Acromag announces VPX-VLX series of 3U VPX FPGA boards

April 18, 2011 - Acromag’s VPX-VLX series of 3U VPX FPGA boards feature a configurable Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA enhanced with multiple high-speed memory buffers and a high-throughput PCIe interface. Field I/O interfaces to the FPGA via the rear P2 connector and/or with optional front mezzanine plug-in I/O modules. The result is a powerful and flexible signal processor card that is capable of rapidly executing custom instruction sets and algorithms. Typical uses include signal intelligence, image processing, hardware simulation, and communications. The boards start at $7100 with several options for FPGA logic capacity and conduction-cooled extended temperature operation. Three models provide a choice of logic-optimized FPGAs to match the performance requirements. Cards can be ordered with a Xilinx VLX85T, VLX110T, or VLX155T FPGA featuring up to 155,000 logic cells and 128 DSP48E slices. Each model is available in a format designed for use in air-cooled or conduction-cooled systems suitable for -40 to 85°C operation. Large, high-speed memory banks provide efficient data handling. Dual-ported 1M x 64-bit SRAM enables high-speed DMA transfers to/from the CPU while simultaneously writing data to memory. Generous 32M x 32-bit DDR2 SDRAM buffers give the FPGA fast access to I/O port data. FPGA code loads from the PCIe bus or from on-board flash memory. A double fat pipe 4-lane PCIe interface ensures very fast data throughput. 64 I/O lines are accessible through the rear (P2) connector. A series of AXM extension modules are available to provide additional front-end A/D, RS-485, CMOS, or LVDS I/O channels through a mezzanine connector on the front of the board. Acromag’s Engineering Design Kit provides utilities to help users develop custom programs, load VHDL into the FPGA and to establish DMA transfers between the FPGA and the CPU. The kit includes a compiled FPGA file and example VHDL code provided as selectable blocks with examples for the local bus interface, read/writes, and change-of-state interrupts to the PCI bus. A JTAG interface allows users to perform on-board VHDL simulation. Further analysis is supported with a ChipScope Pro interface. For easy integration of the boards with embedded Windows applications, Acromag developed a DLL driver software package for compatibility with Microsoft Visual C++, and Visual Basic. Sample files with “C” source demonstration programs provide easy-to-use tools to test operation of the module. For real time and open source applications, Acromag offers C libraries for VxWorks, Linux, and other operating systems. The libraries provide generic routines (source code included) to handle reads, writes, interrupts, and other functions. Demonstration programs enable the developer to quickly exercise the I/O modules before attaching the routines to the application program. This diagnostic tool can save hours of troubleshooting and debugging. The Linux example programs are a free download.  

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