[Technology Report]
Spring "Board" To FPGA Design Success
FPGA developmnent boards run the gamut from simple evaluation cards to application-targeted models that let you explore options.
When one FPGA isn't enough, VME cards and CompactPCI cards can serve as development platforms, since they integrate multiple FPGAs (Fig. 3). For instance, multiple FPGAs populate the VMetro VPF1 card. It integrates dual PowerPC CPUs as well as two Virtex II Pro FPGAs. Designed to support the VXS backplane switch-fabric communications standard, the card can run DSP algorithms for radar, software-defined radios, and many other applications.
Nallatech's BenERA CompactPCI card employs a pair of Virtex-E FPGAs. The board supports four of the company's DIME-II expansion modules. Predesigned modules come with Virtex II, II Pro, and 4 FPGAs. Designers then can expand programmable-logic capacity by plugging in DIME-II modules.
Not to be outdone, the Dini Group just released its DN8000K10 ASIC prototyping engine. A single board supports up to 14 Virtex 4 LX family FPGAs and two Virtex 4 FX family FPGAs. The FPGAs are interconnected via source-synchronous LVDS that clocks at 350 MHz (700 Mbits/s). A fully configured board would provide designers with nearly 37 million total available gates (about 24 million ASIC gates assuming 60% utilization). The FPGAs include multi-gigabit transceivers in the RocketI/O data channels.
Among the multiple on-board user interfaces are USB and RS-232 ports. Four DDR2 small-outline dual-inline memory modules provide up to 8 Gbytes of external memory. Alternate pin-compatible memory modules with flash, synchronous SRAM, quad-datarate SRAMs, and other memory types also are available. The board can be ordered with two to 16 FPGAs preinstalled. Prices start at $22,000 for the two-FPGA card.
FPGA DEVELOPMENT BOARD VENDORS
Chip suppliers
Actel Corp. www.actel.com Altera Corp. www.altera.com Atmel Corp. www.atmel.com Lattice Semiconductor Corp. www.latticesemi.com QuickLogic Corp. www.quicklogic.com Xilinx Inc. www.xilinx.com
Third--party development boards*
Alearep B.V. www.alearep.com Avnet Inc. www.avnet.com Digilent Inc. www.digilentinc.com The Dini Group www.dinigroup.com GiDEL Ltd. www.gidel.com Nallatech Ltd. www.nallatech.com SBS Technologies www.sbs.com VMetro Inc. www.vmetro.com
*Companies mentioned in the article. For a full list of third-party vendors for each FPGA vendor's chips, go to each of the FPGA vendor Web sites and look for development board/development hardware listings.
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