Actel Announces Winners of 2009 Actel Cup China Students FPGA Design Competition

Students leverage Fusion mixed-signal FPGAs to design innovative GPS unit and agricultural robotic arm

SHANGHAI, China — Actel Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTL), the leader in low-power and mixed-signal FPGAs, announced the winners of its 2009 Actel Cup China Students FPGA design competition. Chosen from more than 300 submissions by students 190 universities, designs from Xian University of Electronic Science and Technology and South China Agricultural University were tied for first place, meeting the contest’s very high standards for creativity, including three key qualifications: high level of innovation, immediate market viability and easy system implementation. This year’s competition was co-sponsored with Guangzhou ZLGMCU Development Company (ZLGMC).

The “Travelers Companion”, an entry from Xian University of Electronic Science and Technology, is an innovative handheld GPS navigation device equipped with a wide range of functions, including monitors for temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, altitude, latitude and longitude, plus an electronic compass. The team was able to fully leverage Fusion’s features, including the ADC to transform sensor signals and deploy flash memory to store and run 8051 soft core microprocessor functions.

Engineering students of the South China Agricultural University in Guangdong province created a robotic arm system for use in agricultural production. The arm performs six different functions via a manually-controlled platform that can be switched to automatic mode at the press of a button. Designed to gather data for analysis, the application enables farmers to increase their productivity. The design fully utilizes Fusion’s mixed-signal features, such as the Analog-to-Digital Coonverter (ADC) and Analog Gate Driver Output.

“This year’s submissions were outstanding in their levels of innovation, creativity and engineering capability,” said Rick Lain, Actel’s Director of Sales, Asia Pacific. “Actel congratulates the winners and confirms its commitment to providing the future engineers of China with the resources to enhance their education and entry into the workplace.”

“The range of solutions submitted to the competition was very impressive,” said George Zhou Li Gong, president and general manager of Guangzhou ZLGMCU Development Co., Ltd. “The entries not only highlighted the talent of China’s engineering students but also underscored the versatility of Actel’s Fusion® mixed-signal FPGAs.”

In support of this year’s competition, ZLGMCU provided kits and related tutorials to participants. In addition, Actel provided a Fusion mixed-signal FPGA Starter Kit and its Libero® Integrated Design Environment (IDE), the company’s comprehensive design software suite. The panel of judges included high level representatives from leading universities, key Actel distributors and Actel senior Field Application Engineers (FAEs) from the region.

About Actel
Actel is the leader in low-power FPGAs and mixed-signal FPGAs, offering the most comprehensive portfolio of system and power management solutions. Power Matters. Learn more at www.actel.com.