Subsystems match Virtex-4 family performance

Nallatech has introduced four products in its COTS FPGA computing range, combining the processing and I/O performance of Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGAs with enhancements to its DIME-II architecture.

Nallatech has introduced four products in its COTS FPGA computing range, combining the processing and I/O performance of Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGAs with enhancements to its DIME-II architecture, including host interface improvements and enhanced clocking.

Part of Nallatech's strategic product road map, these products extend performance density for customers demanding the full capabilities of Virtex-4 in high performance embedded computing (HPEC) applications, including surveillance and reconnaissance, software defined radio and signal intelligence.

Nallatech's announcement includes the BenNUEY-PCI-X, a PCI-X DIME-II motherboard with on-board Virtex-4 FX FPGA and three DIME-II expansion sites.

Three FPGA computing modules complete the new product set - the BenBLUE-V4 dual-FPGA processing engine, BenDATA-V4 mixed memory and digital I/O module, and BenADC-V4 ultra-high-speed analogue capture module.

Nallatech's modules provide the option of Virtex-4 LX FPGAs with high performance logic capability, or the Virtex-4 SX family optimised for DSP performance.

This allows developers to optimise FPGA hardware resources to meet their precise requirements across a diverse number of applications, ranging from radar to bioinformatics.

By identifying the full capabilities of Virtex-4 at the design stage, Nallatech has been able to ensure its customers can easily access all the features and performance of the FPGA architecture.

Fully integrated hardware and software support for all platforms of the Virtex-4 family enhance performance in the end application and ease of design for customers.

Nallatech's roadmap for its Virtex-4 products includes support for industry standard form factors, including cPCI, VME, PCI and PCI-104 - delivering up to 8 Virtex-4 FPGAs on a single COTS FPGA computing platform.

The BenNUEY-PCI-X is the third generation of the BenNUEY series of PCI cards and the first to offer the 1Gbyte/s host bandwidth of the PCI-X bus.

An on-board Virtex-4 FX60 or FX100 provides the ideal balance of programmable resources for processing and system management, while three DIME-II expansion slots allow users to optimise system resources to meet processing, memory and I/O requirements.

The BenBLUE-V4 features dual Virtex-4 LX100 or LX160 FPGAs, 64 Mbyte DDR2 SRAM, implemented on an enhanced DIME-II architecture.

The BenDATA-V4 features a Virtex-4 LX or SX alongside 16 Mbytes DDR2 SRAM and 1 Gbyte DDR-II SDRAM.

By using the latest DDR2 SRAM and DDR-II SDRAM, Nallatech's memory sub-systems increase bandwidth by more than 275% compared with previous modules using technologies such as ZBT SRAM.

This allows system designers to satisfy higher processing demands, use fewer processing modules, reduce hardware dimensions and simplify integration.

The BenADC-V4 ultra-high-speed analogue capture module combines the Virtex-4 SX or LX and 16 Mbytes DDR2 SRAM with four independent analogue inputs feeding four 12bit 250 MSPS ADC channels.

This will allow developers to capture, digitise, analyse and manipulate multi-channel or complex signals in real time, using lightweight, low-footprint hardware with lower overall power requirements than DSP farms or other large multi-processor arrays.

"The Virtex-4 architecture has tremendous I/O and processing capability, and will outstrip peripherals that cannot satisfy its appetite for data", said Craig Sanderson, Product Manager at Nallatech.

"We therefore focused on creating peripheral subsystems to match the performance of the Virtex-4 family, in addition to maximising parameters such as memory bandwidth, thereby delivering the highest returns for customers investing in Virtex-4 platforms".

These new Virtex-4 solutions enable developers to use the full potential of the Xilinx Virtex-4 architecture, and represent a significant milestone in Nallatech's aggressive product road map which combines best in class enhancements to the DIME-II architecture with the latest industry standards including PCI-X, and extended hardware and software support.

Nallatech is focusing on introducing DIME-II Virtex-4 family members in line with this road map, to support developers utilising its products in all industry standard form factors.

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