3U VPX single-board computer based on Xilinx FPGAs for SIGINT and communications introduced by Acromag

April 17, 2011
WIXOM, Mich., 17 April 2011. Acromag in Wixom, Mich., is introducing the VPX-VLX series 3U VPX field-programmable gate array (FPGA) single-board computers with configurable Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA, as well as several high-speed memory buffers and a high-throughput PCI Express interface for signals intelligence, image processing, hardware simulation, and communications applications. I/O interfaces to the FPGA are through the rear P2 connector and via optional front mezzanine plug-in I/O modules. Three models help users choose among logic-optimized FPGAs. Cards are available with either Xilinx VLX85T, VLX110T, or VLX155T FPGA, and each board product is air- or conduction-cooled, and operate in temperatures from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius.
WIXOM, Mich., 17 April 2011. Acromag in Wixom, Mich., is introducing the VPX-VLX series 3U VPX field-programmable gate array (FPGA) single-board computers with configurable Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA, as well as several high-speed memory buffers and a high-throughput PCI Express interface for signals intelligence, image processing, hardware simulation, and communications applications.I/O interfaces to the FPGA are through the rear P2 connector and via optional front mezzanine plug-in I/O modules. Three models help users choose among logic-optimized FPGAs. Cards are available with either Xilinx VLX85T, VLX110T, or VLX155T FPGA with as many as 155,000 logic cells and 128 DSP48E slices. Each board product is air- or conduction-cooled, and operate in temperatures from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius.The embedded computing products have high-speed memory for data handling, dual-ported 1M-by-64-bit SRAM, and 32M-by-32-bit DDR2 SDRAM buffers. Software code loads from the PCI Express bus or from on-board flash memory. The board also has a double fat pipe 4-lane PCI Express interface.The rear P2 connector gives access to 64 I/O lines. AXM extension modules can provide more front-end A/D, RS-485, CMOS, or LVDS I/O channels through a mezzanine connector on the front of the board.

The Engineering Design Kit from Acromag provides utilities to help develop custom programs, load VHDL code into the FPGA, and to establish DMA transfers between the FPGA and the processor. DLL driver software is compatible with Microsoft Visual C++, and Visual Basic.

Acromag offers C libraries for VxWorks, Linux, and other operating systems. For more information contact Acromag online at www.acromag.com.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor

John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.

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