Macnica introduces SOM-based development kit

Tailored specifically for Altera Agilex 5E FPGA developers, the foundation of the Sulfur Kit includes a production-ready System on Module (SOM) with a high density of programmable logic for customised application development, alongside diverse connectivity and networking resources, high-speed interfaces, and generous memory resources.

Altera Agilex 5E FPGAs are semiconductor devices comprised of customisable building blocks for high-tech electronics applications. Paired with Macnica's intellectual property within the Sulfur kit, FPGA developers gain a robust, upgradeable platform to test and develop advanced applications in high-end video processing, machine vision, robotics, sensor integration, and AI computing among others. These applications find use across numerous verticals within the medical, industrial, automation, and other markets.

As a trusted partner of Altera with profound engineering capabilities, Macnica developed the Sulfur kit to facilitate quick turnaround of prototypes that can be tested, verified, and launched into production cycles. The Sulfur SOM and carrier board include the largest capacity Agilex 5E FPGA available, featuring 656K programmable logic elements (KLEs), powerful Arm processor cores, and 24 high-speed (17G) transceiver channels. The kit's features also encompass high-end video interfaces (HDMI 2.0, Camera Link, SONY SLVS-EC, CoaXPress), mobile interfaces (MIPI CSI-2, CAN), USB, and direct I/O connectivity (SMA connected fibre-optics and general-purpose I/O (GPIO)).

The SOM incorporates three Gigabit Ethernet ports and high-bandwidth networking (10Gb Ethernet), all with time-sensitive networking (TSN), three high-performance memory banks (LPDDR4), eMMC flash memory storage, and an SD card interface. Additional SOMs with a variety of FPGA sizes are in the works to address various markets and applications for this kit, providing convenient plug-in options and upgrades.

Macnica is perhaps best known for its innovation in high-end video applications, and the Sulfur kit's video capabilities are amplified through Macnica's high-speed imaging IP platforms (CoaXPress and SLVS-EC), both developed through Macnica's mPRESSION engineering team. Macnica's mPRESSION team brings more than a decade of advanced FPGA IP development to its partners and customers.

"The Agilex 5 series of semiconductor devices offer Agilex developers a strong set of on-chip resources with high-speed core processing elements that translate exceptionally well to our new Sulfur SOM and carrier board platform, created specifically with Agilex 5 FPGA developers in mind," said Sebastian Dignard, President of Macnica Americas. "Working closely with our partners at Altera, we are pleased to bring a comprehensive development kit to market for this development community that drives creative and quick turnaround, while enabling lucrative go-to-market strategies for developers moving forward."