Acromag's VPX-SLX series of 3U VPX FPGA boards enable high-speed processing of algorithms in embedded computing applications. The company claims that the boards employ a configurable, logic-optimised Spartan-6 FPGA with 150k logic cells to meet the demand for high performance in cost-sensitive applications. These boards have a high-throughput PCI Express interface and dual-ported memory for efficient data handling. Suitable for defense, aerospace, or scientific research, the boards are also suitable for signal intelligence, image processing, and hardware simulation.
The boards are optimised to transfer data between the FPGA and other system boards. A double fat pipe four-lane PCI Express interface ensures swift data throughput. Dual-ported SRAM enables high-speed DMA (direct memory access) transfers to and from the CPU and simultaneously writes data to memory.
All the models use the XC6SLX150 Spartan-6 FPGA chip with 147,433 logic cells and 180 DSP48A1 slices. There are 64 input and output or 32 LVDS lines connected to the FPGA through the rear P2 connector. A series of AXM extension modules are available to provide additional front-end 16bit A/D, differential RS-485, CMOS, or LVDS input and output processing channels through a mezzanine connector on the front of the card. FPGA code loads from the PCI Express bus or from on-board flash memory. A JTAG and Xilinx ChipScope Pro interface are also supported to simplify development tasks.
The standard model operates from 0 to 70°C in an air-cooled or forced convection system. The conduction-cooled version supports a range of -40 to 85°C. The 3U VPX cards support a number of VITA 65 slot profiles and conform to VPX VITA 46.0, 46.4 and 46.9 specifications.
The company's Engineering design kit provides utilities to help users develop custom programs, load VHDL (VHSIC hardware description language) into the FPGA, and 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 and writes, and change-of-state interrupts to the PCI bus. A joint test action group interface allows users to perform on-board VHDL simulation.
For convenient integration of the boards with embedded Windows applications, the company has developed a DLL driver software package for compatibility with Microsoft Visual C++, and Visual Basic. For real time and open source applications, the company offers C libraries for VxWorks, Linux, and other operating systems. The libraries provide generic routines to handle reads, writes, interrupts, and other functions. Demonstration programs enable the developer to exercise the input and output modules before attaching the routines to the application program.
