 | | Newsletter #2 2017
Dear Reader,
One of the highlights of the year is always Embedded World, taking place in Nuremberg again this year, from the 14th to the 16th of March. We're rather excited to be there, and look forward to presenting the latest products and innovations from our team here in Zürich. We'd love it if you dropped by to see us; you can find us in hall 1 at stand 1-101, and in hall 4A at stand 4A-121.
Kind regards from Zürich,
Enclustra
Everything FPGA. | | Company News | | | | Visual System Integrator | | | Accelerating SoC development | | Visual System Integrator, from System View is a graphical extension to the Xilinx® Vivado® suite for the development of complex embedded systems. The tool supports most Xilinx FPGAs and SoCs, as well as Windows and embedded Linux. After rendering the hardware platform setup, the tool automatically generates the needed interconnects: PCIe, AXI-MM, AXI-Stream, Ethernet and Aurora interfaces are all supported. The first official release of VSI is available now for evaluation – a quick search online will lead you to a few videos showing the graphical user interface and example applications in action. The graphical user interface the system designer, to drag-and-drop functional blocks between CPUs and FPGAs, and generate the new bitstreams and binaries with just a few clicks. | | | ......... | | In your neck of the woods | | Our agencies in Germany, France, USA and China | | Personal contact is key to successful collaboration – we value being close to our customers. In addition to our HQ in Zürich, we now have agents in Germany, France, USA and China, who can help with both technical and sales enquiries. Click through for your closest connection. | | | | | FPGA & SoC Modules | | | | Mars XU3: Zynq® UltraScale+ power, in miniature | | | 108 user I/Os, PCIe, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 | | The Mars XU3 is our first Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ module, in the extremely compact and popular SO-DIMM form factor. Think of the XU3 as the Mercury+ XU1's little brother, offering up to 154,000 systems logic cells, 108 user I/Os, 6 ARM® processors, a Mali™-400 MP2 GPU, up to 4 GByte of ultra-fast DDR4 SDRAM, 64 MByte QSPI flash memory, and 16 GByte eMMC flash memory, as well as Gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0/3.0 ports. | | | ......... | | Mercury+ AA1: Intel® Arria® 10 SoC modules | | | Incredible floating point performance, incredible price | | The Mercury+ AA1 SoC module, based on the Intel Arria 10 SoC, offers up to 480,000 system logic cells and an extremely juicy amount of performance at a very tasty price point. In addition to its integrated dual-core ARM processor, the module offers up to 286 user I/Os, and 12 multi-gigabit transceivers each offer a data transfer rate of up to 12.5 Gbps. Interfaces for USB 3.0, PCIe Gen3 ×4/Gen2 ×8 and Gigabit Ethernet make the module suitable for almost all applications. Its fast DDR4 SDRAM with a bandwidth of 9.6 GByte/sec and ECC also means that it's well suited for application that require the utmost data integrity. | | | ......... | | Mercury+ XU1: plug and play UltraScale+ | | | 6 ARM cores, 1 GPU, and 1 FPGA in credit card size | | Diving into the world of Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ is an easy prospect with our Mercury+ XU1 SoC module. Comprehensive documentation and a reference design allow for a quick start with the hardware, while Linux can be compiled with a few clicks using the Enclustra Build Environment; all required files, including FPGA bitstream, are generated automatically. | | | ......... | | Mars MA3: compact Altera Cyclone® V SoC module | | | Dual core ARM ual-Core, 108 user I/Os, ethernet, USB | | The Mars MA3, now in development, is our first Altera Cyclone V SoC module using the proven Mars SO-DIMM format, nicely rounding out our portfolio of Intel SoC modules. The MA3 offers up to 110,000 system logic cells, 108 user I/Os, a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, up to 2 GByte of fast DDR3L SDRAM, 64 MByte QSPI flash, as well as Gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0. And, all that on an area of just 67.6 x 30 mm. To further ease the design-in process, the module only needs a single 3.3 V power supply. | | | | | IP Solutions | | | | Motion control kit for DC and stepper motors | | BLDC-, DC-, and stepper motor control with the same IP core | | Our proven and flexible Universal Drive Controller IP Core Evaluation Kit now supports two more motor types: adding to the previous support for BLDC motors, the kit is now also available with a DC or stepper motor. The kit consists of an evaluation licence for the Universal Drive Controller IP Core, a Mercury SA1 (Intel) or Mars ZX3 (Xilinx) SoC module, a suitable base board, an FMC-DR2 power electronics card, and a BLDC, DC, or stepper motor. The Universal Drive Controller allows for the integration of FPGA-based motion control into your application, even without FPGA know-how – A C programming API makes all features available from software. Use PWM and control loop frequencies of several hundred Kilohertz without jitter, or adjust the locking times for high and low-side switches to a few nanoseconds. | | | | | Design Services | | | | Zynq UltraScale+ drone control | | The official term is unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), apparently, which is a bit of a mouthful, so we prefer to say drone. In any case, we developed a controller for a UAV (drone) for a customer using a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ SoC, whose CPUs implement the position control as well as tracking of the flight trajectory. The sensors and actors are attached through the FPGA logic; the number and type of these interfaces vary greatly with the type of controlled vehicle, so all of these interfaces are dynamically configurable. The controller also supports redundancy, by having two parallel flight calculator units supervising each other. Should the currently active calculator fail, the reserve unit takes over all tasks autonomously. Aside flight control functions, the controller prepares and compresses a Full-HD video signal (HD-SDI) from a camera for transmission over radio. | | ......... | | High-Precision EMV Measurements | | Every consumer electronics product has to comply with standards for electromagnetic radiation to ensure that any emitted radiation is not harmful to those who use it. The same principle applies for industrial electronic devices; there are strict rules regarding the amount of emitted radiation which is permitted. In both cases, the device’s manufacturer must prove that radiation emitted is within the allowed range. A more precise measurement of this radiation means that a smaller margin of error has to be applied and thus makes it easier it to meet the certification criteria. We were approached by a customer with the aim of building high-precision measurement equipment for electric and magnetic fields for certification purposes. The baseboard that carries the electromagnetic sensors and all required analog electronics is being developed by the customer, and is equipped with a small, custom FPGA module. This module, as well as the FPGA firmware running on it, is being developed by Enclustra. The firmware contains a wide array of signal processing to correct any measurement distortions caused by the analog electronics, as well as complex data-logging logic and an interface to a host PC, where the final data processing is applied and the certification criteria evaluated. Thanks to the use of ready-to-use Enclustra IP cores in this project, the development effort has been greatly reduced: FPGA Manager USB 2.0 is used for the communication with the host PC, and the buffering logic is mainly implemented using the Stream Buffer Controller IP Core. | | | | | Events | | | | Embedded World 2017 | | | | Between the 14th and 16th March 2017, everything is about embedded systems at the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre, for Embedded World 2017. We're continuing our tradition of being present, and have two booths, together with AntMicro, our embedded software specialist partner. Mark the date in your calendar and visit us in hall 1 at stand 1-101, or in hall 4A at stand 4A-121 at the largest international fair for embedded technologies. Don't miss these highlights: - Visual System Integrator: the new system-level design tool for the development of heterogeneous FPGA and CPU applications. System View's CEO Sandeep Dutta will be available for questions and demos.
- Motion control with FPGAs: precision control of DC, BLDC, 2- and 3-phase stepper motors without FPGA knowledge? We'll show you how.
- The newest SoC and FPGA modules: use a commercial off-the-shelf solution and reduce development time, costs, and risks.
- Engineering services: thanks to more than 10 years of experience carrying out over 100 customer projects, we always find the optimal solution. Take the chance at Embedded World to come talk with us about your project.
- Enclustra IP cores: Avoid reinventing the wheel; use our solutions, proven and tested in many applications.
- 4K video camera and the UltraScale+ module: together with our partner AntMicro, we demonstrate a 4K camera for broadcast and cinema applications built around the brand-new Mercury+ XU1 SoC module.
Do you need a ticket for Embeded World? Send us an email and get one for free. | | | | | About Us | The Enclustra FPGA Design Center offers design services at all stages of development of an FPGA-based system, from conception through to bring-up at the customer site. With the FPGA Solution Center, Enclustra delivers highly integrated FPGA modules and FPGA-optimized IP cores. With the specialization on FPGA technology and a wide range of application experience, Enclustra is capable of delivering optimal solutions at minimum costs.
As well as HDL firmware, embedded software and hardware design, our expertise spans a wide range of application areas, including: - Embedded processing
- Digital communications
- Smart vision systems
- Software defined radio
- Motion and drive control.
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