Power consumption reduced by new fpgas
1 min read
Programmable solutions specialist Altera has announced an update to its Cyclone fpga series.
The Cyclone IV fpga range is Altera's response to increased low cost bandwidth needs and is said to add support for mainstream serial protocols, while offering a balance of low power and low cost with logic, memory and dsp capabilities.
Two variants are available. The Cyclone IV GX devices have up to 150K logic elements, up to 6.5Mbits of RAM, up to 360 multipliers and up to eight integrated 3.125Gbps transceivers supporting a number of mainstream protocols. The low power devices have been designed for small form factor applications in the wireless, wireline, broadcast, industrial and consumer markets.
According to Altera, by integrating transceivers, the GX fpgas reduce power consumption up to 30% compared to previous generation Cyclone products, combined with external transceiver PHYs.
The Cyclone IV E devices are said to deliver 25 % lower power compared to previous Cyclone products for power sensitive applications such as handheld software defined radio.
Vince Hu, vice president of product and corporate marketing at Altera, said: "By rivalling the cost of ASSPs and offering unmatched flexibility, Cyclone IV fpgas are the obvious choice for next generation designs. The innovative features of the Cyclone IV family make it easy for designers to support multiple protocols, simplify board design and create obsolescence-proof solutions that will outlast ASSPs."
