Kondor AX FPGA + ARM Networking Board Targets Base Stations, IoT Gateways and IP Cameras

Mikro Project, a company based in Zagreb, Croatia, has recently introduced Kondor AX “Advanced System Development Board” combining Freescale i.MX6Solo processor with Lattice ECP5 FPGA, and targeting “low power applications at the network edge including HetNet (Heterogeneous Networks), Small Cells, Industrial IoT gateways and IP Cameras.”

Kondor AX development board specifications:

Category	Lattice ECP5 LFE5UM-85F-BG756 FPGA	*Freescale i.MX6 Solo SoC*
Description	84.000 LUTs 207 Block RAMs 156 18×18 Multipliers 365 IO pins 4 SERDES channels (In/out) 400 MHz LPDDR3 Memory Support 4 PLLs, 4 DLLs	ARM Cortex A9 @ 1 GHz 512 KB L2 cache GPU 3D – Vivante GC880 Video Decode: 1080p30 + D1 Video Encode: 1080p30 H.264 BP/ Dual 720p encode
Programming options	On-board USB JTAG interface 10-pin JTAG header Using i.MX6 processor
Memory & Storage	512MB LPDDR3-1600 800 MHz Clock Rate 1x 32-bit channel	512 MB 32-bit DDR3 64Mbit SPI Flash 8GB eMMC Micro SD Card
Connectivity and peripherals	2x SFP cages FMC Connector GPIO header GPIO (differential) header 10/100M Ethernet (RMII) UART (using USB JTAG interface)	HDMI output Gigabit Ethernet OTG USB USB serial interface Camera interface
Other peripherals	4x Single color LEDs 4x Dual color LEDs	6x Status LEDs
Boot Options	From 64 Mbit on-board SPI Flash memory SPI Slave mode	SPI flash eMMC Micro SD card USB OTG
Clocking	Onboard 100MHz Differential Oscillator Si5338 Clock Generator	24 MHz & 32.76 KHz
On-board Communication Interfaces	PCIe x1 interface EIM interface I2C, SPI, UART
Power Supply	12V Input
Manufacturing	RoHS Compliant

Kondor-AX Board Description and Block Diagram (Click to Enlarge)

The company provides a Linux BSP for Freescale i.MX 6 Solo processor that includes device drivers, applications/services, libraries, GNU Tools (compilers, linkers, …) and “deployment mechanisms”. The ECP5 FPGA can be programmed over JTAG and SPI using Lattice Diamond Programmer from a computer, or directly with i.MX6 using command line tools. The board documentation including the flyer, a Linux BSP setup guide, and the user’s manuals, as well as tutorials for some demos can be found in the download page.

Typical HetNet Application Block Diagram (Click to Enlarge) — HetNet Application Block Diagram (Click to Enlarge)

MikroProjeckt did not provide availability nor pricing information for the board, but I’ve been told the sample price is $1,800 + shipping, with a one week lead-time. More details can be found on MikroProjekt’s Kondor AX product page.

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.