NetFPGA Technical Specifications
The NetFPGA is the low-cost reconfigurable hardware platform optimized for high-speed networking. The NetFPGA includes the all fo the logic resources, memory, and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces necessary to build a complete switch, router, and/or security device. Because the entire datapath is implemented in hardware, the system can support back-to-back packets at full Gigabit line rates and has a processing latency measured in only a few clock cycles.
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Logic
- Xilinx Virtex-II Pro 50
- 53,136 logic cells
- 4,176 Kbit block RAM
- up to 738 Kbit distributed RAM
- 2 x PowerPC cores
- Fully programmable by the user
Gigabit Ethernet networking ports
- Connector block on left of PCB interfaces to 4 external RJ45 plugs
- Interfaces with standard Cat5E or Cat6 copper network cables using Broadcom PHY.
Wire-speed processing on all ports at all time using FPGA logic.
- 1 Gbits * 2 (bi-directional) * 4 (ports) = 8 Gbps throughput
Static Random Access Memory (SRAM)
Double-Date Rate Random Access Memory (DDR2 DRAM)
- 400 MHz Asynchronous clock
- Suitable for packet buffering
- 25.6 Gbps peak memory throughput
- Total capacity: 64 MBytes
- Micron: MT47H16M16BG-5E
- Two SATA-style connectors to Multi-Gigabit I/O (MGIO) on right-side of PCB
- Allows multiple NetFPGAs within a PC to be chained together
Standard PCI Form Factor
- Standard PCI card
- Can be used in a PCI-X slot
- Enables fast reconfiguration of the FPGA over PCI bus without using JTAG cable
- Provides CPU access to memory-mapped registers and memory on the NetFPGA hardware
Hardware Debugging ports
- JTAG cable connector can be used to run Xilinx ChipScope Pro
Flexibile, Open-source code
- BSD-style open-source reference router available from the NetFPGA.org website. Download it, use it, keep it, give back to the community if you choose.