Nu Horizons Virtex-4 Development Platform
The NH401 (Figure 1) from Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. is designed as a
low-cost, high-value development platform to provide a demonstration
of the Xilinx® Virtex-4™ LX/SX/FX family. The NH401 platform
showcases the enormous power and flexibility of Virtex-4
FPGAs, including new and improved clock technology, system
monitors, DSP blocks, Smart RAM blocks, advanced I/Os, embedded
MACs, 10/100/1000 Ethernet MAC, RocketIO™ MGTs, and
embedded processors (Power PC™ 405 hard-core and
MicroBlaze™ soft-core processors).
The NH401 is built around a Virtex-4 FPGA and is designed to
offer a user-friendly and highly useful set of features at an extremely
low price point. The board is envisioned to function as an easy-to-use demonstration platform, as well as a high-performance DSP
development or embedded processing platform. Included with the
NH401 are simple tutorials, reference designs, and interesting
demos, including a full embedded computer that can you can easily
expand or adapt for your own applications.
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Evaluate and implement your design by leveraging the ML401 board’s rich feature set.
Feature Summary
- XC4VLX25/40/60, FX12, SX35-FF668
- Memory
- 64 MB DDR2 SDRAM - 533 MHz
- 1 MB ZBT SRAM
- 32 MB CompactFlash™
- 8 MB Flash
- 128 kb IIC EEPROM
- 32 Mb Platform Flash
- VGA controller (resolutions as high as 1024 x 768 at 60 Hz)
- Audio in/out CODEC (microphone in, line-in/out, and headphone output jacks)
- LCD display (16 x 2 character)
- RS232 serial port
- 2 x PS/2 (P/C keyboard and mouse)
- GPIO: 5 Buttons + 13 LEDs + 8 DIP switches
- 4 SMAs (differential clock in/out) + CLK oscillator socket
- ADC system monitor (-3V or 0-6V swing can be sampled)
- 64-bit expansion I/O connector routed for LVDS, Agilent Soft Touch connector
- 10/100/1000 Ethernet PHY
- PC4 connector (allow for JTAG debug/download via the Parallel-IV cable)
- USB host/peripheral interface
- CPLD for Flash configuration of FPGA
- High-speed frequency synthesizer - 622 MHz
Additional plug-in evaluation modules are available:
- Linear Technology high-speed A/D converters
- 10/12/14-bit 10 to 135 Msps ADCs
- Intersil high-speed D/A interface
- 8/10/12/14-bit 130 to 260 Msps DACs
Support for Multiple Clock Sources and Differential Clock Inputs
- Memory interfaces for DDR2 SDRAM at 533 MHz, ZBT SRAM, and Linear Flash
- Multiple FPGA configuration modes: Platform Flash, System ACE™ CF, Linear
Flash, and Parallel Cable-IV
- Audio and video interfaces
- Multiple user interfaces: dual PS/2, IIC Bus, RS-232, USB, and tri-mode
Ethernet
- High-speed data acquisition expansion module interface supporting single-ended
and LVDS I/O standards
Optimize Your Design with Unique Built-In Silicon Features
- ChipSync™ source-synchronous technology embedded in every I/O ensures reliable
data capture
- Xesium differential global clocks minimize skew and jitter for increased
design margins
Finish Faster Using Proven Reference Designs
- Reference designs and IP cores for numerous applications speed up your
design cycle
- A comprehensive suite of application notes guides you every step of the way
* Demonstrations ship in Platform Flash, Linear Flash, and System ACE CF formats
All of the designs and related documentation for the
Virtex-4 board are available on the Nu Horizons
website at www.nuhorizons.com/v4/.
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