VPX Card Supplies FPGA Computing In A Small, Rugged Form Factor

Xilinx FPGAs provide the processing power in the VPX3-450 3U VPX compute engine. The compact, rugged VPX3-450 is designed for demanding signal- and image-processing applications including radar, sonar, and signal intelligence. It combines the flexibility of a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA and the high performance general processing of a Freescale 8640 Power Architecture processor with VPX’s support for high bandwidth serial switched fabrics such as PCI Express and Serial RapidIO (SRIO). The computing power of the Virtex-5 FPGA is complemented by a balanced mix of memory and I/O. One bank of DDR2 SDRAM and two banks of QDR-II+ SRAM are attached directly to the FPGA. Its small 3U form factor makes the VPX3-450 ideal for space, weight, and power (SWaP) constrained applications, such as those found in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and land vehicles. The VPX3-450 is designed to operate in rugged environments and is available in air- and conduction-cooled formats. Software driver and IP development support comes in the form of the Continuum FXtools developer’s kit. Pricing for the VPX3-450 starts at $12,850. Availability is the first quarter of 2009. CURTISS-WRIGHT CONTROLS EMBEDDED COMPUTING, Leesburg, VA. (613) 254-5112.