDK can help speed up your development on both Intel (Altera) and Xilinx FPGA based hardware please get in touch with one of our specialists: info@sarsen.net

Application Note - TenAsys / INtime plus UEI / PowerDNA : The perfect match for Real Time Simulation

Author - Laura Biddiscombe


United Electronic Industries (UEI) has a vast library of Technical Articles, Application Notes and White Papers, including the widely read "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Data Acquisition and Embedded Control"; an overview of key DAQ concepts for both experienced engineers and those new to data acquisition.

The latest addition to the library is an application story which gives a great insight into how TenAsys/INtime and PowerDNA can work together in a Hardware in the Loop system.

"There are few Real Time operating systems which can implement the RT processor on one platform, and there are few Non Real Time Operating systems to implement the operator interface on another platform.

We will describe here a way to partition a single platform to do both. The software is called INtime for Windows and is produced by TenAsys Corporation.

There are also Various I/O options to connect to the RT system – many vendors, each with its special way of connecting to the RT system and different API “philosophy” to access the specific I/O.

We will describe here an I/O system that supplies all the needed interfaces to the Electronic Unit via one (Ethernet) connection to the RT system, and with a unified Driver “philosophy”. The I/O equipment is called PowerDNA , and is produced by UEI Corporation."

For more information about UEI products and services available in the UK please contact Sarsen Technology on 01672 511166, or send us an email - info@sarsen.net.