Pentek Adds 3U VPX Software Radio Board to Jade FPGA Family with Backplane Optical and RF I/O

October 02, 2019

Press Release

Pentek Adds 3U VPX Software Radio Board to Jade FPGA Family with Backplane Optical and RF I/O

Pentek introduced the Jade Model 54821 high-performance 3U VPX board, based on the Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA.

Pentek introduced the Jade Model 54821 high-performance 3U VPX board, based on the Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA. Features include three 200 MHz 16-bit A/Ds with three programmable multiband digital downconverters (DDCs), and one digital upconverter (DUC) with two 800 MHz 16-bit D/As. The Model 54821 takes advantage of these VPX I/O options for RF and optical interconnects through the VPX backplane:

Option -109: Optical connections based on VITA 66.5 (draft), containing blind-mate MT optical connectors with fixed contacts on the plug-in module and floating displacement on the backplane.

Option -111: RF connections based on ANSI/VITA 67.2, containing multi-position blind-mate analog connectors with SMPM contacts.

Option -112: RF connections based on ANSI/VITA 67.3 type C, containing multi-position blind mate analog connectors with SMPM contacts, spring-loaded on the backplane allowing more movement and larger diameter cables for better performance.

This new 3U VPX architecture further expands the options for custom I/O by offering 20 pairs of LVDS connectivity and one 8X gigabit link for serial protocols. The VITA 66.5 draft standard calls out blind mate optical connectors with fixed contacts on the plug-in module and floating displacement for the MT ferrule on the backplane. The 3U VPX module uses a single assembly that includes an electro-optical transceiver, a fixed MT ferrule blind mating connector, and the mechanical housing.

The Model 54821 can be populated with a range of Kintex UltraScale FPGAs to match specific requirements of the processing task, spanning from the entry-level KU035 (with 1,700 DSP slices) to the high-performance KU115 (with 5,520 DSP slices). The Model 54821 also includes a complete multi-board clock and sync engine and a large DDR4 memory. In addition to supporting PCI Express Gen. 3 as a native interface, the Model 54821 includes optional high-bandwidth connections to the Kintex UltraScale FPGA for custom digital I/O.

Designed for air-cooled, conduction-cooled and rugged operating environments, the Model 54821 XMC module with 5 GB of DDR4 SDRAM starts at $12,595 USD. Delivery is 10 to 12 weeks ARO. The Navigator Design Suite consists of two packages. The Navigator BSP is $2,500 USD and the Navigator FDK is $3,500 USD.

Learn more at www.pentek.com.