The NVMe Advantage

If your FPGA application needs non-volatile storage, NVMe is the best solution, hands down, here’s why.

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No IP costs.

PCIe SSDs interface with the PCIe blocks integrated into your FPGA, so there is no need for expensive SAS and SATA IP.

Faster than SATA.

The 4-lane PCIe interface has a higher bandwidth than SATA and the NVMe protocol stack has much lower latency.

Linux support.

All major Linux distributions have NVMe driver in-box support (including PetaLinux).

Features

M.2 SSD
sockets

For connection with standard M.2 form factor PCI Express SSDs

HPC FMC
Connector

For connection with FPGA development boards

100MHz
Oscillators

Provide the reference clocks for both FPGA and SSDs

Example
designs

Get up-and-running as soon as possible

Product description

Product description
FPGA Drive is an adapter that allows M.2 PCIe SSDs to be connected to FPGAs. The adapter uses the FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) form factor for connection with FPGA and MPSoC development boards via the FMC connector. It has 2x M.2 sockets and can carry M.2 PCIe SSDs of length 42mm, 60mm, 80mm or 110mm. Each M.2 socket has its own independent connection to the FPGA for maximum throughput and can support a 4-lane PCIe connection up to Gen3.

Power supply

All power to the FPGA Drive FMC is supplied through the carrier’s FMC connector. The FPGA Drive FMC makes use of the FMC’s 3.3VDC supply to power one of the SSDs, and it has a switching regulator to power the other SSD using the FMC’s 12VDC supply.

The adjustable voltage supply (VADJ), which is supplied by all standard FMC carriers, can be set to any voltage between 1.8V and 3.3V. The FPGA Drive FMC’s onboard FRU EEPROM specifies a 1.8V VADJ for all carriers that have a power management system.

Interface with FPGA

The adapter has a high pin-count (HPC) FMC connector (Samtec ASP-134488-01) which can be mated with either an LPC or HPC FMC. The pinout conforms to the Vita 57.1 FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) Standard. When mated with a LPC FMC connector, only one SSD is connected using 1-lane PCIe. When mated with a HPC FMC connector, both SSDs can be used, each with a 4-lane PCIe connection (depends on the carrier board used, please see compatibility table below).

M.2 sockets

TE-Connectivity M.2 form factor socket, part number 1-2199230-6, is designed to mate with M-key M.2 PCI Express SSDs.

100MHz Clock Oscillators

Micrel 100MHz MEMs based clock oscillator, part number DSC557-0344SI1, generates two precision 100MHz clocks: one HCSL and the other LVDS. The HCSL clock feeds the SSD while the LVDS clock feeds the FPGA. FPGA Drive FMC uses two of these devices, one for each SSD.

Dimensions

The FPGA Drive adapter is 69mm x 141.5mm. FPGA Drive FMC does not conform to the mechanical specifications of the Vita 57.1 standard due to the length of M.2 modules.

FPGA Drive FMC Rev-B Mech drawing (version for 1x SSD – phased out) FPGA Drive FMC Rev-D Mech drawing (version for 2x SSDs)

FPGA Drive FMC Rev-B 3D STEP (1x SSD)

FPGA Drive FMC Rev-D 3D STEP (2x SSDs)

Compatibility

FPGA Drive FMC is pin-compatible to all carriers that conform to the Vita 57.1 standard. Compatible carriers include the KC705, VC707, VC709, KCU105 and ZCU106. FPGA Drive FMC can only be used on FMC carriers with transceiver-loaded FMCs. If you are not sure if FPGA Drive is compatible with your FPGA board, please contact us.

Schematics

FPGA Drive FMC Schematics RevB-2 (version for 1x SSD – phased out) FPGA Drive FMC Schematics RevD-1 (version for 2x SSDs)

Carrier Compatibility Table

Carrier First SSD Second SSD
PicoZed 7015 and PicoZed FMC Carrier Card V2 LPC: 1-lane, Gen1 Not supported
PicoZed 7030 and PicoZed FMC Carrier Card V2 LPC: 1-lane, Gen2 Not supported
KC705 HPC: 4-lanes Gen2
LPC: 1-lane Gen2		 HPC: Not supported
LPC: Not supported
VC707 HPC1: 4-lanes Gen2
HPC2: 4-lanes Gen2		 HPC1: 4-lanes Gen2
HPC2: 4-lanes Gen2
VC709 HPC: 4-lanes Gen3 HPC: 4-lanes Gen3
ZC702 Not supported (no GTX) Not supported (no GTX)
ZC706 HPC: 4-lanes Gen2
LPC: 1-lane Gen2		 Not supported (Zynq-7000 devices only have 1 PCIe block)
KCU105 HPC: 4-lanes Gen3
LPC: 1-lane Gen3		 HPC: 4-lanes Gen3
LPC: Not supported
VCU108 (no example design provided) HPC0: 4-lanes Gen3
HPC1: 4-lanes Gen3		 HPC0: 4-lanes Gen3
HPC1: 4-lanes Gen3
VCU118 (no example design provided) HPC: Not supported
FMC+: 4-lanes Gen3 (see note 4)		 HPC: Not supported
FMC+: 4-lanes Gen3 (see note 4)
ZCU102 (no example design provided) HPC0: 4-lanes Gen3
HPC1: 4-lanes Gen3
(using soft IP)		 HPC0: 4-lanes Gen3
HPC1: 4-lanes Gen3
(using soft IP)
ZCU106 HPC0: 4-lanes Gen3
HPC1: 1-lane Gen3		 HPC0: 4-lanes Gen3
HPC1: Not supported
ZCU111 FMC+: 4-lanes Gen3 (see note 4)
 FMC+: 4-lanes Gen3 (see note 4)
TEBF0808-04 (no example design provided) HPC: 4-lanes Gen3
(using soft IP)		 HPC: 4-lanes Gen3
(using soft IP)

  1. FPGA Drive is not compatible with the ZC702 board as it does not have any gigabit transceivers.
  2. VCU118 HPC FMC connector does not have any gigabit transceivers connected to it, and thus cannot support the FPGA Drive FMC.
  3. FPGA Drive FMC is compatible with ZCU102 board, however it must connect to a soft PCIe IP and we do not provide any example design for this at the present time.
  4. For compatibility with FMC+ connectors, FPGA Drive FMC must be used with an FMC extender such as AES-FMC-EXT-G from Avnet.

FMC Transceiver Assignments

The table below outlines the assignment of the FMC transceivers (DP0 to DP7) to the 2x SSDs. Each SSD is connected to 4x gigabit transceivers. The first SSD (SSD1) connects to transceivers DP0-DP3, while the second SSD (SSD2) connects to transceivers DP4-DP7. Note that all LPC connectors have a maximum of 1x gigabit transceiver (DP0), therefore they can only support a 1-lane PCIe connection to SSD1, and they cannot support SSD2. Also note that not all carriers with HPC connectors have all the transceivers connected.

FMC Gigabit Transceiver SSD1 PCIe Lanes SSD2 PCIe Lanes
DP0 Lane 0
DP1 Lane 1
DP2 Lane 2
DP3 Lane 3
DP4 Lane 0
DP5 Lane 1
DP6 Lane 2
DP7 Lane 3

Example designs

Single SSD designs

Single SSD designs

Use the single SSD designs if you only intend on loading the FPGA Drive FMC with 1x SSD. The SSD should be connected to the first slot (SSD1).
Dual SSD designs

Dual SSD designs

Use the dual SSD designs if you intend on loading the FPGA Drive FMC with 2x SSDs. The SSDs will connect to both slots SSD1 and SSD2.7378

Our Github repo contains example designs for these FPGA/MPSoC evaluation boards.

Target board Single SSD design Dual SSD design
PicoZed FMC Carrier Card V2 with PicoZed 7015/30 LPC: Yes Not supported
KC705 Evaluation board HPC: Yes
LPC: Yes		 Not supported
KCU105 Evaluation board HPC: Yes
LPC: Yes		 HPC: Yes
LPC: Not supported
VC707 Evaluation board HPC1: Yes
HPC2: Yes		 Coming soon for HPC1 and HPC2
VC709 Evaluation board HPC: Yes Coming soon
ZC706 Evaluation board HPC: Yes
LPC: Yes		 Not supported (Zynq-7000 devices only have 1x PCIe block)
ZCU106 Evaluation board HPC0: Yes
HPC1: Yes		 HPC0: Yes
HPC1: Not supported

If you are using the older version (Rev-B) of FPGA Drive FMC with only one M.2 connector, then you will only be able to use the single SSD designs.

Download Repo Here





How-to Videos

Hardware Installation Guide


Loopback Testing with IBERT

Part 1: Hardware setup

How to attach the M.2 loopback modules and prepare your hardware for the IBERT loopback test.


Part 2: Using IBERT in Vivado

Download the pre-built IBERT bitstreams here: https://opsero.com/downloads/fpgadrive/ibert. Try this: disable the DFE (decision feedback equalizer) when doing a 2D eye scan – the gigabit traces on the FPGA Drive FMC have very low losses, so the performance is generally better without the DFE.


Part 3: Generate your own IBERT

How to generate an IBERT bitstream for your own hardware if you can’t find a pre-built bitstream here.

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Available for purchase now!

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