FPGA-based development kit for designing intelligent automotive subsystems

The folks at Xilinx are launching new products like hotcakes at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). For example, they've just announced immediate availability of the Xilinx Automotive (XA) Electronic Control Unit (ECU) Development Kit, based on their low-cost family of automotive-qualified Xilinx XA Spartan-3E field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

The XA Automotive ECU kit provides a platform for rapid development of in-vehicle networking, infotainment, driver assistance, and driver information systems. Xilinx will showcase XA-based solutions January 7-10 in Xilinx Booth #35768 (South Hall).

Xilinx teamed with Si-Gate GmbH, a leading provider of automotive electronics solutions, to develop the XA Automotive ECU Development Kit. The kit includes a development board with pre-engineered hardware interfaces, and supports a host of automotive application intellectual property (IP). With such a complete development environment, automotive designers can quickly evaluate devices and get their designs up and running right out of the box.

Out-of-the-box development system
The XA Automotive ECU Development Kit provides all the components needed to develop entire subsystems, including an XA1600E development board equipped with an XA Spartan-3E 1.6 million system gate FPGA, and on-board hardware interfaces such as CAN 2.0B and C, Ethernet 10/100, USB 2.0, SPI and SCI.

Pre-verified Xilinx and third-party application IP provides the necessary building blocks for developing MOST systems, FlexRay connectivity, along with high and low-speed CAN bus interfaces. The kit also includes a power supply with universal adapter, programming and custom serial cables, QuickStart Guide, and resource CD with a reference design for easy evaluation. Evaluation versions of the Xilinx Embedded Development Kit and ISE design tools are also supported.

About XA Spartan-3E FPGAs
The XA Spartan-3E FPGA family is tested to meet the needs of high-volume, cost-sensitive automotive electronics applications. The five-member family offers densities ranging from 100,000 to 1.6 million-system gates with various package options. XA devices are available in both extended-temperature Q-Grade (–40°C to +125°C Tj) and I-Grade (–40°C to +100°C Tj) and are qualified to the industry-recognized AEC-Q100 standard.

These 90-nm devices are claimed to deliver more functionality and I/O bandwidth per dollar than previously possible, setting new standards in the programmable logic industry.

Pricing and availability
The XA Automotive ECU Development Kit is immediately available for $1,495 USD. Visit www.xilinx.com/xa_ecu_devkit for more details.

About Xilinx automotive solutions
The Xilinx Automotive (XA) line of FPGAs and CPLDs are tested to the AEC-Q100 automotive qualification standard. Xilinx automotive solutions include LogiCORE and AllianceCORE IP portfolio, operating systems, middleware, software, and development boards. For more information about Xilinx automotive solutions, visit: www.xilinx.com/automotive.