PMC Uses Virtex 5 FPGA for Speedy I/O Processing

At one time FPGAs served merely as glue logic interfaces. Now they function as complete processing engines. Acromag’s PMC-VFX modules feature a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA with a hard core PowerPC block that is reconfigurable for high-performance I/O processing and user-developed computing applications. Now users can offload CPU-intensive operations such as video/3D data processing or floating-point math for superior system performance. For fast data transfer in and out of the FPGA, the PMC-VFX provides large banks of DDR2 DRAM and dual-port SRAM for high-speed DMA transfer to the PCI bus. The PMC base card provides 64 I/O channels or 32 LVDS lines 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 processing of video, 3D data, radar/sonar, software-defined radio, electronic warfare, floating-point math and fuzzy logic algorithms.

A high-throughput PCI-X interface ensures plenty of bandwidth to rapidly move data. An assortment of plug-in I/O extension modules offers great flexibility to interface various analog and digital I/O signal types. By streamlining the design and limiting the features to core functions needed for fast and easy implementation, Acromag makes FPGA-based computing accessible to many more applications. Boards start at $4,950 with extended temperature (-40° to 85°C) and conduction-cooled models available.

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

FPGAs Enable 24 Serial FPDP Channels

Using FPGAs in conjunction with the Serial FPDP (sFPDP) interconnect makes for a powerful combination. Such a solution has enormous benefits for radar, sonar, SIGINT, ELINT, digital signal processing, FFTs, communications, software radio, encryption, image processing, prototyping, text processing and other processing-intensive applications. Serving exactly that arena, Annapolis Micro Systems offers its FPGA-based WILDSTAR family that provides 24 sFPDP channels per VME slot. The Annapolis sFPDP Cards (UNI3 or UNI6) come with an easy-to-use Serial FPDP interface supporting up to 12 lanes of 2.5 Gbit Full Duplex data. Three frame types are supported: Normal Data Fiber Frame, Sync without Data Fiber Frame and Sync with Data Fiber Frame in Point-to-Point Mode. The card has three individually configurable, industry-standard 4X connectors, providing 4 lanes per connector, with dedicated signal conditioners to ensure clean communication. It supports up to 7.5 Gbytes/s full duplex per I/O card and a wide variety of readily available copper and fiber cables.

Up to two serial I/O cards and two LVDS I/O cards can reside on each WILDSTAR 4 or WILDSTAR 5 VME/VXS main board, with half that number for the PCIX or PCIe. The sFPDP card (UNI6) also supports Rocket I/O protocol at up to 75 Gbit full duplex per I/O card, three ports of 10G full duplex InfiniBand per I/O card or 10G full duplex Ethernet per I/O Card. No other FPGA board vendor can match the volume of data we can send straight into the heart of the processing elements and then straight back out again. WILDSTAR 4 for PCI boards starts at about $13,500 and UNI6 I/O Mezzanines start at about $4,500.

Annapolis Micro Systems Inc
Annapolis, MD.
(410) 841-2514.
[www.annapmicro.com].

Advanced MC Card Sports Altera Stratix IV GX FPGA

The AMC mezzanine form factor is destined to have a bright future in military applications, particularly when used as slot card modules in a MicroTCA system. BittWare’s S4-AMC (S4AM) uses the Altera Stratix IV GX FPGA to blend performance and flexibility. The S4AM can be populated with multiple densities of the Stratix IV GX FPGA, from 230K to 530K logic elements (LEs). At the heart of the S4AM is the state-of-the-art Altera Stratix IV GX FPGA which provides up to 530K equivalent LEs, 20 Mbits of RAM and 1,024 embedded multipliers in addition to up to 27 full-duplex, multi-gigabit transceivers. Twenty-four of those transceivers are capable of supporting PCI Express Rev 2.0 and Serial RapidIO Rev 2.0.

The S4AM connects the Stratix IV GX transceivers to three ports (1, 2 and 3) in the AMC commons options region, and 16 ports (4 to 15, 17 to 20) in the AMC fat pipes region. These 19 ports provide a network data and control switch fabric interface on the AMC connector. Additionally, four of the Stratix IV GX transceivers are made available on the AMC front panel via an Infiniband-type connector. All AMC clocks are also connected to the Stratix IV GX FPGA to facilitate system synchronization. Supporting processing and I/O expansion, the S4AM provides a Front-panel Module (FM), which is connected to the Stratix IV GX FPGA via eight SerDes and 68 pairs of LVDS I/O. This VITA57-like proprietary module site can be populated with FMs provided by BittWare or with modules developed by third parties or customers. The board is priced at $5,000.

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

FPGA Card and SBC Form 3U VPX Solution

FPGA processing solutions work best in conjunction with an efficient general-purpose SBC. With that in mind, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing has announced a multi-card 3U VPX solution for rugged deployed embedded FPGA processing applications. With the interoperability of its 3U VPX FPE320 FPGA processor card, 3U VPX VPX3-450 FPGA processor and 3U VPX VPX3-127 SBC running Wind River’s VxWorks, Curtiss-Wright Controls delivers an unmatched level of flexibility for addressing high-performance 3U VPX systems applications. Using this solution, system integrators can now utilize the largest Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGAs currently available in a small form factor embedded system powered with a high-performance Power Architecture general-purpose processor. The FPE320 supports Virtex-5 LXT, SXT, or FXT devices. With its onboard FMC expansion site the FPE320 supports optimized FPGA I/O. The VPX3-450 FPGA processor combines the computing power of a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA with the high-performance floating-point capabilities of the Freescale 8640D dual-core Power Architecture processor.

The VPX3-127 features a Freescale MPD8640D processor and can be expanded via its onboard PMC/XMC expansion site. The VPX3-127 uses PCI Express to connect to the FPE320 and/or to the VPX cards. All three boards are available in a combined development chassis that includes FPE320 and/or VPX3-450 cards and a VPX3-127 card. The FPE320, VPX3-450 and VPX3-127 are available in both commercial and rugged versions. Pricing for the FPE320 starts at $19.950. Pricing for the VPX3-450 starts at $12,500. Pricing for the VPX3-127 starts at $6,744.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing
Leesburg, VA.
(703) 779-7800.
[www.cwcembedded.com].

ADC PMC Module Boasts FPGA Engine

As signal processing becomes increasingly mission-critical, it is becoming vital to process as much raw incoming data as possible at the front end, close to the receiving antenna, freeing the back-end processor to perform high-speed interpretation of the data. GE Fanuc’s ICS-1556B does just that with its four 14-bit ADCs sampling synchronously at frequencies up to 400 MHz, and a fast (64-bit/133 MHz) PCI-X interface. The powerful signal processing capability provided by the FPGA allows the user to perform standard functions such as wideband DDC (digital down conversion), FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and time stamping—or to implement any required functionality. A Hardware Development Kit (HDK) provides support for users who wish to implement their own signal processing algorithms in the FPGA. Alternatively, GE Fanuc’s FPGA applications programming team can develop FPGA cores specific to customer needs.

The board is designed for demanding communication applications such as software defined radio, signals intelligence (SIGINT), digital receivers and tactical communications where the requirement is to convert analog data into digital information in as close to real time as possible. The ICS-1556B features a very high sampling rate (400 MHz) and very high resolution (14-bit): its combination of high sample rate and high resolution is unsurpassed in the industry. The ICS-1556B can be used with any type of carrier card that accepts a PMC module, including VME, VPX, PCI and CompactPCI.

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms
Charlottesville, VA.
(800) 368-2738.
[www.gefanucembedded.com].

FPGA Enables Flexible 3U cPCI Solution

For military systems in particular there’s always a formidable challenge when it comes to balancing I/O functionality with high integration. Addressing that issue, MEN Micro introduced a new I/O concept on 3U CompactPCI. The interfaces of the F215 can be configured as desired—allowing the user nearly unlimited application possibilities for this card. The physical layer can be realized individually for each channel by means of SA-Adapters. SA-Adapters are small universal boards that provide the line drivers for I/O functions. This concept allows the ability to add additional I/O interfaces to the F215, which enhances flexibility when combining all kinds of interfaces and with regard to different isolation requirements.

Two SA-Adapters can be mounted directly on the F215, and are connected using a 9-pin D-Sub connector each. If you want to use further adapters, up to a maximum of six, you need more front-panel space. These adapters are connected to the carrier via ribbon cable. The F215 comes in a standard configuration with five predefined functions on an 8 HP front panel: two CAN interfaces, two UARTs and one 8-channel binary I/O interface. All of the board’s I/O functions are realized by means of an FPGA, making it a very flexible, inexpensive solution for serial I/O. The F215 was designed for use in rugged environments. All of its components are specified for an operating temperature of -40° to +85°C. In addition, they are soldered on to meet the high demands of shock and vibration.

MEN Micro
Ambler, PA.
(215) 542-9575.
[www.menmicro.com].

XMC Digital Receivers Employ FPGA Technology

FPGAs are providing a vital function in today’s signal processing-based military systems. FPGA processing lets systems convert incoming analog signals quickly into a digital format, and do critical preprocessing of the data before sending it along. Feeding such needs, Mercury Computer Systems provides a series of high-performance, Virtex-5-based digital receivers. The Echotek Series DCM-V5-XMC digital receiver features the latest in A/D and D/A technology, allowing for high-speed/high-resolution data conversion while still preserving the quality of the original signal. It implements either a Virtex-5 SX95T or LX155T FPGA, which can be programmed by the end user for customer-specific application features.

Each Virtex-5 FPGA is accompanied by both DDR-II-SDRAM and QDR-II-SRAM memory chips; the memory is available for buffering input data streams and for supporting computationally intense applications. This set of flexible resources delivers unique capabilities, such as multi-board coherency, making the new product especially well suited for beamforming and direction-finding, as required by many radar, signals intelligence, electronics intelligence and communications applications.

Mercury Computer Systems
Chelmsford, MA.
(978) 256-0052.
[www.mc.com].

FPGA Computing Platform Leverages PCI Express

PCI Express was a latecomer to the switched fabric wars, but its adoption into the embedded arena now ranks as wider than all its rivals. Riding that wave, the BenONE PCIe from Nallatech includes PCI Express capability and incorporates Xilinx Virtex-5 technology to provide users with a low-cost FPGA carrier card featuring an onboard Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA, high-bandwidth 8-lane PCI Express host interface. The onboard DIME-II expansion module slot supports a wide range of high-performance analog and digital I/O interfaces, memory types and Xilinx User FPGAs.

The BenONE PCIe allows developers to take advantage of the PCI Express bus standard providing higher performance, increased flexibility and scalability as well as providing a seamless migration path for next-generation FPGA systems. With the FPGA industry’s first built-in PCI Express Endpoint, Virtex-5 FPGAs give designers an off-the-shelf solution that saves time, reduces power consumption and frees up valuable FPGA fabric resources. The host interface is a x8 PCI Express connector for a theoretical maximum performance of 2 Gbytes/s full duplex. Software support includes the Nallatech FUSE API for Windows and Linux. FUSE also includes an application and development API for C/C++.

Nallatech
Eldersburg, MD.
(410) 552-3352.
[www.nallatech.com].

FPGA Cards Provide Reconfigurable I/O

One way that today’s military system designers are exploiting FPGAs is by using them to create reconfigurable I/O systems for data acquisition. Serving exactly such needs, National Instruments offers a family of single-board reconfigurable I/O devices that offer engineers and scientists a low-cost, integrated hardware option for deploying embedded control and data acquisition applications. The eight new sbRIO-96xx devices combine an embedded real-time processor, reconfigurable FPGA and analog and digital I/O on a single printed circuit board (PCB), making them ideal for applications that require flexibility, high performance and reliability in a small form factor. Engineers and scientists can use the NI LabVIEW graphical system design platform to customize NI Single-Board RIO hardware as well as develop all aspects of their embedded systems for increased productivity and shorter time-to-market.

NI Single-Board RIO devices feature an industrial 266 MHz or 400 MHz Freescale MPC5200 processor built on Power Architecture technology, the Wind River VxWorks real-time operating system (RTOS) and Xilinx Spartan-3 FPGA. The onboard analog and digital I/O connects directly to the FPGA to provide low-level customization of timing and I/O signal processing. The devices offer an operating temperature of -20° to 55°C for use in thermally rugged applications as well as an integrated 19 to 30 VDC power supply input and real-time clock with battery backup for increased reliability.

National Instruments
Austin, TX.
(888) 280-7645.
[www.ni.com].

Dual FPGA PMC Targets SDR and Radar

Wideband data converters and multichannel synchronization are high priorities in military radios and new wideband radar applications. Feeding those needs, the Model 7156 Dual Channel Transceiver is Pentek’s latest PMC module, comprising two 400 MHz A/D converters with 14-bit resolution and two 800 MHz D/A converters with 16-bit resolution. Both data converters on the 7156 use new Texas Instrument monolithic devices, the ADS5474 and the DAC5688, respectively.

This PMC features a built-in clock synthesizer that accepts an external 5 or 10 MHz reference and synthesizes two phase-locked, low-jitter clocks delivered separately to the A/D and D/A converters. A front panel digital connector synchronizes multiple 7156s to support beamforming, diversity combining and phased array applications. The TI DAC5688 provides an interpolation filter and a digital upconverter to translate a complex baseband digital signal to an IF frequency up to 300 MHz and then deliver it through the D/A converter as an analog IF output. The dual FPGA architecture of the 7156 offers tremendous processing power with the flexibility to handle custom DSP algorithms in the signal processing FPGA and custom I/O functions in the interface FPGA. The price for the Model 7156 with the Windows operating system begins at $11,500.

Pentek
Upper Saddle River, NJ.
(201) 818-5900.
[www.pentek.com].

VXS Card Offers 1.3 TeraMAC/s Signal Processing

Multichannel applications such as beamforming, Radar, SIGINT, COMINT and wireless communications have a seemingly endless appetite for high-speed data conversion. With that in mind, TEK Microsystems has released its QuiXilica Atlas-V5 VXS product. The new Atlas-V5 provides eight channels of 12-bit 1 Gsps (Gigasamples per second) analog inputs streaming up to 12 Gbytes/s into three Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGAs in a single 6U VME/VXS slot. The Atlas-V5 is the first product to support 1 Gsps ADC devices with 12 bits of resolution.

Atlas-V5 uses eight 12-bit ADC digitizer channels each performing at up to 1.0 Gsps combined with three Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGAs. Each channel has an input bandwidth of 1.5 GHz, supporting operation up to the third Nyquist band, and uses a single ADC without interleaving. The front-end FPGAs, typically SX95T devices, each accept four channels of input data for initial processing. The outputs of the front-end FPGAs are then combined in the back-end FPGA for additional processing and output via the VXS backplane or front panel QSFP fiber optic links at aggregate rates up to 3.75 Gbytes/s. Like all of the QuiXilica-V5 products, the Atlas-V5 is available for a wide range of operating environments, including rugged air- and conduction-cooled for deployed applications.

TEK Microsystems
Chelmsford, MA.
(978) 244-9200.
[www.tekmicro.com].