BEEcube Announces the BEE4-W, with Integrated High-speed ADC/DAC Capability

FREMONT, Calif., Nov. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- BEEcube Inc. today announces the immediate availability of BEE4-W™. Specifically designed to address rapid system level prototyping of Wireless and Digital Communications designs, the BEE4-W is BEEcube's latest generation FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) Berkeley Emulation Engine (BEE) platform.

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BEE4-W Meets Dynamic Mission Critical Prototyping Needs

With four (4) integrated ADC and DAC solutions, the Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA based BEE4-W enables a wide range of high-performance, real-time implementations in multiple military and defense applications.  

BEE4-W allows for flexible algorithm and feature set definitions and as a result excels as a true real-time development and deployment platform for:

• Radar applications
• Signal Intelligence
• MIMO communications
• Software defined radio (SDR)
• Wireless (Digital Based RF) Algorithm Applications

"The latest signal processing algorithms can now be rapidly prototyped and deployed on the BEE4-W system, running at clock rates of hundreds of MHz, which directly interface to multi-GHz and integrated A/D and D/A converters," announces Chen Chang, BEEcube's founder.  

BEE4-W Hardware Description

The BEE4-W is a commercial, stackable full speed multi-FPGA based prototyping platform, integrated with DAC/ADC modules for mixed signal and digital communications designs.  The FMC DAC/ADC Module is 4 sets of a single width FMC mezzanine card providing both a 12-bit, 2.3- GSps multi-Nyquist digital-to-analog converter and a 12 Bit, 1-GSps analog-to digital converter. BEE4-W DAC/ADCs are based on Maxim MAX19692 and Texas Instruments ADS5400 components.

Each BEE4-W system or module consists of 4 Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGAs based on a unique HPC (High Performance Computing) Honeycomb™ architecture. BEE4 modules can be stacked or clustered to increase capacity without losing speed. Using Sting I/O ™ and depending on the design, users can run prototype logic up to 500 MHz and digital interface communication at 640 Gbps per BEE4-W module, including optical interfaces and multiple Digital to Analog and Analog to Digital components.     BEE4-W supports the latest FMC and QSPF+ interface standards.

BEE4-W modules support of a variety of high-end Virtex-6 FPGAs, including LXT 240/365/550 and SXT 315/475, allowing BEE4-W to support 20 MGate designs per module, or 400 MGates per rack.  

A single BEE4-W has a maximum capacity of 20M ASIC gates, and the quad FPGA design is interconnected with a ring bus and integrated DDR3-800/1066 memory. Each BEE4 FPGA follows a symmetrical design, including identical memory and independent I/Os. Multiple high-speed data interfaces include: 160 Gbps QSFP+, x8 Gen2 PCI Express, Quad 1000BASE-T Ethernet, and Quad FMC expansion slots. The system has a capability of buffering 128GB of data in DDR3 memory.

BEE4-W is bundled, with:

• Our unique cluster-able Honeycomb™ symmetrical architecture.
• The industry's highest available inter-FPGA and BEE4 module to module communication via Sting I/O™,  
• Provides unprecedented programmable application access to your FPGA code, via our distributed Nectar OS ™,
• And a powerful algorithm development and IP library environment with BEEcube Platform Studio™ (BPS).

BEE4 capabilities include:

• Fully Scalable Full Speed interconnected Modules, up to 80 Modules per cluster.
• Integrated Flexible PC x86 based Environment, for BEE4 control, setup and management.
• Multi-user and remote access capabilities.
• Full speed network I/O up to 640 Gbps per module.
• Massive amounts of built-in Memory capability, expandable from 16 GB to 128 GB per module.
• Large designs can be handled, up to 20 MGates per module.
• Flexible Expansion Options, including SFP/SFP+, ADC/DAC, and FMC based peripherals.

BEE4 Features include:

• Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGAs , Up to 500 MHz
  • LXT240/365/550 and SXT315/475
• QSFP+, 20 Gbps (8x)
• FMC (HPC) Expansion Slots (4x)
• Gen2 PCI Express 8-lane (4x)
• DDR3-800/1066 ECC RDIMM (8x)
• Gigabit Ethernet (4x)
• Independent Globally Synchronous Clock Trees (4x)
• Integrated Atom PC Module
• 2U Rack-Module

About BEEcube

BEEcube, a leading provider of advanced system-level FPGA prototyping platforms, was founded in 2006. Spinning out of the University of California, Berkeley, BEEcube's founders include the best academic minds in Silicon Valley and are credited with founding a number of leading companies, including Atheros Communications.  

There are over 175 BEE systems deployed worldwide in major corporations and top universities. Corporations currently using BEE systems include: Xilinx, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Aerospace Corporation, and Thales Group. Leading universities include: University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, Barcelona Super Computing Center, Tokyo University, Tsinghua University, and Peking University.  

For more information contact [email protected] or visit the website: www.beecube.com. Telephone: (510) 252-1136. Facsimile: (888) 700-8917. BEEcube's corporate headquarters is based at 39465 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite 3700, Fremont, CA 94538.

BEEcube, BEE, BEE3, BEE3-W, BEE4, BEE4-W, BEEcube Platform Studio, Honeycomb Architecture, Sting I/O, and Nectar O/S are trademarks of BEEcube Inc. All rights reserved.  

BEEcube acknowledges trademarks or registered trademarks of other organizations for their respective products and services.  

SOURCE BEEcube Inc.