Sundance Sets Benchmark for DSP-FPGA Field Upgradability

“With their highly integrated modular platforms, Sundance has demonstrated from the outset a strong commitment to product integrity and compatibility”, said Pierre Popovic, chief executive officer of Codesign Technologies Inc. “In selecting a hardware platform vendor for our image compression and image processing algorithms IP’s we also had to consider implementation tools. Sundance has scored high points on all counts with their SMT351 product line.”

Designed to be integrated into a wide range of modular systems the SMT351T features the Virtex-5 SX95T device that includes 640 Xilinx XtremeDSP slices capable of delivering up to 352 GMACs of DSP performance. The FPGA has direct access to 2GBytes of DDR2 RAM and a configuration PROM enables the module to be used stand-alone. FPGA configuration can be made from a connected DSP module. It is supported by an array of connectors and interfaces including four RSL (Rocket to Serial Link) connectors for data transfer rates of up to 2.5GB/s, LVDS connections for high speed parallel connections, LVTTL and 3 x 20-way SLB connectors.

“The Virtex-5 SX95T device gives developers a high-performance FPGA optimized to deliver significant levels of DSP performance and system integration capabilities,” said Tim Erjavec, director of embedded and DSP marketing at Xilinx. “Because the Sundance solution is compatible with previous Virtex generations, customers can easily migrate their designs to the latest FPGA devices from Xilinx.”

Mounted onto a carrier card, the SMT351T is ideal for applications such as Software Defined Radio (SDR), MIMO and very complex video and signal processing. It is available immediately from Sundance and provides maximum flexibility and field upgradability to a range of FPGA and DSP systems.

Commenting on the strategy of forward and backwards compatibility Flemming Christensen, managing director of Sundance Multiprocessor Technology Ltd said, “In the early 90s we pioneered the use of FPGAs in a multiprocessor, heterogeneous environment and succession planning was a corner stone of our design philosophy. Today this approach is paying dividends for partners and customers who not only benefit from an assured migration path to new technology, but also an IP environment that is rich in legacy and new IP.”