Lattice claims that the devices lead the general-purpose FPGA market in I/O density, delivering up to twice the I/O density per mm2 in comparison to similar competing FPGAs, and provide best-in-class power savings, small size, reliability, instant-on performance, and support fast PCI Express (PCIe) and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces to enable data co-processing, signal bridging, and system control.
The Certus-NX FPGAs tare intended to address the needs of a variety of applications, from data processing in automated industrial equipment to system management in communications infrastructure. The devices are the second family of FPGAs developed on the Lattice Nexus platform, the industry’s first low power FPGA platform using 28 nm FD-SOI process technology.
Certus-NX is the second device family developed under Lattice’s new product development strategy and was achieved in just six months.
“Thanks to innovations at the system, architecture, and circuit level in our Lattice Nexus development platform, we are releasing new products at a faster pace and giving our customers more options to choose from as they evaluate the performance and power needs of their applications,” said Gordon Hands, Director of Product Marketing, Lattice Semiconductor. “Certus-NX has clearly reset expectations for what developers should look for in general-purpose FPGAs by providing a compelling blend of parallel processing performance and flexible I/O support that enables creative new device designs.”
In order to successfully support trends, such as industrial automation and 5G where engineers are looking to add processing and connectivity to applications that operate at the network Edge, devices are required that deliver low power processing hardware with support for popular interfaces like PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet. Device developers also need easy-to-use development platforms from a single source that provide the hardware, software, and IP they need to get products to market quickly.
Key features of the Lattice Certus-NX FPGA family include:
Up to 3x smaller form factor – Certus-NX FPGAs fit into compact designs with minimal impact on overall design footprint. Even when using the smallest package available in the family, Certus-NX FPGAs deliver up to twice the I/O density per mm2 in comparison to similar competing FPGAs to enable greater design flexibility and robust support for bridging applications.
Robust I/O interfacing capability– Certus-NX developers will have access to Lattice’s extensive IP library. Notable IP blocks available on Certus-NX include:1.5 Gbps differential I/O with performance that is up to 70 percent higher than competing FPGAs.; 5 Gbps PCIe, 1.5 Gbps SGMII, and 1066 Mbps DDR3. Developers can test these IP blocks on Certus-NX development boards for the fast implementation of interfaces commonly used in Certus-NX FPGAs’ target applications.
Strong authentication and encryption – To secure the devices’ bitstream against unauthorized access/alteration/copying, Certus-NX FPGAs support AES-256 encryption with best-in-class ECDSA authentication to protect devices throughout their lifecycles.
Up to 4x lower power consumption – Certus-NX FPGAs use a programmable back bias to enable user-selectable high performance or low power operating modes, depending on the needs of their application. The devices can provide power consumption up to 4x lower than similar FPGAs.
Instant-on performance – The devices offer ultra-fast device configuration from SPI memory that is up to 12x faster than similar competing FPGAs, with individual I/Os able to configure in just 3 ms, and full-device startup in only 8-14 ms depending on device capacity.
High reliability – Reliable performance is key for safety-critical industrial and automotive applications where devices must perform as expected to avoid damage/injury. Certus-NX FPGAs offer up to 100 times better soft-error rate (SER) performance than similar FPGAs. Certus-NX FPGAs are temperature-rated for use in industrial applications. They also support ECC and SEC in hardware.
Ease of use/design – Certus-NX FPGAs support Lattice Radiant® software, an easy-to-use, unified FPGA design environment that integrates best-in-class tools and features to help users develop their applications quickly and efficiently.
