Acromag’s new APZU series expands their offering of mini PCIe-based AcroPack modules with a programmable I/O solution featuring the Xilinx® Zynq UltraScale+ multiprocessor system-on-a-chip (MPSoC). Three models are available offering a choice of digital I/O interfaces with 28 TTL, 20 TTL and 3 RS422/485, or 14 LVDS signals. These mezzanine modules mount on a variety of AcroPack carrier cards for PCIe, VPX, and other platforms allowing developers to mix and match I/O combinations on a single board for embedded applications running on Linux®, Windows®, or VxWorks® operating systems.
The APZU’s Zynq 3CG MPSoC combines a feature-rich ARM-based processing system and programmable logic in a single device. Two dual-core ARM Cortex CPUs (A53 application processor and R5 real-time processor) deliver high-performance computation capability. 154k logic cells provide plenty of FPGA processing blocks for hardware acceleration and compute-intensive tasks. Additional resources include large on-chip memory, external memory interfaces, and a rich set of peripheral connectivity interfaces. Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, and USB-UART interfaces are supported.
AcroPack modules are only 30mm x 70mm. They use a standard mini PCIe edge connector but add a down-facing 100-pin connector which internally routes I/O signals through the carrier card to secure field connectors, thus eliminating loose cables and increasing reliability.
“Designers can increase overall system performance by leveraging the tightly-coupled CPU and FPGA computing engines for different signal processing tasks in a very small and cost-effective form factor.” stated Robert Greenfield, Acromag’s Business Development Manager.
Designed for defense and aerospace systems, these AcroPacks are ideal for adaptive filtering, protocol conversion, simulation, HIL test, motor control, image processing, and sensor fusion applications. The COTS modules can be used in PCIe servers, VPX or CompactPCI Serial chassis, and small form factor embedded computers
