Prime vacation (or holiday) season is in full gear. Travel spots range from the beach to cultural attractions in the latest “hot spots”.
Whether sunning in the Côte d’Azur or hiking in the Andes, everybody’s focus is their . . . smart phone? Really? For (almost) everybody, the latest moment MUST be shared on social media.
What happens when no connection is available? Panic! Fortunately, connectivity is almost everywhere. Just ask the closest teenager!
What does this have to do with Samtec and FPGAs? A number of networks the traveling public take for granted are based on connectors and FPGAs.
Engineers designing next-gen network equipment lean on Samtec and FPGA vendors for help. Several new FPGA development kits feature high-speed Samtec solutions used in network equipment and testing.
Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ 56G PAM4 VCU129 FPGAs Evaluation Kit
Xilinx’s new Virtex UltraScale+ 56G PAM4 VCU129 FPGA Evaluation Kit includes the new VU29P FPGA. This is one of the first production FPGAs from Xilinx that features 56 Gbps PAM4 transceivers.
The VCU129 features multiple common high-speed interconnects including two Bulls Eye compression interfaces. They each access 7 transceivers running at 56 Gbps PAM4 data rates. The VCU129 uses a modified BE40A series solution that supports up to 50 GHz.
The high-density array designs and advanced cabling solutions within Samtec’s Bulls Eye product family enable optimized performance, now to 70 GHz. Compression interface, small footprint and high cycle count make Bulls Eye ideal for high-performance test applications.
For more information, please visit www.samtec.com/bullseye.
Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ HBM VCU128 FPGA Evaluation Kit
Xilinx also recently released the Virtex UltraScale+ HBM VCU128 FPGA Evaluation Kit. This leverages the performance advantages of HBM memory when compared to traditional parallel memories like DDR4.
The VCU128 includes a VITA 57.4 FMC+ expansion connector from Samtec. The FMC+ interface is common on most FPGA eval kits that feature 28 Gbps and faster transceivers.
The VCU128 comes with a version of Samtec’s VITA 57.4 FMC+ HSPC Loopback Card. It provides FPGA designers an easy to use loopback option for testing low-speed signals and high-speed MGTs on any FPGA development board or FPGA carrier card.
What is VITA 57.4 FMC+?
VITA 57.4 FMC+ is the latest standard in the popular VITA FMC family. This specification increases total number of MGTs to 32 and increasing the maximum data rate to 28 Gbps.
FMC+ employs a larger connector from the SEARAY™ family of high-speed, high-density arrays. This High Serial Pin Connector (HSPC) has 560 pins arranged in a 14 x 40 array. The HSPC connector supports 24 MGTs,
While new FMC+ cards can only plug into new FMC+ carriers due to their larger connectors, original FMC cards will also fit thanks to a customized polarization system providing true backward compatibility.
Additionally, there is an optional extension connector (HSPCe) to boost pin-count by 80 positions, arranged in a 4 x 20 array. HSPCe supports another 8 MGTs for a total of 32 MGTs in the new interface.
For more information, please visit the FMC and FMC+ standards pages.
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