System designers and engineers constantly face design challenges to achieve higher data-rates in highly dense applications. A popular system-level design approach in many high-speed applications marries the configurability and high-speed performance of FPGAs with the advantages of fiber optics.
Samtec’s new 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Development Kit provides an easy connection between FPGAs and fiber optics. This new solution offers an easy-to-use evaluation and development platform for Samtec’s FireFly™ optical engines.
Versatile and Easy-to-use Technology
The 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Module provides up to 140 Gbps full-duplex bandwidth over 10 channels from an FPGA to an industry-standard multi-mode fiber optic cable. Samtec’s 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Development Kit supports Data Center, High-Performance Computing and FPGA-to-FPGA protocols including Ethernet, InfiniBand™, Fibre Channel and Aurora.
FireFly™ optical engines make the electrical to optical conversion in the transmit path and the optical to electrical conversion in the receive path. They are based on proven 850 nm VCSEL array technology while featuring adjustable power levels to support cable lengths up to 100 m.
As a VITA 57.1-compliant FMC, Samtec’s 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Module can be used for optical data communication on any FMC-enabled FPGA development board supporting high-speed multi-gigabit transceivers. It can run system data or BERT testing from a single channel to all ten channels in parallel. Technical documentation and FPGA reference designs are available for quick start-up.
Features and Applications
Additional features of the 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Development Kit include:
- VITA 57.1 FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) form factor
- High Pin Count (HPC) VITA 57.1 FMC connector (Samtec P/N: ASP-134488-01)
- Two (1 TX/1 RX) FireFlyTM two-piece SMT connector systems (UCC8/UEC5 series)
- Features optimized SI performance via Samtec Final Inch® BOR PCB trace routing for FireFlyTM and FMC connectors
- Supports up to 10 high-speed, multi-gigabit transceivers (TX and RX) operating at up to 14 Gbps per channel
- Industry-standard 24 fiber MTP®/MPO connector
The Samtec 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Development Kit can support a wide range of applications including:
- High-performance computing
- Servers
- Storage
- Data/Telecommunications
- Networking switches and routers
- Test and Measurement
- High-resolution imaging (ie. Medical)
- Broadcast video/audio
For more information on the 14 Gbps FireFly™ FMC Development Kit, please click on the following:
