BittWare’s XUSPL4 is a low-profile PCIe x8 card based on the Xilinx Virtex or Kintex UltraScale FPGA. The high-performance UltraScale devices provide increased system integration, reduced latency, and high bandwidth for systems demanding massive data flow and packet processing. The board offers up to 32 GBytes of memory, sophisticated clocking and timing options, and two front panel QSFP cages, each supporting up to 100 Gbps (4×25) – including 100GbE. The XUSPL4 also incorporates a Board Management Controller (BMC) for advanced system monitoring, which greatly simplifies platform integration and management. All of these features combine to make the XUSP3R ideal for a wide range of data center applications, including network processing, cyber security, acceleration, storage, broadcast, and Signals Intelligence.
The Xilinx UltraScale FPGAs are built on 20 nm process technology and provide ASIC-like clocking for scalability, performance, and lower dynamic power. UltraScale devices are available in two variants: Virtex and Kintex; the XUSPL4 board supports both. The FPGAs feature two types of multi-gigabit transceivers: Virtex devices support up to 30 Gbps, enabling 100 GbE and 25 GbE, while Kintex devices support up to 16 Gbps, enabling 40 GbE and 10GbE. The GTY transceivers enable 100GbE and 25GbE. The FPGAs support 768 DSP slices. The UltraScale FPGAs provide four integrated blocks for PCI Express, supporting x8 Gen3 Endpoint and Root Port designs. Integrated blocks for 100 Gb/s Ethernet (100G MAC/PCS) enable simple, reliable support for Nx100G switch and bridge applications.
Xilinx UltraScale Low-Profile PCIe Board with Dual QSFP and DDR4
Xilinx Virtex UltraScale 65/95 or Kintex UltraScale 95
Up to two PCIe x8 interfaces supporting Gen1, Gen2, or Gen3
Two QSFP28 cages for 2x 100GbE, 2x 40GbE, 8x 25GbE, or 8x 10GbE
Memory: up to 32 GBytes of DDR4 SDRAM with ECC (x72)
Board Management Controller for Intelligent Platform Management
Precision timestamping support
Utility I/O: USB 2.0
High-Speed Networking and I/O
The XUSPL4 provides a variety of interfaces for high-speed serial I/O as well as debug support. Two QSFP28 cages are available on the front panel, each supporting 100GbE, 40GbE, four 25GbE, or four 10GbE channels, for a total of up to 200 Gbps of bandwidth. The QSFP channels are connected directly to the UltraScale FPGA via 32 Gb/s transceivers (or 16 Gb/s for Kintex devices). The QSFP cages can optionally be adapted for SFP+.
Two Gen3 x8 PCIe interfaces connect to the FPGA via 16 transceivers, allowing for a x8 PCIe connection in a standard slot or two x8 interfaces in a bifurcated slot. A USB 2.0 interface provides BMC access. The board also supports precision timestamping with provision for a 1 PPS and reference clock input and output.
Memory
The XUSPL4 features up to 32 GBytes DDR4 on-board. Additional on-board memory includes Flash with factory default and support for multiple FPGA images.
Board Management Controller
This boards‘s advanced system monitoring subsystem features a Board Management Controller (BMC), which accepts Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) messaging protocol commands.
The BMC features include control of power and resets, monitoring of board sensors, FPGA boot loader, voltage overrides, configuration of programmable clocks, access to I2C bus components, field upgrades, and IPMI messaging.
Access to the BMC is via PCIe or USB. BittWare's BittWorks II Toolkit also provides utilities and libraries for communicating with the BMC components at a higher, more abstract level, allowing developers to remotely monitor the state of the board.
BittWorks II Toolkit
BittWare offers complete software support for this card with its BittWorks II software tools. The BittWorks II Toolkit serves as the main interface between the BittWare board and the host system. The Toolkit includes drivers, libraries, utilities, and example projects for accessing, integrating, and developing applications for the BittWare board.
FPGA Development Kit
BittWare's FPGA DevKit provides FPGA board support IP and integration for BittWare's Altera FPGA-based boards. The FDK includes FPGA components that provide preconfigured physical interfaces, infrastructure, and examples, drastically cutting development time and easily integrating into existing FPGA development environments.
Working example projects are available for each board which illustrate how to move data between the board’s different interfaces. Supported interfaces include DDR4, DDR3, DDR2, QDR2/+, PCIe, 10GbE, LVDS, SerDes, and Double Data Rate I/O. All example projects are available on BittWare's Developer Site.
Hardware accelerator diagram: BittWare XUSPL4 with optional Precision Timing Module.
XUSPL4 is a low-profie PCIe x8 card with Xilinx Virtex or Kintex UltraScale FPGA.BwMonitor is a part of the BittWorks II Toolkit: provides live board power and temperature display of BittWare hardware.
