My poor old noggin is currently buzzing with ideas for things I could do with the new line of programmable devices that were recently introduced by the guys and gals at Texas Instruments.

As usual, of course, in addition to these new devices themselves, myriad ancillary thoughts are currently cavorting around my cranium.

Let’s start with Texas Instruments itself. It may not surprise you to learn that this is a Texas-based corporation (talk about a clue). This company has a long and storied history. It was originally founded in 1930 under the corporate moniker of Geophysical Service Inc. (GSI). Initially, GSI focused on using refraction and reflection seismology to search for petroleum deposits, which was of great interest in Texas at that time.

During WWII, GSI started to produce submarine detecting devices. By 1951, the company’s Laboratory and Manufacturing (L&M) division, which focused on the electronic equipment side of things, was growing faster than the company’s core Geophysical division.

This spurred a reorganization and a name change. At first, they wanted to call themselves General Instruments (GI), but a company with the name General Instrument (no ‘s’) already existed, and one can only imagine the confusion that would have arisen from having two companies called General Instrument and General Instruments. So, this is how they ended up calling themselves Texas Instruments (TI). (On the off chance you were wondering, the L&M division was spun off as a wholly owned subsidiary under the original GSI name.)

I don’t know about you, but I love to learn who did what, when, where, and to whom, if you see what I mean. For example, the first workable silicon transistor was created in January 1945 by Morris Tanenbaum at Bell Telephone Laboratories. However, just a few months later in April 1954, working independently, Gordon Teal at TI created the world’s first commercial silicon transistor.

Jumping forward four years to September 1958, we find Jack Kilby at TI happily demonstrating the world’s first working integrated circuit (IC). The fact that this device employed external wire connections—which would have made mass production difficult—in no way detracts from Kilby’s awesome achievement. Six months later, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor created the first monolithic IC using the planar process invented by his colleague Jean A. Hoerni, and it was this monolithic approach that formed the basis for modern ICs.

I think that we all have the impression that, technology-wise, things are moving faster these days than they did in the past. Well, this may indeed be the case, but it’s also true that the folks of yesteryear weren’t content to simply amble along. In 1964, which was only five years after the creation of the first monolithic IC, TI introduced its military-grade 5400-series logic ICs, which were presented in ceramic packages. Two years later, in 1966, TI introduced their commercial equivalents in the form of the 7400-series, which were presented in plastic packages. These devices were so popular that they quickly gained over 50% of the worldwide logic chip market.

I used to love designing with 7400-series devices. In fact, I still play with them to this day. For example, the image below shows a simple clock project I’m using to demonstrate different ways to drive 7-segment displays. In this case, we have a 7448 BCD to 7-segment decoder, along with a 2:4 decoder implemented using a 7404 hex inverter and a 7408 quad 2-input AND.

Originating in the 1960s, 7400-series devices are still in use today (Source: Max Maxfield)

The thing about 7400-series components (and other logic families of this ilk) is that each device typically contains only a small amount of logic. This led to humongous circuit boards circa the 1970s containing hundreds of these devices. In turn, this promoted the development of programmable logic devices (PLDs) that could be used to gather a bunch of disparate logic functions into a single device.

The first of the simple PLDs were programmable read-only memories (PROMs), programmable logic array (PAL) devices, and programmable array logic (PAL) devices, all of which appeared throughout the 1970s. In turn, these were followed in the 1980s by the first complex PLDs (CPLDs) and the first field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

So, finally, we return to the crux of this column, which is that the chaps and chapesses at TI have just introduced a new line of programmable devices. The one thing we can say for sure is that—with more than 60 years of experience in creating logic chips, and with a portfolio of more than 10,000 logic devices—the folks at TI know their “logic device onions.”

In fact, TI had a previous presence in the PLD province in the 1980s when they second-sourced PALs for the military market, but they exited this market segment in the early 1990s. Now they are back. Of course, just saying this makes me think of Randy Quaid as Russell Case in the 1996 Independence Day movie when he famously said, “Ha-ha-ha! Hello, boys! I’m BAAAAAACK!”

I’m sorry. I got distracted there for a moment. That was a brilliant movie. Something to which I can personally relate (I sometimes feel a bit like the dotty professor in the secret underground bunker when he says, “They don’t let us out very often.” In his case, it’s easy to see why this would be. My own situation is completely different, of course). 

TI’s new programmable logic device portfolio of TPLDs (TI PLDs) comes in a range of shapes, sizes, functions, and functionalities. The idea is that hardware design engineers can drastically reduce the bill of materials (BOM), shrink the board size, reduce design complexity, and simplify the supply chain by integrating up to 40 logic elements onto a single chip.

TI’s new programmable logic devices (Source: TI)

These devices contain a host of logic element combinations and permutations, including general purpose input/outputs (GPIOs), look-up tables (LUTs), digital flip flops, counters, delays, state machines, analog comparators, integrated RC oscillators, and well-known interfaces (SPI, I2C). For example, consider the functional block diagram of the TPLD1201 shown below (see also the data sheet).

TPLD1201 block diagram (Source: TI)

The great thing for designers who are unfamiliar with the hardware description languages (HDLs)—like Verilog and VHDL—that are traditionally used to capture the design intent for programmable devices is that TI also provides a no-code development and programming environment.

TI’s intuitive InterConnect Studio (ICS) presents a drag-and-drop interface that allows the user to select the desired functions and the connections between them. The interface can also be used to configure any options and to simulate and evaluate the design. When the user is ready to rock and roll, a single click takes the design and loads it into the device by means of TI’s TPLD-Program in conjunction with a TPLD-EVM (evaluation module) as shown below.

TPLD-Program (red box) and TPLD-EVM (green board) (Source: TI)

The red TPLD-Program unit connects via USB to the host computer (shown on the bottom left of the image above) and the TPLD-EVM (shown on the right of the image above). The TPLD to be programmed is placed in the black socket in the middle of the board.

TPLDs allow for multi-time configuration while the design is being tested. By using Interconnect Studio, engineers can send their configuration to the TPLD, test it, adjust their design and reconfigure the device as many times as they wish before finally locking the configuration into the device’s non-volatile one-time memory. 

An abundance of application notes is provided on TI’s TPLD website. For example, consider a simple CANbus arbitration function, the schematic for which is shown below.

CANbus arbitration schematic (Source: TI)

This would typically require five discrete components, all of which can be replaced with a single TPLD, thereby resulting in a BOM reduced by 80% and an area reduction of 94% (these numbers apply only to this small portion of the design, of course, but still and all…).

In a crunchy nutshell, their ability to integrate multiple logic functions in a single chip—and their ability to go from concept to prototype in minutes—means that TI’s TPLDs are of interest for use across multiple markets, including automotive, industrial, and consumer applications. 

When combined with our TI’s intuitive InterConnect Studio, these TPLDs are easy to configure with zero coding experience required, while also giving users the ability to simulate and program their logic designs with the click of a button.

I only wish TI offered lead through-hole (LTH) versions of these components because I could use them in so many of my own breadboard-based projects (I could replace the 7404 and 7408 in the clock I showed above with one TPLD, for example).

So, what say you? What do you think about all of this? As always, I delight in casting my orbs over your captivating comments and insightful questions.