Pentek Introduces OpenVPX SDR Board with Virtex-7 FPGA for Demanding Applications

• Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA expands logic and DSP capacity
  with minimal power increase
• Provides high-performance migration path for popular
  Cobalt^® Virtex-6 FPGA boards
• On-board DDR3 memory boosts density to 4 GB and
  speed to 1.6 GHz
• Native Gen. 3 PCI Express interface over the VPX backplane
  doubles I/O throughput
• 3U VPX form factor provides a compact, rugged platform
• COTS and ruggedized options up to and including conduction-cooling
• Ideal for demanding UAV, radar and communications applications

The Model 53760 is the first member of the high-performance Onyx™ family. The 4-channel, 200 MHz, 16-bit A/D board is based on the Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA family. Pentek’s Onyx boards use the same modular I/O interfaces as the popular Pentek Cobalt family, while boosting memory, logic and I/O throughput. The Onyx Model 53760 is similar to the Cobalt Model 53660, but has twice the memory capacity and I/O bandwidth to address the most challenging unmanned aerial vehicle, radar, and communications applications.

To keep pace with higher-speed A/Ds and D/As and tougher DSP algorithms, Pentek leveraged the modular architecture of the Cobalt family along with the latest Xilinx FPGA technology. This combination provides the customer a broader range of price and performance options and a future path for the most demanding signal processing applications. Pentek intends to release at least twelve additional Onyx family boards during 2012.

As the first in the Onyx product line, the Model 53760 shares many architectural and front-end characteristics of the similar Cobalt Model 53660: a four-channel, 200 MHz, 16-bit A/D, external clock synchronization, and a PCIe switched fabric interface over the VPX backplane. The similarity of the two families makes porting of software previously developed for the Cobalt board to the corresponding Onyx board a minimum-effort affair.

Architectural enhancements in the Onyx family include doubling of the DDR3 SDRAM in size to 4 GB and speed to 1.6 GHz. The PCIe interface has been upgraded to Gen. 3 and delivers peak speeds to 8 GB/sec. Software IP for the on-board Virtex-7 FPGA provides users with a combination of turnkey and custom functionality. The board ships with the FPGA configured to provide data capture, synchronization, tagging and formatting. The additional space available even with the smallest FPGA option provides users ample opportunity for adding custom IP with the Pentek GateFlow FPGA Design Kit. The Onyx architecture includes enhanced FPGA loading modes to simplify live reconfiguration.

This product is also offered in other formats. For information on these, click on the model number:

• Model 71760: XMC
• Model 78760: PCIe
• Model 74760: cPCI