National Semiconductor introduced WEBENCH FPGA Power Architect, a design tool to model and optimize power supplies for FPGAs. It incorporates the detailed supply requirements of more than 130 of the newest FPGA devices from Altera and Xilinx. To begin a design, the designer selects an advanced FPGA from Altera or Xilinx and the tool automatically populates the unique power requirements, identifying core and I/O options for every potential load of that array.

Once tuned by the designer, WEBENCH collects all the loads and creates multiple power supply architectures as options for driving the FPGA and the total system. The power supply may involve one or more intermediate voltage rails between the input supply and the point-of-load regulators. The designer can tune the recommended power supply with the turn of a dial, reducing size, increasing efficiency or lowering complete system cost in seconds.

The designer can also order components for prototyping, share the complete system with others, or print a complete project report including schematics, bill of materials (BOM) and performance characteristics.