4DSP Introduces Xilinx SDAccel Support and UltraScale FPGA Performance for Its Compact Embedded System

4DSP introduces two new additions to their Compact Embedded System (CES) line. The CES820 and the ruggedised CESCC820 variant both feature an upgraded Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA and support for the new SDAccel development environment. These standalone, small form factor systems are complete and generic processing platforms for data acquisition, signal processing, and communication. The powerful UltraScale FPGA provides a flexible processing backbone for interfacing to the FMC site, CPU, and external DDR3 SDRAM, with plenty of room left over for high-performance digital signal processing.

“Our continuing focus on building complimentary products for our industry-leading FMC line has been validated yet again with the successful introduction of the CES820,” said Richard Gary, 4DSP Sales Manager. “From our discussions with key customers, we know that these products have received tremendous interest. They offer high-end data acquisition and processing in small, ruggedised form factors, making them ideal for an incredible number of applications in both the lab and the field.”

The CES820 enclosure measures about five inches per side and weighs less than 1 Kg. Designed with Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) in mind, this system provides a quad-core, low-power Atom CPU that is tightly coupled to the UltraScale FPGA and FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC – VITA 57.1). The CES820 is ideal for development and prototyping purposes. It can serve as a customisable standalone lab computer and instrument or as a deployed embedded solution. The ruggedised CESCC820 version features a slightly larger, more robust, and vibration-resistant chassis which offers conduction cooling and space for additional FMC modules. It optionally offers a dual 10Gb Ethernet port for high-bandwidth applications in the military and aerospace markets. These characteristics give the CESCC820 I/O versatility and flexible functionality while enabling the system to be deployed in a wider range of demanding environments.

The CES820 and CESCC820 systems are the first 4DSP products to support the revolutionary Xilinx SDAccel development environment, opening up new algorithm acceleration possibilities for low-power digital signal processing applications. “With SDAccel, Xilinx has introduced the first architecturally optimising compiler for OpenCL, C, and C++, enabling software engineers to dynamically program the functionality they need inside of the FPGA,” said Yousef Khalilollahi, Senior Director, Aerospace and Defence, Xilinx. “Combined with SDAccel, the 4DSP CES820 and CESCC820 deliver high-level programmability for anti-jamming, compression, encryption, high-performance signal processing in communication signal analysis, and other advanced Aerospace & Defence applications.”

FMCs for the CES820 and CESCC820 can be selected from 4DSP’s extensive and diverse portfolio or from a third-party vendor. The 4DSP Board Support Package (BSP) and StellarIP firmware tool and library are included with these systems, allowing designers to jump into development with modular reference designs that exercise the systems’ capabilities and provide high-level interfaces and driver support.

Features

System IO

• HDMI
• USB
• eSATA (not available for ruggedised system)
• 1Gb Ethernet
• 2x 10Gb Ethernet (optional)
• FMC HPC site
• JTAG
• PCIe communication between processor and FPGA

Processor – System Controller

• Intel Atom Quad Core 1.91 GHz Processor
• 2GB DDR3 SDRAM
• 64GB SSD (2x 64GB SSD option available for ruggedised system)
• Windows and Linux support

FPGA

• Kintex UltraScale XCKU040
• 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
• SDAccel support

Power

• DC16V – 30V

Dimensions and Weight

• CES820
  • 132 x 75 x 125 mm (WxHxD)
  • 0.86 Kg
• CESCC820
  • Enclosure base – 148 x 163 mm (WxD)
  • Enclosure body – 121 x 163 mm (WxD)
  • Height – 100 mm
  • Weight – 3.0 Kg

Applications

• Beamforming
• Direction finding
• Software defined radio (SDR)
• Satellite communications systems
• RADAR/SONAR Image Processor
• RADAR & Radio Jamming
• JPEG2000 Video Image Processors
• Baseband Communications Transceivers
• Multi-channel digital receivers
• Up to 64M-point floating-point FFT processing
• Event Processor & Recorder

For more information – [email protected]