BittWare XUSP3S, Virtex or Kintex UltraScale, 4x QSFP – Sky Blue Microsystems GmbH

BittWare XUSP3S | Virtex UltraScale 95 or Kintex UltraScale 95/115 FPGA | 64GB | 4x QSFP | 4x 100GigE | Four PCIe x8 Gen1, Gen2, or Gen3

BittWare’s XUSP3S is a 3/4-length PCIe x8 card based on the Xilinx Virtex or Kintex UltraScale FPGA. The high-performance UltraScale devices provide increased system integration, reduced latency, and high bandwidth for systems demanding massive data flow and packet processing. The board offers flexible memory configurations supporting up to 64 GBytes of memory, sophisticated clocking and timing options, and four front panel QSFP cages, each supporting up to 100 Gbps (4×25) – including 100GbE. The XUSP3S also incorporates a Board Management Controller (BMC) for advanced system monitoring, which greatly simplifies platform integration and management. All of these features combine to make the XUSP3R ideal for a wide range of data center applications, including network processing, cyber security, acceleration, storage, broadcast, and Signals Intelligence.

The Xilinx UltraScale FPGAs are built on 20 nm process technology and provide ASIC-like clocking for scalability, performance, and lower dynamic power. UltraScale devices are available in two variants: Virtex and Kintex; the XUSP3S board supports both. The Virtex devices feature two types of multi-gigabit transceivers: 32x 16Gb/s (GTH) and 16x 32.75 Gb/s (GTY), while Kintex devices have 48x GTH. The GTY transceivers enable 400GbE, 100GbE, and 25GbE. The Kintex FPGAs support 5,520 DSP slices, while the Virtex supports 768. The UltraScale FPGAs provide four integrated blocks for PCI Express, supporting x8 Gen3 Endpoint and Root Port designs. Integrated blocks for 150 Gb/s Interlaken and 100 Gb/s Ethernet (100G MAC/PCS) enable simple, reliable support for Nx100G switch and bridge applications.

Xilinx UltraScale 3/4-Length PCIe Board with Quad QSFP, DDR4, and QDR-II+

High-Speed Networking and I/O

The XUSP3S provides a variety of interfaces for high-speed serial I/O as well as debug support. Four QSFP28 cages are available on the front panel, each supporting 100GbE, 40GbE, four 25GbE, or four 10GbE channels, for a total of up to 400 Gbps of bandwidth. The four QSFPs can also be combined for 400GbE. The QSFP channels are connected directly to the UltraScale FPGA via 32 Gb/s GTY transceivers (or GTH for Kintex devices). The QSFP cages can optionally be adapted for SFP+.

Two Gen3 x8 PCIe interfaces connect to the FPGA via 16 GTH transceivers, allowing for a x8 PCIe connection in a standard slot or two x8 interfaces in a bifurcated slot. An optional serial expansion interface on the back side of the board provides a 16x GTH transceiver port connection to the FPGA and can be used to add serial memory, such as Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC). The expansion site can also be used to connect an additional two x8 PCIe interfaces to the FPGA via a cable assembly connecting to an adjacent board that supports PCIe bifurcation, allowing for a total of four x8 PCIe interfaces.

A USB 2.0 interface is available for debug and programming support. The board also supports timestamping with provision for a 1 PPS and reference clock input.

Memory

The XUSP3S features up to 32 GBytes DDR4 on-board as well as two SODIMM sites that support standard DDR4 and proprietary QDR-II+ SODIMMs. Memory card options include up to 16 GBytes of DDR4 with optional ECC or up to 72 MBytes QDR-II+ (2 banks x18). Additional on-board memory includes Flash with factory default and support for multiple FPGA images.

Board Management Controller

This boards‘s advanced system monitoring subsystem features a Board Management Controller (BMC), which accepts Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) messaging protocol commands.

The BMC features include control of power and resets, monitoring of board sensors, FPGA boot loader, voltage overrides, configuration of programmable clocks, and access to I2C bus components, field upgrades, and IPMI messaging.

Access to the BMC is via PCIe or USB. BittWare’s BittWorks II Toolkit also provides utilities and libraries for communicating with the BMC components at a higher, more abstract level, allowing developers to remotely monitor the state of the board.

BittWorks II Toolkit

BittWare offers complete software support for this card with its BittWorks II software tools. The BittWorks II Toolkit serves as the main interface between the BittWare board and the host system. The Toolkit includes drivers, libraries, utilities, and example projects for accessing, integrating, and developing applications for the BittWare board.

FPGA Development Kit

BittWare’s FPGA DevKit provides FPGA board support IP and integration for BittWare’s Altera FPGA-based boards. The FDK includes FPGA components that provide preconfigured physical interfaces, infrastructure, and examples, drastically cutting development time and easily integrating into existing FPGA development environments.

Working example projects are available for each board, which illustrate how to move data between the board’s different interfaces. Supported interfaces include DDR4, DDR3, DDR2, QDR2/+, PCIe, 10GbE, LVDS, SerDes, and Double Data Rate I/O. All example projects are available on BittWare’s Developer Site.

BittWare XUSP3S accelerator diagram showing hardware elements with 4x QSFP28 / zQSFP cages on front panel connected directly to FPGA via 16 GTY/Virtex and GTH/Kintex transceivers.
Hardware accelerator diagram: BittWare XUSP3S with four QSFP28 cages for 1x 400GbE, 4x 100GbE, 4x 40GbE, 16x 25GbE, or 16x 10GbE.

Product Data

BittWare XUSP3S is a standard-height PCIe card with Virtex UltraScale125/160/190 and 16x/32x GTH at 32.75/16 Gbps.
XUSP3S is 3/4-length, standard-height PCIe dual slot card featuring Virtex UltraScale125/160/190.
BittWare XUSP3S with up to 64 GB of DDR4 SDRAM ECC and 144 MB QDR-II available with active cooling.
XUSP3S supports up to 64 GB of DDR4 SDRAM with ECC and 144 MB QDR-II+.
BittWorks II Toolkit include BwMonitor app provides a view into the board management capabilities like live board power and temperature display of BittWare hardware.
BwMonitor is a part of the BittWorks II Toolkit: provides live board power and temperature display of BittWare hardware.