Opal Kelly Blog

Press Release

Portland, Oregon – March 15, 2016 – Opal Kelly, a leading producer of powerful FPGA modules that provide essential device-to-computer interconnect using USB or PCI Express, announced the XEM7001 USB 2.0 FPGA Module, combining a HighSpeed USB 2.0 interface and a Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA into a compact business-card sized form factor suitable for prototyping, testing, and production-ready integration. The XEM7001 USB interface delivers transfer rates exceeding 36 MB/s and includes a multi-output clock generator PLL.

The XEM7001 measures only 3.5” x 2.0” (88.9mm x 50.8mm), includes the FPGA, USB interface, 32 Mb SPI Flash, multi-output clock generating PLL, and is designed to operate as a bus-powered device from the +5V USB power supply. The XEM7001 fully supports Opal Kelly’s popular cross-platform FrontPanel SDK for FPGA configuration and host communication using a simple API in C/C++, C#, Python, Java, and Ruby programming languages. The XEM7001 may also be configured to boot the FPGA in non-tethered mode from the on-board SPI Flash.

The XEM7001 continues a form-factor legacy behind the very popular XEM3001 and XEM6001, Xilinx Spartan-3 and Spartan-6 based devices, respectively. With an identical form factor and connector location, the XEM7001 should be a lifecycle-extending replacement for the XEM3001 or XEM6001 in most applications. While HDL application migration will be required, the FrontPanel SDK enables significant re-use of existing application code.

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.

Availability

The XEM7001 is available now with the Xilinx XC7A15 device density. The XEM7001-A15 is in stock and available now through Opal Kelly’s online web store at $199.95 (qty 1) with volume discounts starting at 100 pieces. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

About Opal Kelly

Opal Kelly, founded in 2004, offers a range of powerful, off-the-shelf, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 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. For more information, or to purchase Opal Kelly products, please visit www.opalkelly.com.