COVER STORY
Processing System Static Memory Controller Quad-SPI, NAND, NOR
2x SPI
Dynamic Memory Controller DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR2
AMBA Switches
Programmable Logic: System Gates DSP, RAM
AMBA Switches
Multi Standards I/Os (3.3V & High Speed 1.8V)
2x 12C ARM CoreSight Multi-core and Trace Debug
I/O MUX
2x CAN
NEON/FPU Engine
NEON/FPU Engine
2x UART
Cortex-A9 MPCore 32/32/KB I/O Caches
Cortex-A9 MPCore 32/32/KB I/O Caches ACP
512 KB L2 Cache
GPIO
Timer Counters
2x SDIO with DMA
Snoop Control Unit (SCU) 256 KB On-Chip Memory
General Interrupt Controller
DMA Configuration
2x USB with DMA 2x GigE with DMA
AMBA Switches
XADC
PCIe
Multi Standards IOs (3.3V & High Speed 1.8V)
Multi Gigabit Transceivers
Figure 1 – Unlike previous chips that combine MPUs in an FPGA fabric, Xilinx’s new Zynq-7000 EPP family lets the ARM processor, rather than the programmable logic, run the show.
The new product family eliminates the delay and risk of designing a chip from scratch, meaning system design teams can quickly create innovative SoCs leveraging advanced hardware and software programming versatility simply not achievable in any other semiconductor device. As such, the Zynq-7000 EPP stands poised to allow a broader number of innovators— whether they are professional hardware, software or systems designers, or simply “makers”—to explore the possibilities of combining processing plus programmable logic to create applications no one has yet imagined. 10
Xcell Journal
“At its most basic level, Zynq-7000 EPP is an entirely new class of semiconductor product,” said Larry Getman, vice president of processing platforms at Xilinx. “It is not just a processor and it is not just an FPGA. We are combining the best of both those worlds, and because of that we take away many of the limitations you have with existing solutions, especially two-chip solutions and ASICs.” Getman notes that many electronic systems today pair an FPGA and either a standalone processor or an ASIC with an onboard processor on the same PCB. Xilinx’s new offering will allow
companies using these types of twochip solutions to build next-generation systems with just one Zynq-7000 chip, saving bill-of-material costs and PCB space, and reducing overall power budgets. And because the processor and FPGA are on the same fabric, the performance increase is immense. Zynq-7000 EPP will also speed up the natural market migration from ASICs to FPGAs, Getman said. Implementing ASICs in the latest process technologies is too expensive and too risky for a growing number of applications. As a result, more and more companies are embracing Second Quarter 2011