Hi all, I am looking at buying the Stratix IV dev kit. It comes with 8 transceivers routed to SMA connectors, but I need 16. Is it feasible to (with a decent performance) synchronize two of this boards by using the clock input/output? Any other thoughts on what to use to get this 16 transmitters working? Thanks in advance!

--- Quote Start --- I am looking at buying the Stratix IV dev kit. It comes with 8 transceivers routed to SMA connectors, but I need 16. Is it feasible to (with a decent performance) synchronize two of this boards by using the clock input/output? Any other thoughts on what to use to get this 16 transmitters working? --- Quote End --- You mean the Stratix IV SI kit? You can also use the Stratix IV GX development kit. It has two HSMC connectors with 8 + 6 transceivers, and then the PCIe edge connector with another 8 transceivers. Samtec sells cables for HSMC-to-SMA breakout and for PCIe-to-SMA breakout. The DE4 kit could also be used. Cheers, Dave

Thanks for your quick answer Dave! Regarding Stratix IV GX dev kit, problem is that the reference manual quotes 12 channels with 8.5 Gbps + 6 with 3.5 Gpbs (I don't know why). That is in page 2-5. I would like all of them to have the same performance. I am also not sure about the PCI: can I just use that physical interface but custom configure the transceivers? The DE4 is a little bit of the same: it quotes only 12 transceivers available. http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=138&no=501&partno=2 So I still don't know what to do. Am I reading any of this availability in a wrong way?

can you give more information about what you're trying to do? not only are there physical restrictions on how many transceivers are accessible through HSMC or SMA, but there are clocking resources and other place and route issues to consider. these sorts of questions can only be answered by doing a feasibility study in the Quartus

and though its still early and ES, have you looked at the SV SI kit?

--- Quote Start --- Regarding Stratix IV GX dev kit, problem is that the reference manual quotes 12 channels with 8.5 Gbps + 6 with 3.5 Gpbs (I don't know why). --- Quote End --- Let me look at the schematic ... p8 has the transceiver connections on the FPGA. The transceivers are all connected to true transceiver channels, not the 6.5Gbps CMU channels, so they are all capable of 8.5Gbps. Its possible that they don't want to 'quote' that due to the layout. I've been using the HSMC connections at 5Gbps without issues. --- Quote Start --- I am also not sure about the PCI: can I just use that physical interface but custom configure the transceivers? --- Quote End --- Yep, you can configure it to do what you like. The only caveat is that the transmitters have AC-coupling caps on them. If you needed a DC connection, you could replace them easily enough. --- Quote Start --- The DE4 is a little bit of the same: it quotes only 12 transceivers available. --- Quote End --- I don't have one of these, so you'd just have to look at the schematic and see what they've routed. Chances are they are not quoting the PCIe interface transceivers in that list, since they assume you'll want to use the board in a PCIe slot. However, both boards work fine standalone on the bench. Cheers, Dave

Stratix IV GX dev kit | Altera Community

14 Replies

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
14 years ago
i didn't see that the SV SI kit 21 channels of backplane transceivers weren't sent to the same connector

have you looked at the non-transceiver output delay chains? they are adjustable in 50ps increments
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
14 years ago
Pankake,

the output delay adjustment cannot be used for this, I have checked that. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Dave,

it's all different sequences, so I do need the different channels. I have checked the Samtec interfaces and it does not seem obvious to get that up and running quickly. This should be a quick-development initial prototype, so I think I will buy one Stratix IV GX with the 8 transceivers to SMA and figure out if that can do what I want. After that I will bug you again with the synchronization :)

Thanks a lot for your help, both of you!
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
14 years ago
--- Quote Start ---

it's all different sequences, so I do need the different channels.

--- Quote End ---

Ok.

--- Quote Start ---
I have checked the Samtec interfaces and it does not seem obvious to get that up and running quickly. This should be a quick-development initial prototype, so I think I will buy one Stratix IV GX with the 8 transceivers to SMA and figure out if that can do what I want. After that I will bug you again with the synchronization :)

--- Quote End ---

The Samtec interfaces are just breakout cables. You just plug them in :)

Cheers,
Dave
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
14 years ago
"The Samtec interfaces are just breakout cables. You just plug them in "

You are right Dave :), I am being lazy here. It just does not seem very straightforward to buy them. I have asked them for a quote already.

The information on the dev boards is sometimes confusing, so here it goes in case it helps someone and someone can help me. The Stratix IV SI kit with 8 SMA channels actually has the 8 channels routed through different paths, to provide insight on the effect of different transmision paths on the SI. So the channels are not matched. That is not very difficult to fix but I think it is annoying.

Here is different option based on the Stratix IV TR4 dev board

http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=138&no=683&partno=4

in the reference manual there are 8 channels routed to HSMC-A and 8 routed to HSMC-E. That, plus the adapter XTC-HSMC (or a similar, custom one that provides the right amount of channels) can do it. But once again something confusing: in the webpage they list only 8 transceivers available.

If any of you has any experience with this board I would appreciate any comments. I will directly ask Terasic about this. Otherwise I hope this is the right choice.

Again thank you all for your help!

Miguel

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Stratix IV GX dev kit

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