New PMC modules offer ultra-high-performance DSP

Acromag has announced new PMC-VSX modules featuring a DSP-optimized Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA that is reconfigurable for high-performance I/O processing and user-developed algorithms.

The PMC-VSX has DDR2 DRAM for fast data transfer to and from the FPGA and dual-port SRAM for high-speed DMA transfer to the PCI bus. A high-throughput PCI-X interface provides high data bandwidth, and various plug-in I/O extension modules are available for interfacing analogue and digital I/O signals.

The PMC base card provides 64 LVDS I/O channels accessible via P4 rear connectors. Optional front-connecting AXM I/O extension modules augment I/O processing capability for 16-bit, 105-MHz A/D conversion, CMOS digital I/O, RS-485 differential signals, or extra LVDS I/O lines. Typical uses include video, imaging, radar/sonar, electronic warfare, signal intelligence, and communication processing.

Application programs can be downloaded directly into the FPGA or to flash memory from the PCI bus. Acromag's Engineering Design Kit provides utilities to help users develop custom programs, load VHDL into the FPGA and to establish DMA transfers between the FPGA and the CPU. An Acromag DLL package for compatibility with Microsoft Visual C++, and Visual Basic is available for integration with embedded Windows applications.

Acromag also offers C libraries for VxWorks, QNX, and other operating systems. The libraries provide generic routines (source code included) to handle reads, writes, interrupts, and other functions. Demonstration programs enable the developer to quickly exercise the I/O modules before attaching the routines to the application program. This diagnostic tool can save hours of troubleshooting and debugging. Free Linux example programs are also available.