CHAMP-FX2 FPGA Application Accelerator

The CHAMP-FX2 is Curtiss-Wright's next-generation FPGA-based computing platform. Utilizing a 6U VPX-REDI form factor, the CHAMP-FX2 harnesses the tremendous computing power of two Xilinx Virtex™-5 FPGAs, combined with the high-performance floating-point capabilities of the Freescale 8641D dual-core PowerPC™ processor and the exceptional performance and flexibility of a Serial RapidIO switching fabric to deliver unprecedented computational densities. With multiple large DDR2 SDRAM and fast QDR-II+ SRAM blocks (>13 Gbytes/sec total FPGA memory bandwidth) and several on-board and off-board RocketIO™ serial ports, the two FPGA nodes provide a balanced mix of processing capabilities with memory, inter-FPGA, and off-board bandwidths.

The CHAMP-FX2 may be used in a single-board configuration, or with CHAMP-AV6 or VPX-185 Single Board Computers (SBCs) with a high-speed Serial RapidIO switching fabric to form large, heterogenous multicomputing platforms. All platforms utilize Curtiss-Wright's Continuum Software Architecture (CSA) to insure compatibility and user code commonality across platforms.

The CHAMP-FX2 is supported by the Continuum FXtools design kit. The FXtools design kit includes the complete Continuum Firmware and BSP package for the PowerPC with extensions for CHAMP-FX2 specific functionality, as well as highly-optimized IP blocks for such features as the memory and RocketIO interfaces, control bus, intra-FPGA switching fabric, and so on. These blocks, all designed for optimal performance and qualified across the entire rugged temperature range of the CHAMP-FX2, removes much of the risk associated with FPGA development and can significantly improve a project's time-to-deployment with no performance sacrifice. FXtools also includes a SystemVerilog (IEEE 1800™) based simulation test bench with full bus functional models and scripting support. A high-performance Serial RapidIO Endpoint block is also available.