MATURE PRODUCT
This is a mature product: do not use for new designs. The product remains in mass production until further notice. Please contact us for more information.
Upgrade to Mercury SA1
If you want to upgrade your current Mercury CA1 solution, then have a look at the Mercury SA1.
Overview
The Mercury CA1 module offers high-performance yet low cost Intel Cyclone IV FPGAs in conjunction with standard interfaces like USB 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet.
With its powerful standard interfaces, the many LVDS capable I/Os, the large DDR2 SDRAM and the many hardware multipliers it is equally suited for digital signal processing, networking, high-speed I/O as well as SoPC applications utilizing the Intel Nios® II soft processor.
The Mercury CA1 FPGA board reduces development effort, redesign risk and improves time-to-market.
Highlights
- Features the latest Intel low-cost FPGA family
- FTDI-based USB 2.0 High-Speed interface
- Gigabit Ethernet PHY for high-bandwidth/low-latency networking
- Smaller than a credit card
- Only requires a single supply voltage (5..15V)
- Powerful and compact FPGA board
Benefits
- Vast amount of parallel processing power for DSP applications (up to 200 multipliers at 260 MHz = 52 GMAC/s)
- High-bandwidth data I/O due to the large number of available LVDS pairs
- Simple and low-cost integration due to standard interfaces (USB, Gigabit Ethernet), single supply voltage and 2.5V / 3.3V power outputs
- Simplified carrier board design (typically 4 layers)
- Many IP cores are available from Intel, Enclustra and third parties
Features
- Intel Cyclone IV E FPGA
- Small form factor (56 x 54 mm, dual 168-pin Hirose FX10 connectors)
- 25 differential pairs and 98 single-ended user I/Os or 146 single-ended user I/Os (168 with custom configuration)
- 16 MB SPI Flash
- Up to 256 MB DDR2 SDRAM
- FTDI USB 2.0 High-Speed interface
- Gigabit Ethernet PHY
- High-power 8A core power supply
Module Architecture
Click image to enlarge
Not all features are available simultaneously – please check the documentation for any applicable constraints.
All specifications are subject to change without notice. Please verify component specifications with vendor’s datasheets.
Enclustra maintains an errata and revision history document for each product. Please also check the errata of the FPGA device and other components.
Product Selection Matrix
| Product Code | FPGA | SPI Flash | DDR2 SDRAM | Gigabit Ethernet | USB 2.0 | Temp Range | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ME-CA1-75-8C-D7 | EP4CE75F23C8N | 16MB | 128MB | Yes | Yes | 0 to +70C |  |
| ME-CA1-115-7I-D8 | EP4CE115F23I7N | 16MB | 256MB | Yes | Yes | -40 to +85C |  |
Key: Mass Production 
Sampling Contact us
Minimum order quantities apply for custom module configurations. Please contact us.
Base Boards
Select one of these base boards to get started with development straight out of the box.
| Base board | Description |
|---|---|
| Mercury+ PE1 | A feature packed board with 3 different variants compatible with all Mercury and Mercury+ modules. |
| Mercury+ ST1 | A flexible board optimised for video applications and the perfect fit for our Mercury and Mercury+ modules. |
Reference Design
The Mercury CA1 reference design consists of the following deliverables:
- Precompiled FPGA configuration bitstream containing Qsys system featuring the following functional blocks:
- Nios II CPU
- DDR2 SDRAM controller
- SPI master, UART (FTDI), JTAG UART
- Timer, GPIO
- Console-based demo applications (including source code and SDK workspace)
- DDR2 / SPI Flash memory tests
- UART access
- Documentation (also explaining how to customize and generate the Qsys syst
Target Applications
- Digital Signal Processing
- Video Processing
- Audio Processing
- Motion Control
- Software Defined Radio
- Communications
- Embedded Computing
- Networking
Information on the product may change, please check the manufacturers website and page for the most up to date information, see the link at the top right of this page.
