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HERON FPGA Systems
HERON FPGA systems are modular and high performance!
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To build systems with many millions of FPGA gates, combined with system I/O at
hundreds of Mhz, you can choose any combination
of our HERON modules and fit them to a module carrier to
form the real-time FPGA system you need.
For example take 4 modules with 8Million gates and 256Mbytes of memory each,
and you can get 32Million FPGA gates and 1Gbyte of memory in a single PCI slot!
The FPGAs can pass data between themselves at 400Mbytes/second in each
direction and to the PC at 100Mbytes/second
You can make a reconfigurable system
using the modules as programmable resources in the system and a module carrier card
to provide the interconnection between the modules.
The interconnection uses synchronous FIFOs that could be physical FIFO components, but our HEART communications
system provides software configurable connections using "virtual FIFOs"
with 400Mbytes/second possible in each direction simultaneously.
Here you can define your connections in software which, once connected, behave exactly like a dedicated hardware connection.
There is no arbitration, or sharing of resources, so the connection is truly real time.
Inter-board
Connection modules allow you to extend this real time architecture across several module carriers,
allowing larger systems and even distributed (remote) systems.
When you receive your FPGA hardware, you need to program it to perform the functions your system needs. On our CD we provide many tutorials and examples that help you to learn how to use the tools, and get your project started quickly. We'll even provide some cables to allow you to use the system right away. If you prefer to have an instructor, we can offer you a training course. Purchase it at the same time as your system and you can be trained on your own system.
As your project progresses and your needs change you can trade off quantities, delivery times and cabling for discounts. See our customer charter.
To summarise, a typical system will use a module carrier board with some FPGA modules fitted. Then system I/O will be added via more modules. If you need more than 4 modules, or for some reason your system needs to be split between 2 locations you will use the Inter-board Connections. To make the hardware perform the function you need you will need to program it using the software development tools. Start your development quickly using our tutorials and examples.
