Concurrent Programming Vs. Sequential Programming Datasheet

Concurrent Programming through the JTAG Interface for MAX Devices

Concurrent Programming vs. Sequential Programming

In a high-volume printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing environment, time-to-market is critical for designers. For this reason, Altera offers designers and manufacturing engineers programming options that minimize production time and increase throughput. One of these options is concurrent programming, which is the simultaneous programming of multiple complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) that support in-system programmability (ISP). This product information bulletin compares concurrent programming to traditional CPLD programming (i.e., sequential programming), and discusses concurrent programming through the IEEE 1149.1 Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interface for Altera MAX9000 (including MAX9000A), MAX7000S, and MAX7000A devices.

Concurrent programming can decrease in-system programming time when programming a board with multiple ISP-capable CPLDs or with only a few CPLDs. The time required to program multiple ISP-capable CPLDs is slightly longer than the time required to program the largest device on a PCB. In contrast, sequential programming requires devices to be programmed one device at a time thus, the sequential programming time is equal to the sum of the individual programming times for each CPLD.

Table 1 compares concurrent programming and sequential programming times for a PCB with 18 devices. With sequential programming, an additional 65 seconds is needed to program the PCB compared to concurrent programming. In a high-volume manufacturing environment, where thousands of boards may need to be programmed and tested, concurrent programming can substantially reduce the time needed to bring a product to market.

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