Microchip extends rad-tolerant GbE PHYs with copper and fibre support

Support for both copper and fibre interfaces is provided by the VSC8574RT PHY, the latest addition to Microchip’s radiation-tolerant family of Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) PHYs.

To streamline the implementation of Ethernet for aerospace and defence customers, Microchip Technology has created the VSC8574RT PHY which supports the Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) and Quad Serial Gigabit Media-Independent Interface (QSGMII) to reduce the overall signal pins in the design and free up the host device.

The VSC8574RT Ethernet PHY builds on Microchip’s commercial off the shelf (COTS) -based devices, allowing customers to begin developing applications using the COTS version and substitute a radiation-tolerant version device for the final mission. 

Being compatible with both copper and fibre interfaces makes new application use cases possible, said Microchip. Although copper is primarily used in today’s design, the fibre interface is expected to be specified more as the industry requires data rates exceeding 1Gbit. 

The VSC8574RT PHY is equipped with a quad port to support 10, 100 and 1000BASE-T Ethernet connections for optimal speed and reach, depending on the device requirements. The PHY also has advanced features, such as Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol (PTP), for network timing and synchronisation in applications requiring highly precise timing. 

The VSC8574RT specifications include single event latch-up immunity above 78MeV.cm²/mg and total ionising dose tested up to 100krad. It is applicable for projects from low earth orbit (LEO) to deep space.

“The VSC8574RT PHY with advanced timing features provides our customers with a connectivity solution for deterministic real-time applications,” said Bob Vampola, vice president of Microchip’s aerospace and defence business unit.

Available in limited sampling upon request, it joins Microchip’s VSC8541RT and VSC8540RT COTS-based GbE PHY devices. 

Microchip also offers support in the form of the VSC8574-EV evaluation board for the user to evaluate the device in multiple configurations.

http://www.microchip.com

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Imagination says IMG CXM is the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces

Seamless visual experiences for cost-sensitive consumer devices are assured with the IMG CXM GPU of RISC-V compatible cores, said Imagination Technologies. The range includes what is claimed to be the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces natively. 

The IMG CXM cores can lower the cost of DTV and other consumer devices in smart homes, for example, said Imagination. Another driver is content providers seeking to integrate 4K and HDR features to enrich content, continued the company.

There are three new configurations which extend the range of performance options already available in Imagination’s GPU family of products for the consumer space. Imagination has released the CXM-2-64, claimed to be the smallest GPU to support native HDR applications. It is suitable for wearable devices, SmartHubs or mainstream set-top boxes.

The CXM-4-64 is suitable for integrating into SmartHubs, set-top boxes or mainstream DTVs and the CXM-4-128 is a performance dense option for premium DTVs, advised Imagination.

The company has boosted the performance density of the IMG BXE and BXM range of GPUs for the CXM GPUs and added native support for HDR. 

The CXM GPUs support 10bits RGBA / YUV to deliver a HDR graphical user interface with images with less visible banding. To smooth the outline of texts and images, they employ 4xMSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility, an application programming interface (API) for user interface accessibility).  

TFBCv2, the new generation of Imagination’s Tiny Frame Buffer Compression, delivers higher quality lossy / lossless compression and an additional compression level (37.5%) for improved design flexibility.

The IMG CXM GPU range boasts nearly a 50 per cent uplift in performance density compared to the IMG BXM range.

The IMG CXM is supported by software that supports APIs, including Vulkan 1.3, and has been optimised for leading CPU architectures including Arm and RISC-V application processors.

Dr. Charlie Su, CTO and president of Andes Technology said: “The RISC-V ecosystem is growing rapidly. To continue its growth and showcase the many possible ways it can be deployed, we partnered with Imagination to provide a quick and easy path to validated GPU and CPU IP blocks that can reduce SoC design time, risk, and cost for our customers. With Imagination’s flexibly designed GPU, and our AndesCore high performance, low power RISC-V CPU, we are able to satisfy the requirements for display-oriented SoC in a short time and generate the optimum configuration.”

James Chapman, chief product officer, Imagination Technologies commented the CXM GPUs will “transform user experiences” and he expects to see the GPUs deployed in a diverse range of applications from wearables to premium 8K DTVs.

Imagination will be demonstrating TFBCv2 at the 2023 RISC-V Con Shanghai and 2023 RISC-V Con Beijing events, hosted by Andes Technology.

https://www.imaginationtech.com/

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Intel’s Agilex 7 FPGAs have PCIe 5.0 and CXL capabilities

Believed to be the first FPGA with PCIe 5.0 and CXL (Compute Express Link) inteconnect technology capabilities, the Agilex 7 FPGAs is shipping now with the R-Tile chiplet. Hardware support for the fast communication and interconnect standards will serve the increasing bandwidth requirements of cloud processing and is also claimed to be the only FPGA with hard IP supporting these interfaces.

The Agilex 7 FPGA with R-Tile addresses the need for fast, flexible devices to accommodate new connectivity and processing models from the edge to the cloud and increasing bandwidth requirements across markets. The FPGA has the high bandwidth interfaces and flexible programmable logic needed to address these requirements.

Market adoption of FPGA accelerators has steadily increased in recent years and with the rollout of R-Tile-equipped FPGAs, reported Intel.  FPGA accelerators can offload tasks from the host CPU, freeing up CPU cores and reducing the total power consumed, enabling total cost of ownership (TCO) savings. Cloud providers using FPGA accelerators can support more users and generate more licensing dollars from the newly available CPU cores, advised Intel.

Intel Agilex 7 FPGAs are built with a heterogeneous multi-die architecture, with an FPGA fabric chiplet in the centre connected to transceiver chiplets via Intel’s embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) technology. Each chiplet, or tile, is a small IC die containing a well-defined subset of hardened functionality. These chiplets enable a cost-effective approach to the in-package, high-density interconnect of heterogeneous chips addressing a broad array of applications with tailored, flexible devices and realise connectivity topologies within a single device that previously would have required multiple devices.

Many of the Intel Agilex 7 FPGA package combinations include the R-Tile chiplet, designed to support industry-leading bandwidth when connecting to high performance CPUs. The R-Tile chiplet combines hard IP blocks and soft IP code for PCIe 5.0 x16 and CXL 1.1 / 2.0, providing a high degree of flexibility across networking, cloud, data centre, high performance computing, for example.

R-Tile-based Intel Agilex 7 FPGAs are now in production.

The production qualification of R-Tile triggers the production release sequence for seven device densities across four different packages within the Intel Agilex 7 FPGA I-Series devices enabling customers to leverage Intel Agilex 7 FPGA fabric performance / per Watt leadership on new designs. 

Built on the Intel 10nm process technology, both the Intel Agilex 7 FPGA programmable logic and R-Tile chiplet leverage Intel’s robust supply chain with advanced manufacturing and test capabilities to deliver production solutions to standard lead times. Additional device density and package options will reach production once the Intel Agilex 7 FPGAs M-Series with R-Tile transition from sampling to production.

http://www.intel.com

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Network tester for Tx/Rx is for RF signals in commercial and military applications

To sense, capture, replay, alter and train RF signals, Viavi Solutions has developed the compact, lightweight, ruggedised T/Rx electromagnetic spectrum system.

The modular hardware and software architecture allows the T/Rx to be configured for different RF environments. It can be used in commercial applications, such as RF environment monitoring and recording, RF generation for network stress and loading, interference detection and analysis, and spectrum deconfliction. For military applications, it can be used for signal and electronic intelligence collection, electronic protection / support / attack and interference detection and analysis. 

It is designed for ease of use and swift deployment in a variety of environments, including air, sea, and land vehicles, backpacks and fixed installations. When coupled with the Viavi Ranger test system for live analysis or offline forensic RF post-processing, T/Rx allows users to adapt to changing RF environments and create a realistic, dynamic electromagnetic spectrum for any scenario, said Viavi.

Viavi’s director, synthetic and modular, Mark Pickard, operators can use the Viavi T/Rx to understand and control the electromagnetic environment with a standalone system or with distributed emitters and sensors in larger areas of operation”.

The system includes modular multi-channel RF architecture, high speed signal acquisition, processing and storage, real time signal analysis and generation features, flexible signal recording and playback function, SCA 4.1 eCo suite software defined radio core framework environment and an intuitive user interface which is not only easy to use but allows for scenario customisation, said Viavi.

Viavi provides network test, monitoring and assurance products for communications service providers, hyperscalers, equipment manufacturers, enterprises, government and avionics. It specialises in light management technologies for 3D sensing, anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, government and aerospace applications. 

http://www.viavisolutions.com

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