Opal Kelly Blog

Press Release

Portland, Oregon – November 21, 2019
Opal Kelly, a leading producer of powerful FPGA modules that provide essential device-to-computer interconnect using USB 2.0 and 3.0, announced the XEM8350 USB 3.0 FPGA Module, combining two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface and a Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA in a compact module form factor. The XEM8350 dual-connector USB interface delivers transfer rates exceeding 600MB/s to power high bandwidth data transfer. The module also includes 28 high-speed gigabit transceiver lanes via Kintex UltraScale transceivers. Kintex UltraScale transceivers support serial standards such as 10 GbE, JESD-204B, DisplayPort, PCI Express, SATA, HD-SDI, XAUI, Aurora, and others operating at up to 16.375 Gb/s.

The XEM8350, measuring only 145mm x 85mm (5.71” x 3.35”), includes the FPGA, USB interfaces, 4 GiB DDR4 with ECC, 64 MiB total serial flash, programmable low-jitter clock oscillator, and several switching power supplies to power the entire board from a single 5V to 16V external supply. Integrated voltage and current monitoring allows system controllers to monitor critical power supplies as well as FPGA and ambient temperature through FrontPanel’s DeviceSensors API. The XEM8350 fully supports Opal Kelly’s popular multi-platform FrontPanel SDK for FPGA configuration and host communication using a simple API in C/C++, C#, Python, Java, and Ruby programming languages.

Ultra High-End Data Acquisition

The past decade of innovation in sensing and communication systems has resulted in an insatiable appetite for data from a large number of sources. The XEM8350 was designed to capture, process, and move these data streams for applications such as LIDAR, RADAR, software-defined radio, advanced photonics, and high frame rate machine vision. Equipped with over 330 I/O and 28 high-speed transceiver lanes to communicate with numerous sensor devices and networks, the XEM8350 also has two independent USB 3.0 interfaces to transfer data in and out of a host computer for storage or deeper processing.

Gigajot develops next-generation image sensors capable of single-photon detection. Previously having used the Opal Kelly XEM7310 and XEM7360 platforms, they are presently in early evaluations of the XEM8350 for new technologies requiring the high I/O count that the XEM8350 delivers. “Opal Kelly FPGA boards are one of the best in the industry for prototyping complex systems. The variety of FPGA types they offer can address most of the needs in every modular system. Moreover, Opal Kelly’s FrontPanel SDK and user friendly FPGA board documents make it very easy and fun to implement their modules in the prototype projects in a timely manner,” says CEO and Co-Founder Saleh Masoodian, Ph.D. “Opal Kelly integration modules deliver a platform solution that makes FPGA solutions more approachable to low and mid-volume integrators like Gigajot,” says Jake Janovetz, President of Opal Kelly.

The XEM8350 is an excellent match for two of the company’s target markets: Integration and Acceleration. System integrators can build fully-operational prototype and production designs with custom mating peripherals for applications such as high-end test equipment, data acquisition, and custom imagery solutions. And with ample logic resources, the higher-density XEM8350 can tackle large signal, image, and data processing tasks as an accelerator or when mated to image capture or data acquisition hardware. The unique concurrent architecture of FPGA enables them to excel at ETL (extract, transform, load) tasks common in machine vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

FrontPanel^® SDK

Opal Kelly integration modules include the indispensable FrontPanel SDK, a powerful trio of firmware, software, and programmable hardware blocks that connect the engineer’s software application and FPGA firmware. The FrontPanel SDK dramatically reduces development time and risk and accelerates time to market. The multi-platform, multi-language FrontPanel programmer’s interface (API) accommodates most development environments and provides a consistent, easy-to-use architecture supporting Opal Kelly’s USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices. The FrontPanel SDK has over a decade of demonstrated success, proven and refined in thousands of customer deployments worldwide, across diverse applications and industries.

SYZYGY^® Compatible Evaluation Hardware

As an integration module, the XEM8350 designed for system integration. The BRK8350 “breakout board” provides an excellent evaluation / launch platform to engage the module during system design. Four SYZYGY^® Standard ports, two SYZYGY^® Transceiver ports, two QSFP sockets, and other connectors are available for external interfacing. Opal Kelly offers several SYZYGY peripherals for data acquisition, waveform generation, image capture, and positional and environmental sensing. An M.2 socket is also available for SSD storage or other expansion.

Availability

The XEM8350 is offered in two variations with differing FPGA densities. The XEM8350-KU060 is available now for pre-order through Opal Kelly’s online web store at $4,499.95 (qty 1) with significant volume discounts. For information regarding availability of the XEM8350-KU115, please contact [email protected]. The BRK8350 is also available for pre-order for $299.95. For pricing at quantities of 10 or more, visit the company’s website or contact [email protected].

About Opal Kelly

Opal Kelly, founded in 2004, offers a range of powerful, off-the-shelf, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and PCI Express FPGA modules, including the easy-to-use Opal Kelly FrontPanel software interface and robust API. Opal Kelly products provide the essential device-to-computer interconnect for fast and efficient product prototyping, testing, development, and OEM integration. Development engineers, researchers, teachers, and serious hobbyists, worldwide, use Opal Kelly modules for a versatile and economical interconnect solution that shortens development time, fills expertise gaps, and dramatically accelerates time to market. ISO 9001:2015 certified, Opal Kelly is committed to delivering high quality, production-ready FPGA modules to engineers around the world. For more information, or to purchase Opal Kelly products, please visit www.opalkelly.com.