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| Curtiss-Wright’s first FPGA-based 6U VPX/VXP-REDI engine, the CHAMP-FX2, features Dual Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGAs |
LEESBURG, VA – March 21, 2007 — Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, a leading designer and manufacturer of rugged deployed commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX and CompactPCI products, has announced the availability of the CHAMP-FX2, its first FPGA-based VPX-REDI (VITA 46/48) compute engine. The new 6U board combines the flexibility of Xilinx FPGA-based reconfigurable computing, high performance Power Architecture™ (PowerPC®) processing, and the high bandwidth of serial switched fabrics provided by the new VPX standards to address demanding defense and aerospace signal processing applications that require survivability in harsh environments.
“Today’s high-performance embedded signal and image processing systems require ever larger amounts of processing and I/O to accomplish their missions.” said Lynn Patterson , Vice President and General Manager of Curtiss Wright’s Modular Solutions group. “The CHAMP-FX2 meets the space/weight/power constraints typical in MIL deployed systems with a mix of state-of-the-art custom and COTS processing elements that deliver previously unobtainable system performance.”
The CHAMP-FX2 Xilinx FPGA and PowerPC-based VPX compute platform is designed for demanding, high-performance signal and image processing applications including radar, sonar, and signal intelligence. The board features dual high-performance Xilinx Virtex™-5 LXT FPGAs and an AltiVec™-enabled dual-core Freescale 8641 PowerPC processor. It delivers the unmatched flexibility of reconfigurable computing with state-of-the-art general processing and VPX-level interprocessor communications bandwidth performance. Its heterogeneous FPGA/CPU design enables developers to optimize their designs by hosting the portions of their application on the processing resources best suited to their application.
“Curtiss-Wright’s VPX-based CHAMP-FX2 takes full advantage of the new high-performance, low power Virtex-5 LXT FPGA,” said Eric Sivertson, General Manager for Aerospace and Defense at Xilinx. “The board’s high-end processing elements, rich I/O options, and rugged design make the CHAMP-FX2 an ideal platform for integrating FPGA processing into a rugged COTS-based system.”
Taking full advantage of the VPX standard’s support for high bandwidth serial switched fabrics, the CHAMP-FX2 uses Serial RapidIO (SRIO) to connect its three computational nodes and its on-board XMC mezzanine site with up to four 4-lane SRIO connectors to the backplane. The board’s memory support includes double data rate (DDR2) SDRAMs and quad data rate (QDR-II+) SRAMs that complement inter-node bandwidth by providing multiple, independent memory banks for each of the dual Virtex-5 FPGAs. High-speed serial ports are provided to connect the FPGAs to each other, to the XMC site, and to front-panel or back-panel connections. In addition, the board’s on-board Freescale 8641 processor provides additional I/O in the form of dual Gigabit Ethernet, dual serial ports (EIA-232/422), and additional discrete I/O signals.
CHAMP-FX2 Performance Features
Dual user-programmable Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA nodes (LX110T, LX220T, or LX330T)
Up to 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM per FPGA node. 4.4 Gbytes/sec of peak bandwidth per FPGA
32 MB QDR-II+ SRAM per FPGA node. 8.8 GBytes/sec of peak bandwidth per FPGA
4-lane RocketIO® serial connection between the nodes, 2.5 Mbytes/sec bidirectional bandwidth.
Up to four 4-lane high-speed serial connections to the backplane and one optional connection to the front panel.
18 pairs (36 pins) of discrete LVDS signals from each FPGA to the backplane
1 to 1.33 GHz Freescale 8641 PowerPC node (dual-core)
Up to 1 Gbyte of DDR2 SDRAM with ECC
512 MB of Flash with write protection for user code, data, or FPGA bitstreams
Protected backup Flash
Two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
Two serial ports (RS-232 or RS-422)
Connections to the FPGA configuration bus and command/control bus
On-board Serial RapidIO (SRIO) switch
One 4-lane port to the PowerPC node
One 4-laneport to each FPGA node
Four 4-lane ports to the backplane
8-lane PCI Express (PCIe) connection to the PowerPC node. (Four lanes may be user-configured as a SRIO port to the mezzanine)
High-speed serial connection to each FPGA node
Thermal sensors for monitoring board temperatures
Support for ChipScope Pro and JTAG processor debug interfaces
Multi-board synchronous timer
Continuum™ FXtools FPGA design kit with highly-optimized IP blocks, development environment, reference designs, scriptable simulation test benches and software libraries
RapidIO endpoint block available
Continuum IPC – interprocessor communications middleware available
Continuum Vector DSP subroutine library available
VITA 48 1.0” pitch format
Range of air- and conduction-cooled ruggedization levels available
CHAMP-FX2 Software Support
Continuum FXtools is a rich set of system and support software and tools designed specifically to ease the developer’s task of integrating FPGA-based computation into a larger heterogeneous multicomputer application. Using these software packages, which feature high-performance IP blocks, tools, and communications infrastructure, system developers can expect significant time-to-market/time-to-deployment improvements.
Curtiss-Wright’s Continuum FXtools package includes software and tools to support both PowerPC and FPGA development and provides optimized BSP and support libraries for operating systems including VxWorks and Linux. For FPGA development the Continuum FXtools package provides a set of highly optimized IP blocks (memory control, serial and LVDS interfaces, etc.), FPGA-specific function libraries (configuration, command bus mappings, etc.) and a scriptable FPGA simulation environment. An optional SRIO endpoint block is also available.
Other software packages available for the CHAMP-FX2 include the Continuum Vector algorithm library, which provides a rich set of optimized signal and image processing functions for the board’s 8641, utilizing its AltiVec unit. Curtiss-Wright’s Continuum IPC communications middleware package has been extended to directly support SRIO-based transfers between the CHAMP-FX2’s FPGAs, as well as between the FPGAs and other PowerPC-based nodes within the system.
Ruggedization Levels
The CHAMP-FX2 is designed to operate in rugged environments and is available in both air- and conduction-cooled formats. Innovative cooling techniques are employed to handle high performance FPGA implementations.
The CHAMP-FX2 may be used in stand-alone applications, or easily integrated with Curtiss-Wright’s other VPX/VPX-REDI products including the CHAMP-AV6 DSP engine and the VPX6-185 SBC.
Volume pricing for commercial and rugged versions of the CHAMP-FX2 is available. For pricing and availability please contact the factory.
Sales inquiries: Please forward all Sales and reader service inquiries to Jerri-Lynne Charbonneau, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, Tel: (613) 254-5112; Fax: (613) 599-7777; e-mail: [email protected].
For editorial information regarding Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing products or services, contact John Wranovics, Director of Public Relations, Curtiss-Wright, Tel: (925) 640-6402; email. [email protected] . Web site: www.cwcembedded.com.
About Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing
Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is the industry’s most comprehensive and experienced single source for embedded solutions, ranging from Processing, Subsystems, Data Communication, DSP, and Video & Graphics to the most advanced board level components and fully integrated custom systems. The Embedded Computing group serves the defense, aerospace, commercial and industrial markets and is part of Curtiss-Wright Controls Inc. For more information about Curtiss-Wright visit www.cwcembedded.com.
About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the motion control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW). 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.
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