Date: 10/04/2011

Improved FPGA module with USB2.0 interface for system prototyping

Opal Kelly has announced the XEM6010, the successor to its flagship products XEM3010 and XEM3050. XEM6010 is Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA based USB2.0 integrated module. The new XEM6010-LX45 and XEM6010-LX150 packs more logic and memory, and operate at higher speed.

The XEM6010 is suggested for prototyping systems and integration into OEM devices where a USB interface, flexible hardware solution, or PC software interface would be useful. The XEM6010 can easily be added to a new board design to provide turnkey USB integration with the convenience of the FrontPanel programmer's interface and existing USB drivers. Available in two versions, the XEM6010-LX45 is based on the Xilinx XC6SLX45 and the XEM6010-LX150 is based on the Xilinx XC6SLX150. They both include high-speed USB 2.0 FPGA configuration and data transfer, with integrated DDR2 SDRAM, power supplies, and configuration flash. In addition, they leverage Opal Kelly's powerful FrontPanel SDK and application.

"We have already deployed Opal Kelly products into our Mail Processing Equipment. Our experience in using these products has been pleasurable. The products work very dependably, are flexible, and easy to use," said Jerry Pender, Project Engineer, U.S. Postal Service. "We are currently developing a design, using the XEM6010-LX150 module, to replace almost two dozen circuit boards worth of logic and firmware which have become outdated due to obsolete components. I have complete confidence that the XEM6010 will do the job for us."

"Another solid product; what we've come to expect from Opal Kelly. By refreshing their XEM3010 design with the XEM6010, they've given us a more flexible and powerful FPGA coupled with larger and faster onboard memory," said Michael W. Phaneuf, President of Fibics. "As a drop-in solution for our current applications, we can keep our own hardware evolving by taking advantage of the firmware gains to be had from the Spartan 6 - DDR2 combination. For the new designs we have underway, our parts count (and cost) actually decreases in many cases as we can shed our own memory and leave worries about high-speed memory I/O routing to the Opal Kelly team. The icing on the cake is the virtually interchangeable combination of the XEM6110 and the new XEM6010, which lets us optimize our communication bandwidth requirements (PCIe or USB 2.0) with minimal re-design effort."

The XEM6010-LX45 is offered at the same price as the XEM3010 (quantity 100+) and is available now from the Opal Kelly online store for $449.95 (quantity 1). It includes the Opal Kelly FrontPanel SDK and USB driver, XEM6010 User's Manual, email support, as well as access to an active online User Forum.