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Mercury Ensemble MTI-203

Overview

The Ensemble™ MTI-203 RapidIO® DSP/FPGA Signal and Video Processing AdvancedMC™ Card from Mercury Computer Systems is an ideal solution for developing and deploying LTE, WiMAX, nextgeneration video, or base-station applications. 
                      
With three TCI6482 DSPs and a supporting Xilinx® FPGA node, the module enables all the physical layer (PHY) baseband processing required for a 20-MHz, TDD (time division duplex), multi-antenna solution with Smart Antenna MIMO (multiple input/output) enabled. As a baseband development platform, the MTI-203 is designed to support advanced features such as Smart Antenna and MIMO transmission across a variety of air interfaces. 
 
WiMAX is an evolving standard (802.16x) for point-to-multipoint wireless networking. It can provide high-throughput connections over long-distance applications, including high-speed enterprise connectivity for businesses. The highly integrated MTI-203 module is designed to support the Texas Instrument (TI) WiMAX/802.16e infrastructure solution for wireless applications, which includes software, analog, and RF products from TI.
 
Combined DSP and FPGA Technology
 
At the heart of the MTI-203 are three Texas Instruments TMS320TCI6482 DSPs, running at 850 MHz each, and a Xilinx Virtex™-4 FX100 FPGA with dual integrated Power Architecture™ cores, running at 400 MHz. Combining DSPs and an FPGA on the same AMC module offers developers the ability to partition their applications using the most appropriate processing technology.
 
Flexible, High-Performance I/O InterfacesFlexible, High-Performance I/O Interfaces
 
The MTI-203 module communicates with the rest of the AdvancedTCA system via two 4x RapidIO fat pipes for data exchange and two 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports for configuration and control. The fat pipe from the FX100 FPGA is configurable as either a 4x serial RapidIO link or a 10-Gigabit Ethernet port. The second fat pipe, which is from the Tsi578™ switch, is a 4x serial RapidIO link. Total peak bandwidth is 13.125 Gbps.
 
Ensemble AdvancedTCA PlatformEnsemble AdvancedTCA Platform
 
The MTI-203 AMC expands the capabilities of the Ensemble family of blades and AMC modules to support highly integrated DSP/FPGA applications. The Ensemble Platform is a standards based solution built around the power, functionality, and scalability of serial RapidIO, AdvancedTCA, and AMC. The platform supports a variety of I/O sources and heterogeneous processing, thereby reducing integration costs, improving efficiency, and minimizing risks in design of next-generation applications. 
 
The Ensemble Platform has many advantages that accelerate application development activities:
  • The variety of heterogeneous Ensemble AMCs allows developers to customize applications with options to plug in host processors,radio cards, or a network interface card (NIC) AMC.
  • AMCs can be combined with Ensemble carrier boards that provide RapidIO chip-to-chip and across-the-chassis connectivity, enabling seamless scaling from a single-sector system to multi-sector, multi-antenna, multi-carrier base-station implementations.
  • Ensemble offers developers the flexibility to easily expand specific processing nodes to address application performance bottlenecks; additional FPGA or DSP modules over RapidIO can be used to support specific application requirements.
  • The homogeneous RapidIO interconnect among processing nodes enables ease of programming of DSPs, communication processors, and FPGAs. 
For more information about the Mercury Ensemble MTI-203, see www.mc.com
 
Features 
 
Digital Signal Processors 
  • Three TI TMS320TCI6482 DSPs, 850 MHz
  • Serial RapidIO interfaces, 1.25 Gb, 2.5 Gb, or 3.125 Gbps
  • JTAG/emulation support
  • 2-wire EEPROM support
  • McBSP bus support
  • Code compatible with the TMS320C6455
  • RGMII Gigabit Ethernet supported on DSP_A and DSP_B
  • EMIF_A path from DSP_C to the FPGA
  • EMIF_A path from DSP_B to the FPGA SelectMAP to support reconfiguration 
 
FPGA
  • Xilinx Virtex-4 FX100 (compatible with Xilinx Virtex-4 FX60)
  • Reconfigurable from Xilinx platform flash (XCF32P)
  • LVDS bus support
  • One 4x serial RapidIO interface to RapidIO switch
  • One 4x serial RapidIO/10-Gigabit Ethernet interface to AMC connector 
 
Memory
  • DDRII 250-MHz SDRAM per DSP 64 MB
  • 16-bit DDRII interface
  • Flash (DSP_A) 16 MB 
 
RapidIO Switch
  • IDT Tsi578 8-port RapidIO switch
  • 1.25, 2.5, and 3.125 Gbps support 
 
Ethernet
  • FX100 FPGA performs Gigabit Ethernet PHY functions between AMC Ports 0 and 1 and DSP_A and DSP_B, respectively. 
 
IPMI
  • Hitachi® HD64F2166 IPMI controller
  • Voltage monitor
  • Geographical address monitor
  • Temperature monitors
  • Power/reset control
  • DSP and RapidIO switch
  • EEPROM interfaces
  • FPGA and CFG CPLD interfaces 
 
AMC Connector
  • Dual 10/100/1000 Ethernet (Ports 0-1)
  • 4x RapidIO (Ports 4-7)
  • 4x RapidIO or 10-Gigabit Ethernet port (Ports 8-11)
  • IPMB-A and IPMB-B link 
 
Front Panel
  • Per AMC.0 LEDs on front panel:
    • Out of service: Red
    • User LED2: Green
    • User LED3: Yellow
    • Hot swap: Blue
  • DSP LED for each DSP
  • Two FPGA LEDs
  • FPGA LVDS connector
  • JTAG debug connector
  • Reset push-button 
 
Test and Development
  • 14-pin front-panel JTAG/emulator/programming connector for DSPs and IPMI
  • 14-pin non-front-panel JTAG/emulator/programming connector for Xilinx FPGA and platform flash
  • Four AMC-specified LEDs
  • Eight user-defined LEDs 
 
Software support
  • Linux® variant 2.6 kernel 32- and 36-bit mode 
 
Mechanical
  • Full- or mid-height AMC, single-width AMC
  • Width: 28.96 mm
  • Depth: 208.53 mm
  • Height: 73.81 mm Supports AMC B+ bays 
 
Environmental
  • Temperature
    • Operating: 0°C to 45°C at 10,000 ft
    • Storage: -40°C to +85°C
  • Humidity
    • Operating 10-90% non-condensing
  • Vibration 0.003g2/Hz, 20-2000 Hz, 1 hr/axis
  • Shock x and y axes: 32g; z axis: 20g; 11 ms, half-sine 
 
Power Consumption
  • 12V payload 30W typical 40W max
  • 3.3V management 0.25W typical 0.5W max 
 
Specification Compliance
  • AMC.0 Rev 2.0 compliant
  • Hot swap support