Orlando, Fla. at DSP World, November 1, 1999—Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announces the availability of seven new core products targeted at DSP-based applications. The list includes four single-chip Complex Fast Fourier Transform (CFFT) XilinxÒ LogiCOREÔ products, along with two video color-space conversion cores, and a three-million gate DSP hardware verification platform from a third-party AllianceCORE partner. All have been specifically optimized for use with the new, industry-leading 1.8–volt Virtex-E FPGA family and will be demonstrated this week at the DSP World Show in Orlando, Fla. 

"FPGAs are increasingly used in high-speed and computationally intensive applications," said Babak Hedayati, program director, CORE Solutions Marketing at Xilinx. "The enhanced I/O and memory performance of the new multi-million gate Virtex-E family dramatically broadens the horizons for DSP applications in markets such as wireless, communications, HDTV, and speech and image processing. For example, a complete 16-bit 1024-point complex FFT can now be implemented in a single XCV300EÔ FPGA—an industry first." 

Virtex-E devices enable single-chip Complex FFT solutions 

The four new CFFT cores developed by Xilinx include fixed 16–, 64–, 256– and 1024–point solutions that handle 16-bit complex data input and output. The Virtex-E devices allow up to 130 MHz operation which yields transform times of 123 nanoseconds for the 16-point CFFT and 35 microseconds for the 1024–point CFFT. 

Fast Fourier Transforms are complex mathematical algorithms commonly used in wireless, xDSL (the grouping of various DSL technologies), radar, instrumentation, and speech processing applications. The expanded on-chip block RAM capabilities of the Virtex-E FPGAs eliminate the need for expensive external memory devices once required to support large FFT implementations in programmable logic or DSP processors. 

High performance video image processing 

AllianceCORE partner Perigee, LLC (Liverpool, NY) is shipping two new video image-processing cores based on the new Virtex-E family. These cores convert between digital RGB (typically used in computer video) and digital component YUV (typically used in digital broadcast video) signals. These cores can operate in excess of 200 MHz, more than enough bandwidth to support high definition television (HDTV) applications. 

Three million system gate DSP hardware verification platform 

AllianceCORE partner GV & Associates (Ramona, CA) is shipping the Virtex-E based GVA-270 DSP development board, an expanded platform for implementing and testing system-level DSP applications in hardware. The board includes two Virtex-E FPGAs in 240–pin PQFP packages allowing users to harness over 3-million programmable system gates for prototyping complete system-level designs. 

Availability 

All of these products are available today. Beta versions of the LogiCORE FFT cores are available from Xilinx today for free. The color space conversion cores list for $1500 each and include VHDL source code and testbench plus netlist, and can be purchased directly from Perigee. The GVA-270 board list price starts at $2800, and varies depending on the density of the included Virtex-E devices. It is available directly from GV & Associates. Datasheet information is available from the Xilinx IP Center. 

Xilinx is the leading innovator of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, high-reliability/military, and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com.