PMC Modules Interface I/O to Virtex-5 FPGAs

Performance in mission-critical applications is never purely a measure of computing power. Unless data can be brought off and onto the CPU at a reasonable rate, the added compute muscle is useless. Acromag offers a set of new PMC-VSX modules featuring a DSP-optimized Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA that is reconfigurable for high-performance I/O processing and user-developed algorithmic computation. For fast data transfer in and out of the FPGA, the PMC-VSX from Acromag provides large banks of DDR2 DRAM and dual-port SRAM for high-speed DMA transfer to the PCI bus. A PCI-X interface ensures plenty of bandwidth to rapidly move data. An assortment of plug-in I/O extension modules offers flexibility to interface various analog and digital I/O signal types.

The PMC base card provides 64 LVDS I/O channels accessible via P4 rear connectors. Inserting optional front-connecting AXM I/O extension modules augments I/O processing capabilities with an efficient interface for 16-bit 105 MHz A/D conversion, CMOS digital I/O, RS-485 differential signals, or extra LVDS I/O lines. Typical uses include video, imaging, radar/sonar, electronic warfare, signal intelligence and communication processing.

This PMC module employs Xilinx’s VSX95T Virtex-5 FPGA with 95,000 logic cells and 640 dedicated 18 x 25 DSP48E slices. The DSP48E slice simplifies implementation of high-performance filters and complex math functions. These performance-tuned DSP engines perform up to 352 GMACs at 550 MHz for execution of the most compute-intensive algorithms. Boards start at $6,750 with extended temperature (-40° to 85°C) and conduction-cooled models available.

Acromag
Wixom, MI.
(248) 295-0310.
[www.acromag.com].

AMC Processing Module Features Four TigerSHARC DSPs

Compute-density remains a major watchword in today’s military system designs. Feeding such needs is BittWare’s B2-AMC, a Serial RapidIO (SRIO) endpoint solution based on Altera’s Serial RapidIO IP Megacore targeting a high-performance Stratix II FPGA. Combining the logic density of Altera’s Stratix II FPGAs with the performance of Analog Devices TigerSHARC, and the benefits of AdvancedMC and SRIO, the B2-AMC supports universal baseband processing for any wireless application including Software Defined Radio. The card features a 4x fat pipe running at 3.125 GHz, which can be shared via ATLANTiS amongst the four TigerSHARCs and/or FPGA processing blocks. Eight bi-directional TigerSHARC link ports, running at 4 Gbits/s each, are connected to ATLANTiS providing a tremendous amount of I/O bandwidth and a highly efficient means of dealing with the I/O.

A full-height, single-wide AMC, the B2-AMC, is suitable for use in AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA, or custom systems and is completely hot-swappable. The B2-AMC provides 14.4 GFLOPS and 57.5 GOPS of processing power. The Stratix II FPGA implements BittWare’s ATLANTiS framework and the fat pipe interface, seamlessly integrating the DSP processing power with Serial RapidIO, or any other switch fabric (PCI Express, GigE, or XAUI (10 GigE)). Pricing with OEM quantities starts at $4,995.

BittWare
Concord, NH.
(603) 226-0404.
[www.bittware.com].

AMC Processor Provides 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 CPU

The Processor AMC form factor—particularly combined with MicroTCA—has begun capturing some of the military market’s mindshare. Serving those needs, Concurrent Technologies provides its AM 110/10x, an AMC that supports either the 2.16 GHz or 1.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor to provide high-performance processing, and the Intel 3100 chipset to support up to 8 Gbytes of DDR2 ECC SDRAM. The AM 110/10x is designed for use in a variety of applications including projects within the defense, security and industrial markets. For embedded types of applications there is an option for an onboard application flash disk (up to 8 Gbytes). Accordingly, the AM 110/10x supports a variety of industry standard operating systems.

To enhance overall memory and I/O performance, the AM 110/10x utilizes the Intel 3100 chipset, which combines server-class memory and I/O controller functions into a single component. The Intel 3100 chipset interfaces to up to 8 Gbytes DDR2-400 ECC memory, via two registered SODIMMs, with a peak memory bandwidth of 3.2 Gbytes/s. The AM 110/10x is designed in compliance to AMC.0 (including full hot swap and IPMI capabilities), AMC.1 Type 8 (PCI Express x8), AMC.2 Type E2 (2x Gbit Ethernet) and AMC.3 Type S2 (4x Serial ATA150 ports). The module also features two USB 2.0 ports and an RS-232 port. There is a further Gbit Ethernet port, USB 2.0 port and RS-232 port accessible via the front panel. An optional onboard USB flash disk is available in a range of capacities up to 8 Gbytes.

Concurrent Technologies
Woburn, MA.
(781) 933 5900.
[www.gocct.com].

XMC Blends Virtex-5 SXT FPGA and RapidIO