Low-Power Space Saving PolarFire FPGA for Enhanced Security and Reliability in Automotive and Military Applications

Published  March 4, 2021   0
PolarFire FPGAs from Microchip

Automotive, defense, aerospace, and industrial designers who need automotive and defense-grade programmable logic solutions can now order Microchip’s AEC-Q100 qualified and defense-grade PolarFire that’s available in volume production. With robust device certification and characterization, customers get programmable logic solutions ideal for thermally challenging environments.

These low-power, cost-optimized, mid-range PolarFire FPGAs offer on-chip security features that enable secure communication, an encrypted bitstream, and a cryptographically secured supply chain, ensuring tamper-proof solutions for different market segments.  The devices deliver up to 50% lower power than competing solutions and pan from 100K Logic Elements (LEs) to 500K LEs and feature 12.7G transceivers.

The FPGAs can operate without fans and in some cases without heatsinks, simplifying the thermal design of the system and creating new opportunities for smaller, lighter designs.  This helps in blind spot detection, lane change warning systems, and backup cameras.

The PolarFire automotive and military-grade FPGAs are available in volume production and are supported by development boards, Microchip’s Libero software tool suite, VectorBlox Accelerator Software Development Kit and IP, plus Microchip’s High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tool for edge compute solutions.

Key Features of PolarFire FPGAs

  • Cost-optimized, lowest power in their class
  • 250 Mbps to 12.7 Gbps transceivers
  • 100K to 500K LEs, up to 33 MB RAM
  • Best-in-class security and exceptional reliability
  • Deterministic, coherent 64-bit multi-core RISC-V CPU
  • 25K to 460K LEs featuring 12.7 Gbps transceivers
  • Up to 50% lower power than alternatives