VPX carrier board suitable for FMC and FMC+ modules

The Model 5983 is the carrier foundation for a new series of FlexorSets capable of hosting FMC and FMC+ modules. The check-off for enhancements include:

• 1.5 times higher performance utilising 15% less power with the Kintex Ultrascale FPGA 
• 2.8 times increase in FMC bandwidth potential with the new FMC+ standard
• 1.5 times faster memory transfer rate with 9GB of DDR4 SDRAM 
• Optional GPS for precise data tagging for time and position 
• Optional 12GB/sec VITA-66.4 optical backplane I/O
• Navigator BSP and FDK for streamlined IP development

"The Model 5983 substantially improves performance in all aspects," said Bob Sgandurra, Director of Product Development of Pentek. "Our customers are excited to upgrade existing designs and launch new programmes that can take advantage of these improvements. The Model 5983 becomes the biggest and brightest member of our FlexorSet offerings with these enhancements."

The JadeFX Architecture for Flexor FMCs
The Pentek JadeFX Architecture defines Pentek FMC and FMC+ carrier boards based on the Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA, which raises the digital signal processing (DSP) performance 1.5 times with equal reductions in cost, power dissipation and weight. As the central feature of the JadeFX Architecture, the FPGA has access to all data and control paths, enabling factory-installed functions including data multiplexing, channel selection, data packing, gating, triggering and memory control.

A 9GB bank of DDR4 SDRAM operating at 2,400MHz is available to the FPGA for custom applications. The x8 PCIe Gen 3 link can sustain 6.4GB/s data transfers to system memory. Eight additional gigabit serial lanes and LVDS general-purpose I/O lines are available for custom solutions.

The Model 5983 supports the ANSI/VITA-66.4 optical interconnect standard that provides up to 12 optical duplex lanes to the backplane. With the installation of a serial protocol, the optical interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards at up to 12GB/sec independent of the PCIe interface.

FlexorSets
The Model 5983 JadeFX carrier is designed to operate with all of Pentek’s Flexor FMC and FMC+ modules. When integrated as a FlexorSet package, the Model 5983 is delivered with factory-installed intellectual property (IP) modules matched to the FMC’s analogue or digital interfaces. These include A/D acquisition and D/A waveform playback engines for simplifying data capture and playback.

Navigator Design Suite for Streamlined IP Development Pentek's Navigator Design Suite consists of two components: Navigator FDK (FPGA Design Kit) for integrating custom IP into Pentek sourced designs and Navigator BSP (Board Support Package) for creating host software applications. The FDK includes factory-installed modules as documented source code. Developers can integrate their own IP with the Pentek factory-installed functions or use the Navigator kit to completely replace the Pentek IP with their own.

Users can work efficiently at the API level for software development and with an intuitive graphical interface for IP design. The Navigator BSP is available for Windows and Linux operating systems.

With a Pentek 8267 SPARK 3U VPX development system, work can begin immediately on applications. A SPARK system saves engineers time and expense associated with building and testing a development system and ensures optimum performance of Pentek boards. SPARK development systems are ready for immediate operation with software and hardware installed. In many applications, the SPARK development system can become the final deployed application platform.