HIGH WYCOMBE, U.K. — August 3, 2011 — Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (CWCEC), a business group of Curtiss-Wright Controls and a leading designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX, VXS, and CompactPCI products for the aerospace and defense market, has introduced a new rugged FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC/VITA 57) module, the FMC-518 is a quad channel 500 MSPS 14-bit analog input card. It features Intersil’s new ISLA214P50 14-bit, 500MSPS analog-to-digital converter, and enables I/O devices to be directly coupled to a host FPGA.
By providing direct ADC connection to the host FPGA, this compact card ensures maximum throughput and enables multiple channels and boards to be synchronized. The FMC-518 speeds and simplifies the integration of FPGAs into embedded system designs. The low latency, high-bandwidth module eliminates data bottlenecks. The card is designed for use in demanding military applications such as Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), Direction Finding (DF) and RADAR that require high-speed, high resolution ADC components as part of a digital receiver.
“The FMC-518 offers twice the channel density compared to our earlier ADC510 card. But that’s not all; increased resolution and multi-board synchronization provides even greater capability,” said Lynn Bamford, vice president and general manager Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing. “For critical applications such as radar, optimizing speed, resolution and channel directly equates into significantly greater range and sensitivity. This can mean detecting and dealing with hostile targets sooner.”
“The ISLA214P50 advances the state-of-the-art in sample rate, dynamic range, and power consumption for high-speed 14-bit ADCs. It also provides extensive multi-channel support, simplifying the design of multi-channel signal processing systems,” said Roger Levinson, Intersil’s VP/GM of Precision Products. “The combination of low power, high performance, and support for multiple ADC channels make it ideal for the demanding high performance military applications that Curtiss-Wright serves.”
FMC format is supported on a wide range of CWCEC FPGA-based host boards, with or without local CPUs, which are designed to process the FMC-518’s I/O data with high bandwidth, low latency paths. The host FPGA, CPU and high performance I/O is an ideal platform for the next generation of digital receivers.
The FMC-518’s four (4) ADC devices connect through the module’s high bandwidth FMC connector to an FPGA-based host board to maximize data throughput and minimize latency. The FMC-518 supports an onboard programmable sample clock generator as well as an external reference input. Multiple FMC-518 boards can be synchronized to increase the number of input channels through the use of trigger input/output signals directly under the control of the FPGA so not only are ADC devices synchronously sampled, but the data pipeline is coherent too.
Analog Input
The FMC-518 supports four (4) analog inputs through its 50Ω MMCX type front panel connectors. The analog inputs are single-ended and are coupled to Intersil ISLA214P50 ADCs using a balun for AC coupling configuration to produce the broadband differential input required by the devices.
The FMC-518, available in both air-cooled and conduction-cooled rugged versions, is easily and quickly integrated onto open standards-based FPGA host boards such as CWCEC’s Xilinx® Virtex®-5 or Virtex®-6 FPGA based hosts including VPX6-472 (MPC8641D/dual Virtex-6 VPX), FPE650 (Quad FPGA VPX), HPE720 (MPC8641D/dual FPGA VPX) and FPE320 (3U FPGA VPX) boards.
FMC-518 Key Features:
- Quad 500 MSPS 14-bit ADCs
- Onboard programmable sample clock
- Multi-board synchronisation
- FMC/VITA 57 form factor
- Air- or conduction-cooled rugged versions
Software Support
The FMC-518 is supported with CWCEC’s FusionXF/HDL development kit. The development kit includes software, HDL and utilities with examples and infrastructure for using the FMC-518 on each supported host. The FusionXF development kit provides a framework for adding new IP functionality or capabilities to the FPGA. It facilitates the inclusion of signal processing blocks, such as digital down converters, to make HDL development easier and system integration more straightforward.
About FMC (VITA 57)
FMC modules enable I/O devices that reside on an industry standard (VITA 57) mezzanine card to be attached to, and directly controlled by FPGAs that reside on a host board. About half the size of a PMC mezzanine module, an FMC format module provides a small footprint, reduced I/O bottlenecks, increased flexibility, and reduced cost through the elimination of redundant interfaces. To maximize data throughput and minimize latency, the FMC connector provides numerous I/O pins that support high-speed signals for moving data between the FMC and the FPGA.
For pricing information, please contact the factory. Availability is Q2 2011.
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. 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.
