One of Millogic’s first obsolescence module-level projects was a PCI video processing board that had utilized a PCI controller chip that was being discontinued. The original board was being used in an FDA approved system, so demonstrating module-level equivalence was critical to the customer. In addition to the PCI controller, some of the analog components were also in end-of-life status, and some discrete FIFO devices were also likely to be discontinued shortly.
Building on Millogic’s existing PCI core, full software compatibility with the original PCI controller based part was achieved. Analog behavior was replicated, so that the new module satisfied the requirements of a field-swappable equivalent component.
In addition to solving the component availability issues, the new module had significantly reduced component count and lower manufacturing costs.