Altera ships lowest power midrange fpgas

The range is designed to enable designers to tailor low power, high bandwidth , and low cost requirements for next generation systems in the wireless, broadcast and military markets. The Arria V series is the second family to ship from the company's 28nm product portfolio following the shipment of its Stratix V family in early 2011. According to Altera, the range is developed on TSMC's 28nm low power (28lp) process and offers the lowest total power, lowest static power, and lowest transceiver power of any midrange fpga family, consuming up to 40% less power compared to previous generation devices. Altera adds that the series also delivers 50% lower static power and 50% lower transceiver power than any fpga in its class. The devices are optimised to consume 100mW of power at 10.3125Gb/s data rates. Potential applications include remote radio units, in studio mixers and 10G/40G linecards. "The Arria V architecture, IP and development tools combined with TSMC's 28lp process enable our customers to achieve an optimised balance of cost, power and performance," said Patrick Dorsey, senior director of product marketing at Altera. "Our investment in tailoring the family to meet the unique requirements of wireless, broadband and military applications will ensure customers achieve the best performance per watt for their applications." There are four variants - the GX, GT, SX and ST. Software support and engineering samples are available now.