The QuiXilica CALLISTO VXS is part of the QuiXilica VXS family of FPGA based processing hardware. The QuiXilica VXS family provides a complete range of flexible analog and digital IO products in the VITA 41.0 VXS form factor. The product range couples high performance analog and digital IO front ends with a scalable FPGA based processing architecture. Memory and inter-processor communications resources have been optimized to address the requirements of very high performance real time digital signal processing applications. This family of products is supported by a range of development kits, FPGA cores and software, providing users with power and flexibility while retaining consistency and ease of use across the range.

Key applications for the CALLISTO VXS-1 include electronic warfare, radar, software radio and telecommunications.

Features:
• High performance FPGA Based Communications management and processing platform
• Fits in Switch card position in a VXS (VITA 41.0) backplane
• Supports 4x, full Duplex 2.5 GBPS high speed serial links to up to sixteen VXS Payload slots
• Front panel breakout of up to twelve 2.5 GBPS links through fiber or copper SFP Transceivers
• Population options for five Xilinx XC2VP20 or XC2VP50 FPGAs
• Five banks of on-board DDR SDRAM memory, 64 MBytes per FPGA
• QuiXstart flexible FPGA configuration system
• Developer’s Kit available containing FPGA interface cores software and reference design

Hardware Description
CALLISTO VXS is designed to provide a platform which can be used to concentrate the high bandwidth data generated by multiple VXS payload cards in a VXS based hardware architecture. In addition, CALLISTO VXS allows break out of high bandwidth data to processing sub-systems in separate chassis through fiber optic or copper transceiver modules on the front panel. Five Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGAs are used to provide the high bandwidth communications links on the CALLISTO VXS and the FPGAs are also available to provide a significant data processing resource.

The CALLISTO VXS is supplied with a set of basic FPGA bitstreams, which can be used to verify correct operation of all hardware components and data links on the card. A hardware reference manual is supplied with the card that provides all of the information and references necessary for users to begin developing their own FPGA design for the card.

Applications Example: Advanced FPGA Systems Enable Real-Time Adaptive Beamforming for Phased-Array Radar