cPCI board offers heavyweight signal processing

The SignalMasterQuad is a new Lyrtech CompactPCI signal processing board, now being sold in the UK by Kane Computing (KCL).

The SignalMasterQuad is a new Lyrtech CompactPCI signal processing board, now being sold in the UK by Kane Computing (KCL).

This new member of the SignalMaster family consists of two clusters, each containing two TMS320C6416 or TMS320C6713 DSPs and a Virtex-II FPGA.

Each cluster can deliver up to 16,000MIPS of DSP processing power and up to 8 million gates, giving a total of 32,000MIPS of DSP power and 16 million gates.

Features of the SignalMasterQuad include Compact PCI (cPCI) 6U form factor, four Texas Instruments' C6416 or C6713 DSPs, two Xilinx Virtex-II series FPGAs, up to XC2V8000, multiple I/O interfaces, two LYRIO and LVDS ports, PCIbus extension connector and JTAG.

Hardware drivers are integrated in Simulink/Xilinx system generator blocksets for quick implementation together with DSP and FPGA-in-the-loop, cosimulation of Simulink/Xilinx system generator models.

Leading edge communication interface allows real-time data monitoring from Simulink scopes and remote operations.

Combined with its software tools, the solution allows quick and easy system-level design and implementation of signal processing applications relying on mixed FPGA/DSP-based hardware architectures.

Building on Simulink, Real-Time Workshop and Embedded target from The MathWorks, along with the System Generator for DSP tool from Xilinx, the overall solutions allow users to quickly develop a functional prototype of their application, before enabling hassle-free and efficient paths to optimising the code and final hardware.

This proven design flow dramatically reduces the learning curve, cost of ownership and development risk for companies implementing these designs.

The SignalMasterQuad is supported with a range of I/O boards including digital audio modules, analogue audio modules, NTSC/Pal video modules, digital I/O and high speed analogue modules including the new ADACMaster II that offers dual 105Msample/s ADCs and dual 120Msample/s DACs or the VHS-ADC or VHS-DAC with eight ADCs or eight DACs, respectively.

These boards make the SignalMasterQuad the ideal choice for applications such as software defined radio (SDR), 3G/4G advanced wireless prototyping, digital radio and GPS receivers and phased array antenna development.

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