Embedded development board features Microchip PolarFire RISC-V FPGA SoC

Microchip/MicroSemi first introduced PolarFire RISC-V FPGA SoC at the end of 2018, with the chip being like the RISC-V equivalent of Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ Arm & FPGA MPSoC.

The following year, ARIES Embedded unveiled the ARIES M100PF system-on-module and evaluation board, before Microchip launched PolarFire SoC Icicle 64-bit RISC-V and FPGA development board, followed by the more compact PolarBerry SBC in 2020. There’s now at least a fourth platform based on PolarFire SoC with Aldec TySOM-M-MPFS250 embedded development board.

Aldec TySOM-M-MPFS250 specifications:

SoC – Microchip PolarFire MPFS250T-FCG1152 SoC with 4x SiFive U54 RV64GC application cores (similar to Cortex-A35 performance), 1x SiFive E51 RV64IMAC monitor core, FPGA fabric with 254K logic cells, 17.6 Mb RAM
System Memory
- 2GB (16Gbit) 32-bit DDR4 for the FPGA
- 2GB (16Gbit) 36-bit RAM with ECC for the RISC-V cores (aka MSS = Microprocessor Subsystem)
Storage – MicroSD card socket, eMMC flash, SPI flash, 64 Kbit EEPROM
Video Output – HDMI ouput
Audio
Networking
- 2x Ethernet RJ45 ports
- Quad SPF+ cage with 4x XCVR (transceivers)
USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 port
Expansion
- PCIe x4 Gen2 root socket
- CAN Bus
- PMOD connector
- 2x FMC connector (HPC, LPC) Vita 57.1 Compliant
Debugging – 1x mini USB port for serial console
Sensors – Temperature and accelerometer sensor, current and voltage monitor
Misc – 4x user dip switches, 4x user LEDs
Power Supply – TBD
Dimensions – TBD

The prototyping board supports Linux on the RISC-V application cores, and Aldec provides a Libero BSP (board support package) in a Github repository that contains a reference design, an MSS configuration, an HSS configuration, an Aldec meta layer for the Yocto Project, and a baremetal application

The company says the TySOM-M-MPFS250 embedded development board is best suited for the prototyping of systems for a wide range of applications such as imaging, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI, ML), Internet of Things (IoT), industrial automation, automotive, aerospace and defense, wireless access networks and cellular infrastructure.

No pricing was provided for the board. More information can be found on the product page, including some documents that can be downloaded after registration.

Via LinuxGizmos

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.