Intel is leveraging their newfound expertise in the FPGA market with their newest release, the Cyclone 10 family of processors. These are designed to tackle the IoT craze and help provide an easier and more cost-effective method for communicating with wayward devices deployed as IoT data points.
Cyclone 10 could help spawn new interest in the IoT
Intel acquired Altera, a company that specializes in the creation of novel FPGA’s in order to strengthen their position in other markets, namely IoT and even with automotive applications. They’ve just come up with a new, lower power and lower cost method for keeping IoT devices connected. Namely the new Cyclone 10 series, consisting of the Cyclone 10, Cyclone 10 GX and the Cyclone 10 LP, are being marketed towards helping stream realtime data from any number of sensors, cameras and other connected devices with even automobile telemetry on the list. These minuscule devices will have the distinct purpose of helping collect the myriad data that machinery create and helping collate it into a central place.
Cyclone 10 GX is unique among other low-cost FPGAs as it can support 10G transceivers and hard floating point DSP (digital signal processing). It offers 2-times the performance increase over the previous generation of Cyclone. The architectural innovation in the implementation of IEEE 754 single-precision hardened floating-point DSP blocks can enable processing rates up to 134 GFLOPs. This is important for engineers needing higher performance using the FPGA for applications such as motion or motor control systems.
Markets for Intel Cyclone 10 GX include those where high I/O performance and core speed are key requirements. Uses include industrial machine vision and smart city applications that provide surveillance in parking lots , on roads and on bridges. Cyclone 10 GX is also well-suited to support pro AV technologies, such as video streaming applications.
The Intel Cyclone 10 LP is the perfect solution for applications where cost and power are key factors in the design decision. These systems typically use FPGA densities that are sub 75K LE and chip-to-chip bridging functions between electronic components or I/O expansion for microprocessors.
Cyclone 10 LP can also be used for automotive video processing used in rear-view cameras and in sensor fusion, where data gathered while the car is on the road is combined from multiple sensors in the car to provide a more complete view of what is happening. This could be very advantageous for true autonomous vehicles in the future.
The entire Cyclone 10 FPGA family will be available in the second half of 2017, along with evaluation kits and boards complete the latest version of Quartus, the Intel FPGA programming software package.