How do the HERON modules work together?

HERON modules are designed to interface to FIFOs that are provided by the module carrier board.

For FPGA modules you use the Hardware Interface layer VHDL to access the HERON-FIFOs using dedicated FPGA hardware.

For Host (PC) programs you use the Host-API software to access the HERON-FIFOs using the master mode hardware of the module carrier card.

A HEART module carrier allows you to use those FIFOs to make connections between modules. The FIFO connections are configured by software using the HERON Serial Bus. You define the connections you need in a simple text file, and the software tools we provide do the rest.

The FIFOs are synchronous, 32bits wide and can be clocked at 100Mhz. Each module provides its own clock so they do not need to be the same frequency or phase. The FIFO flags are used to determine when data can be transferred, so data is not lost.

Using HEART you can connect FPGA, C6000 and I/O modules in any combination, here are some examples...

Example: Several FPGA modules
Different FPGA modules can be combined in the same system to get more system gates or to use the different I/O capabilities.

The FPGAs communicate by sending data through the HERON FIFOs using Hardware Interface Layer,

Optionally a PC can be part of the system, having FIFO connection(s) to the FPGA modules. A program on the PC will use Host-API to access the FIFOs.

Example: System with 2 boards
Modules can be combined across more than one Module carrier using the inter-board connection modules.The connection between boards is used in exactly the same way as the FIFOs on a single module carrier. 

Such a system can be embedded, used with both boards in the same PC, or with the 2 boards in different PCs. Perhaps one will be in a PC and the other embedded at a remote location.

Embedded and stand alone systems

Changing your  HERON and HEART system is a simple process. All of our module carriers can be used in embedded systems. 
FPGA modules have a PROM (sometimes a build time option) that can hold their configuration for an embedded system.
HEART can still be used to provide communication between modules. The final HEART configuration can be stored in the FPGA's configuration PROM.
For more details about Embedded Systems look here.

What performance can I get?

System designers must consider all aspects of the system, not simply the ratings of individual parts. With a HERON system the I/O can be tightly integrated with the processing. HEART can guarantee data transfer rates between nodes of 400Mbytes/sec. However, other aspects of the system are likely to impose a lower limit on the performance.  A common limit is if the host PC is used as a node in the system -- here peak rates can only be approached if there is a buffer used to decouple the "bursty" nature of PCI transfers in a PC.

For more detailed information about Hunt Engineering technology see the Technology section.