Source: 4DSP
April 20, 2006

Virtex-4 PMC expansion card accelerates signal processing algorithms

04-20-2006 RENO, NV

4DSP Inc, a leader for innovation in reconfigurable computing and DSP applications, released the FM480, a new PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) based on the latest Virtex-4 FPGA technology from Xilinx. The FM480 field trials have shown exceptional performances and robustness. The first application developed for the FM480 was a 2-D Fast Fourier Transform
(FFT) based on the IEEE-754 compliant floating point FFT core from 4DSP.
"It was thrilling to see that the FM480, employing a mid-size Virtex-4 FPGA could compute an FFT three times faster than a Dual Intel Xeon processor blade while consuming a third of the power" says Pierrick Vulliez, 4DSP's CTO. "So far, FPGAs have mainly been employed in the world of fixed point arithmetic but with the right board architecture and off the shelf Intellectual Property cores, FPGA based products like the FM480 become more than viable alternatives to bulky processor blades. It takes the world of computing one step higher." Optionally conduction cooled, the FM480 PMC expansion card comes with large SRAM and DRAM resources and ultra-fast DMA engines, making it the ideal candidate as a co-processor unit for demanding signal processing algorithms. With several Front Panel I/O modules such as Camera Link, Front Panel Data Port (FPDP) and Analog to Digital Converters, it offers a flexible integration platform for a wide range of applications. The FM480 has already been shipped to several customers and current developments include a real time JPEG2000 compression implementation in the Virtex-4 device. Further details can be accessed by visiting the product page at http://www.4dsp.com/FM480.htm.