Curtiss-Wright Controls Introduces its First Rugged Xilinx® Kintex™ FPGA-based Analog I/O XMC Card
High speed quad channel 250MSPS receiver features Xilinx® Kintex™ XC7K325T FPGA
High Wycombe, UK – January 14, 2013 – Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS), a business unit of Curtiss-Wright Controls, has announced the XF07-516 Analog I/O XMC, the newest member of its family of Xilinx® Kintex™-7 FPGA-based XMC cards for high-end defense and aerospace applications. The XF07-516 is a high speed quad-channel 250MSPS analog input XMC (ANSI/VITA 42) mezzanine card. It features an onboard user-programmable Xilinx® Kintex™ XC7K325T FPGA for combining data acquisition and user algorithms. With its 4 channels of direct high-speed analog I/O and next-generation FPGA processing the XF07-516 is ideal for demanding applications including radar and imaging processing and test equipment in the commercial and defense markets.
“Our new XF07-516 analog I/O XMC card combines the latest generation of 16-bit ADC and Xilinx 7-series FPGA to provide a fully rugged and powerful digital receiver platform” said Lynn Bamford, senior vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions. “Curtiss-Wright has raised the price/performance bar once again with this innovative product. Stay tuned, we have more exciting XMC I/O technology on the way.”
Extensive Memory Support
The XF07-516 supports two banks of 128Mx16-bit DDR3 SDRAM, each directly connected to the FPGA. As each memory bank is independently connected to the FPGA, there is great flexibility in how they may be used. Each memory bank supports read or write bandwidths >2Gbytes/sec.
High Speed I/O: PCI Express & Multi-GB/s
The XF07-516 supports a x4/x8 PCIe channel through the primary XMC P15 connector using the FPGA’s built-in PCIe end-point block. Alternatively, with customer HDL development, the XMC P15 can be used to provide user defined protocol support over the data links, such as Aurora™, for higher bandwidth and lower latency operation.
Sophisticated, Powerful Development Tools
Curtiss-Wright’s FusionXF development kit includes software, HDL and utilities complete with examples for using the XF07-516. FusionXF includes a C programming language API, driver framework and sophisticated DMA support. One of the core elements to the FusionXF development kit is a framework for adding in new IP functionality or capabilities to the FPGA easily and effectively. FusionXF allows user applications to be associated standard drivers, thereby speeding up application development.
Software utilities are provided for configuring the FPGA. These include FLASH programming and configuring the FPGA from one of multiple indexed images in stored in FLASH.
FusionXF supports VxWorks and Linux Fedora and operating systems. Additional operating systems, such as Windows, or other distributions can be considered on request.
Rugged Build Options
A range of environmental requirements are addressed by the XF07-516 including commercial, air-cooled rugged and conduction-cooled.
XMC mezzanine cards, hosted on 3U or 6U single board computers (SBCs) are the ideal solution for demanding defense & aerospace C4ISR applications that don’t require the highest level of performance available only from the largest FPGAs, which are typically deployed on dedicated 3U and 6U FPGA boards. FPGA XMC cards are especially well-suited for system designs in which SWaP-constraints put a high value on the slot savings, system size and weight reduction delivered only by XMC cards.
XF07-516 XMC Family Features:
- Quad channel 250MSPS 16-bit analog inputs
- Xilinx® user programmable Kintex™-7 XC7K325T FPGA
- 2x banks of 16b x 128M DDR3 SDRAM (total 512 Mbytes)
- XMC (VITA 42) open standard mezzanine format
- x8 PCIe support
- VxWorks® and Linux® host support
- Fully rugged build options
- Air-cooled and conduction-cooled variants
- Wide temperature options to: -40 to +85C operation
- Designed to ease development of future MCOTS modifications for rugged applications
- Extends the FusionXF toolchain to enable existing Virtex-5 FPGA customers to easily upgrade
- FusionXF toolchain includes AXI interfaces
Making MCOTS Practical
Curtiss-Wright’s XF07 family of Kintex™-based XMCs includes fiber-optic and analog I/O variants based on a common FPGA processing and interface building block.
For customers who desire the benefits of COTS XMC FPGA offerings, but have unique, specialized I/O requirements, CWCDS’ new XF07 family’s revolutionary architecture simplifies and speeds the availability of custom MCOTS solutions. Previously, changing I/O on a standard card required moving the FPGA and memory components to find space on the card for the new I/O type. This is a complex process that can require changes to component traces, re-routing and re-designing the card’s FPGA building blocks. The XF07 family introduces a new architecture that eliminates re-design complexity. The XF07 family establishes a new common core FPGA processing block and strictly defined PCB territory that enables fast, simple modification and upgrading for memory and I/O interfaces with minimal effort.
About the Xilinx® Kintex™-7 FPGA Family
Kintex-7 devices are a member of Xilinx's 28nm 7-Series family which also includes Artix-7 and Virtex-7 members. The FPGA configuration images can be stored in the FLASH memory which can be updated and controlled by the host CPU using the PCI Express® (PCIe) interface. The FPGA can be reconfigured from images indexed in the FLASH including a write protected recovery configuration. FPGA
configuration from FLASH can also take advantage of AES encryption. Kintex-7 FPGAs offer high-density logic, high-performance serial connectivity, memory, and DSP capabilities to enable higher system-level performance and the next level of integration.
System manufacturers can easily scale successful designs to address adjacent markets requiring reduced cost and power or increased performance and capability. The adoption of AMBA 4, AXI4 specification as part of the interconnect strategy supporting Plug-and-Play FPGA design further improves productivity with IP reuse, portability, and predictability.
XF07-516 XMC Availability
For pricing and availability information, please contact the factory.
Sales & Editorial Contacts
For editorial information regarding Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions products or services, contact John Wranovics, public relations director, Curtiss-Wright Controls, Tel: (925) 640-6402; email: [email protected].
Sales inquiries: Please forward all Sales and reader service inquiries to Jerri-Lynne Charbonneau, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions, Tel: (613) 254-5112; Fax: (613) 599-7777; e-mail: [email protected].
About Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions
Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS) is a long established technology leader in the development of rugged electronic modules and systems for defense applications. CWCDS serves as a technology and integration partner to its customers, providing a full range of advanced, highly engineered solutions from modular open systems approaches to fully custom optimized solutions. Our unmatched capabilities and product breadth span from industry standard based COTS modules to complete electronic subsystems. The company’s modules and systems are currently deployed in a wide range of demanding defense & aerospace applications including C4ISR systems, unmanned subsystems, mission computing, fire control, turret stabilization, and recording & storage solutions. Additionally, the company’s broad engineering capabilities combine systems, software, electrical, and mechanical design expertise with comprehensive program management and a broad range of life-cycle support services. For more information visit www.cwcdefense.com.
About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc.
Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the Motion Control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. With manufacturing facilities around the world, Curtiss-Wright Controls is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally for the aerospace and defense markets. For more information, visit www.cwcontrols.com.