CDC Partner Profile: Parsec (Pty) Ltd.
Contact Information
Please contact Parsec (Pty) Ltd. at:
Parsec
Tel: +27 (12) 678 9740
Fax: +27 (12) 678 9741
Email: info@parsec.co.za
URL: www.parsec.co.za
Parsec's street address is:
Buildings 9 & 10
Manhattan Office Park
16 Pieter Street
Highveld Technopark
Centurion, 0157
South Africa
Parsec's postal address is:
P.O. Box 67499
Highveld, 0169
South Africa
Overview
Founded in 1993, Parsec is a world-class member of the outsourced development and manufacturing market. Parsec develops and produces customized electronic sub-systems for clients in the defense/aerospace, telecommunications, and industrial market sectors.
Parsec is located in a custom designed facility located in Highveld Technopark, south of Pretoria, where it offers start to-finish solutions, namely development and production services.
Parsec's primary objective is to enhance the competitiveness of its clients, which include research institutes, OEMs, product development houses, and system integrators.
How does Parsec enhance the competitiveness of its clients?
- Parsec focuses on niche services such as outsourced custom high-tech design, turnkey production, functional testing, and subsystem and mechanical integration through to the complete packaged product.
- Board design is a key competency and includes high-speed digital design and analog and mixed signal integration. Designs are optimized to maximize signal integrity and minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI).
- Another critical specialty for Parsec is the design of FPGAs using VHDL with some designs exceeding three million gates. It is generally accepted that Parsec is a leader in the programmable logic environment and as such has presented training courses to over 400 local engineers. Parsec is a partner to numerous entities that require high-tech programmable logic designs.
- Parsec develops its own range of leading-edge, configurable CompactPCI and PMC modules that include:
- StarFabric-based cPCI PMC carrier modules
- PMC FPGA processing modules
- Dual-channel, 14-bit ADC, and DAC PMC modules
These products include the following features that are suitable for radar signal processing, signal intelligence, and software defined radio (military/commercial):
- High dynamic range and digitization resolution for enhanced target detection and identification capabilities
- Wideband receiver technology for reception of very short pulses
- User programmable FPGA resources for specialized digital signal processing (DSP) functionality
- High-bandwidth digital interfacing to host processing systems and data storage
- Programmable digital filtering and digital up/downconversion
Parsec also has experience in custom designs in the following application areas:
- Video/Image processing systems
- Energy management systems
- Environmental monitoring
- LonWorks systems
- Digital line card development
- Data communications
- High-speed communication protocols
The production facility is equipped to meet the assembly and production requirements of Parsec's partnered clients in the high-tech and high-volume sectors. Parsec works closely with these partners to ensure its facility is able accommodate "intelligent production" needs, that is, production based on Parsec's strong in-house engineering capabilities.
This in turn enhances the competitiveness of Parsec's clients, especially when Parsec provides start-to-finish solutions across the product development life cycle. Development and production are not split, but become one continuum of activities. Management time in the areas of specification, control, and subcontract management is saved and the risk of communication breakdown is lowered.
Parsec has been the recipient of several awards over the years, including the State President's Technology Top 100 Award for the most outstanding small or medium enterprise in 2001, as well as an award for technology excellence in the information and communications technology sector.
As part of its program of quality management, Parsec achieved ISO 9001 2000 accreditation in 2002.
Parsec's overall strategy is to realize business growth by increasing local market share, and by expanding into international markets by partnering with established suppliers who will benefit from the added value Parsec is able to offer. Parsec has a proven track record of working with customers in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.
Parsec created a special work environment for its employees and has improved its capability for the benefit of its clients. Parsec is encouraged by the success of its collaboration and partnering strategy and looks forward to continued growth.
Locations and Expertise
| Table 1. Locations and Expertise |
| Locations |
Description |
| South Africa |
Design |
| South Africa, France |
Sales |
| Technology Expertise |
Description |
| DSP |
- MATLAB algorithm modeling
- DSP algorithm implementation in FPGAs with VHDL, intellectual property (IP), and DSP Builder
- Highly experienced in digital downconversion, finite impulse response (FIR), fast Fourier transfer (FFT), and radar signal processing
|
| Video and Image Processing |
- Analog design and digital video processing in FPGAs
- Symbology overlay onto PAL/NTSC video
- FPGA-based image processing on digital video
|
| Other Technology Experience |
- Processors and peripherals
- High-speed interfaces
- Buses and interfaces
- Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet
|
| Services |
Description |
| Hardware Design |
- Hardware design of complex boards with mixed signal analog, video, and digital logic
- Typical boards include an FPGA, analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and external memory
- Where required, an external processor is also present (e.g., ARM®, TI C6X, or TigerSHARC)
|
| Software Design |
- Implementation of drivers for custom, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or PC-based hardware
- Applications on embedded processors (external or Nios® II embedded processor)
- C++ or MATLAB-based GUI software on the PC to interface with the custom or COTS hardware via PCI, Ethernet, or USB
|
| Other Services |
Printed circuit board layout (PCB) layout, signal integrity, and low-volume manufacturing |
| Market Expertise |
Description |
| Industrial |
Asset management, gas sensors and monitors, and power metering |
| Military |
- COTS EW jamming system
- Missile radar digitizers with high-speed ADC/DAC and FPGA digital downconversion
- Helmet tracking and display systems (i.e., IR camera, 1/2 ATR rack with VME-based communications, and graphics processing board)
- Custom graphics processing boards with an FPGA and external processor (TI C64X or TigerSHARC)
|
| Test & Measurement |
- COTS railway measurement system
- PXI custom production test equipment for military and industrial projects
- CPCI custom measurement system for mobile phone voice quality measurements
|
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