Technology Feature
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Digital meets RF
In the not too distant past, computers and RF were not to be in the same room, let alone the same piece of computing equipment. Then over the years the two became friendlier as microprocessors were used to control radios and eventually led to the creation of soft radios and today’s highly popular smart phone.
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Cost benefits of FPGA and FMC for embedded systems development
The FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC), as defined by industry standard VITA 57.1, can be used to greatly improve project risk management and bring products to market faster due to its flexibility and performance. FMCs are very effective for system upgrades and technology insertion, and using them makes it easier to incorporate new technologies such as higher resolution A/Ds and D/As as they become available.
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Can your PCB handle the speed?
The JESD204B high-speed data converter I/O standard provides for serial interface bit rates of up to 12.5 Gbps. Many system designers are embracing this “upgrade” to the digital interface. Its faster serial interface allows them to use fewer high-speed serial transceivers on their FPGA or ASIC. This reduction in the number of I/O traces enables smaller packages, smaller PCBs, and smaller overall product form factors. However, designing a reliable physical interconnect for data rates exceeding 5 Gbps may involve additional effort. As the speed increases, the transmission distance needs to be accounted for and additional channel modeling may be necessary, possibly involving a 3D field solver to ensure signal integrity.
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Market conditions swing in favor of the custom SoC
The system-on-chip (SoC) is now a part of almost all electronic systems. As an integrated circuit (IC) that pulls together microprocessor cores, systems logic, and I/O functions, the SoC enables a wide range of product designs and is driving new markets such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and the cyber-physical systems that now underpin many industrial and automotive applications.
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Radar and sonar applications find a home in CompactPCI and VPX
How to decide which form factor to use for a radar or sonar application? Consider the application's topology: Interconnect topologies that comprise many high-speed connections are well suited to VPX, while applications with more “well-behaved” communications are usually a good candidate for less complex technologies like CompactPCI.
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In-theater connectivity - Flexibility is the key to matching local infrastructure
Telecommunications infrastructure and connectivity underpin the effectiveness of military forces in the field. With multi-national force collaboration in theaters near and far becoming more common, the ability to quickly and easily interconnect communications equipment becomes a priority. The flexibility of DSP-based media gateways enables translation of disparate protocols and physical connections in the field through in-situ configuration and programming.
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HD streaming video in wide-area surveillance systems: A reconfigurable hardware processor approach
The demand for higher-quality video imagery in surveillance systems requires an advanced link between the sensors and the usable video data. An image processing system consisting exclusively of software processing isn’t capable of meeting these demands, and an ASIC-based system doesn’t provide the needed flexibility. Because of the compute-intensive nature of pixel processing, an FPGA-based imaging processing design using JPEG2000 encoding provides a powerful and flexible methodology.
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Intel Architecture: All set for high-performance military embedded signal processing applications
The latest Intel Core i7 dual-core processors provide users with an alternative to Power Architecture processors for DSP applications.
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Taming Software-Defined Radio: A graphical user interface for digital communication system prototyping
Michael J. Leferman Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and 
Alexander M. Wyglinski Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)Dream Stream: Getting around what would have been an arduous learning curve by using Simulink for streaming access to the Universal Software Radio Peripheral 2 (USRP2)
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FPGA synthesis tools meet the DO-254 challenge
FPGA synthesis tools designed for DO-254 compliance are keeping modern aviation designs flying high in light of optimization vs. design assurance, SEU protection, redundancy control, and late design changes.
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How secure is secure for embedded systemsí design
One thing that many designers get wrong is designing a security system without first identifying and understanding real threats that are likely to be encountered and represent significant risk to their end products.
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Tipping points in programmable logic: Is FPGA design more complex than ASIC design?
Assessing which ASIC tool technologies will prove useful to FPGA tool flows
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Modeling C applications in UML with files and structures
Fortunately, modeling technologies such as the Unified Modeling Language (UML) help software engineers understand applications by clearly showing structure and behavior; unfortunately, many DSP developers believe that they cannot use UML to design their applications.
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Pumping CD-quality stereo audio over digital networks in real-time
The promotion of “digital lifestyles” over recent years has significantly raised consumer expectations in relation to video definition and audio fidelity.
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Two competitive FPGA methodologies for run-time reconfiguration
While a significant amount of time and effort has been dedicated to solving the run-time reconfiguration challenge in FPGAs, the resolution can come from two very different approaches.
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Easing the integration headaches of FPGAs into heterogeneous embedded systems
Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vendors have begun adding advanced features to their products such as specialized out-of-band control and maintenance interfaces and embedded debugging features.
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Migrating PowerPC to FPGAs: New C-to-hardware tools to renew PowerPC applications
This article explores the considerations that make migrating legacy embedded code better or worse candidates for FPGA deployment.
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What to expect for ruggedized MicroTCA enclosure platforms
MicroTCA has a role to play in both military and telco applications, and that means a one-size-fits-all cooling solution won't be the answer.
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Tightly coupling FPGAs with x86 processors
This article highlights the benefits of Acceleration Abstraction Layers and discusses how military systems designers can now leverage a new class of COTS board and accelerator modules to solve some of their most demanding tasks.
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Dynamically reconfigurable Massively Parallel Processor Arrays in high-performance embedded military systems
Many advanced surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance sensors support multimode operation to respond to unique situational demands, but these needs are outstripping ordinary CPU and DSP processor capabilities. As these systems must become more multimodal, flexible, and dynamically reconfigurable, the new Massively Parallel Processor Array (MPPA) is now stepping in to meet these challenges.
Ian Colville, Aculab
Mark Littlefield, Kontron
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