The PowerMatrix-1x4x16 is one of the offerings in the PowerMatrix family of fully integrated openarchitecture Systems. The PowerMatrix-1x4x16 system provides developers with an application-software ready multi-processor system with easily customizable I/O. Based on two dual FPGA boards and four quad DSP PowerPC boards, the PowerMatrix-1x4x16 is ideally suited for applications that require a high level of CPU processing and high memory bandwidth.
Modern Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have reached a level of density and cost-effectiveness where they present distinct advantages for certain classes of signal processing algorithms. With a large number of gates, hardware multipliers and high-speed serial interfaces, an FPGA can outperform a microprocessor by a factor of ten and sometimes more. FPGAs are most applicable in a variety of applications including radar, signal intelligence and image processing that all have elements of computing that are characterized by repetitive fixed-point processing which can be expressed in highly parallel form. FFTs, pulse compression, filters, and digital down converters are examples of functions that FPGAs perform well. In deployed systems, this technical advantage translates to smaller, lower-power and lowercost.
The CHAMP-FX dual Virtex II Pro FPGA compute engine fits into the signal processing chain with high-speed serial RocketIO interfaces to accept sensor data and StarFabric interfaces for easy integration with downstream PowerPC processing nodes. Communications with the CHAMP-FX are performed with the same software API as between PowerPC nodes, reducing the software engineering effort to build a system.
Processing Performance:
- (4) Xilinx Virtex II Pro FPGAs
- (17) PowerPC 7447As @ 1 GHz
Components
- (2) CHAMP-FX dual FPGA SBCs
- (4) CHAMP-AV IV quad PPC SBCs
- (1) SVME-183 dual PPC SBC
- (5) StarLink II StarFabric PMCs
Interconnect - StarFabric
- Star topography
- 400 MB/sec from each FPGA to DSP
- 200 MB/sec from each DSP to SBC
Software and Boards Support Packages
- VxWorks 5.5 or 6.2
- IPC InterProcessor Communications
- Continuum Vector DSP Library
Chassis
- One 8-slot VME 64x chassis
