Intel Announces Cyclone 10 FPGAs for IoT Devices
by Anton Shilov on February 18, 2017 11:00 AM EST
Intel this week has announced its new portfolio of FPGAs designed for small form-factor and/or low-power Internet-of-Things devices, specifically in the fields of automotive, industrial, audio/visual and vision applications. The Cyclone 10 GX and Cyclone 10 LP FPGAs formally belong to a single family of products, but both have different capabilities and were developed for different needs.
The Intel Cyclone 10 GX FPGAs are designed for applications that need relatively high performance (up to 134 GFLOPS, IEEE 754 single-precision) and advanced I/O capabilities. The new FPGAs contain up to 220,000 logic elements, up to 80,330 adaptive logic modules (ALMs) with 8-input look-up tables (LUT), support 10 G transceivers as well as a PCIe 2.0 x4 IP block to connect to CPUs and other devices. Among devices that will use the Cyclone 10 GX FPGAs Intel names industrial machine vision, smart city surveillance, video streaming, robotics, machine tools and other devices. The 10 GX family is made on TSMC's 20nmSoC planar process, in line with what we perhaps expect as Intel is working through Altera roadmaps set before the acquisition.
By contrast, the Intel Cyclone 10 LP FPGAs are aimed at low-power/low-cost applications, such as sensor fusion, motor controls, interfacing, I/O expansion for CPUs and so on. For example, if an application needs to combine data from multiple sensors, the Cyclone 10 LP will do the job, but the actual processing will be performed by something more powerful. The FPGAs contain 6,000 – 120,000 logic elements, DSP blocks (up to 288 18x18 multipliers), integrated PLLs, 65 – 230 LVDS channels and so on.
Both families of the Cyclone 10 FPGAs are compliant with the IEC 61508 machinery directive safety standard (in fact, Intel says that it is the first FPGA vendor to obtain the appropriate device and tool qualification), which in case of a chip probably indicates its reliability during continuous operation.
| Intel Cyclone 10 FPGAs | ||||
| Cyclone 10 GX | Cyclone 10 LP | |||
| Logic elements (LEs) | 85,000 - 220,000 | 6,000 - 120,000 | ||
| Adaptive logic modules (ALMs) | 31,000 - 80,330 | - | ||
| ALM registers | 124,000 - 321,320 | - | ||
| Variable-precision DSP blocks | 84 - 192 | - | ||
| 18 x 19 multipliers | 168 - 384 | - | ||
| 18 x 18 multipliers | - | 15 - 288 | ||
| Peak fixed-point peformance (GMACS) | 151 - 346 | - | ||
| Peak floating-point performance (GFLOPS) | 59 - 134 | - | ||
| Voltage | Core voltage: 0.9 V I/O Voltage: Various |
1.0 and 1.2 V | ||
| Process Technology | 20 nm (TSMC CLN20SOC) | unknown | ||
| I/O | ||||
| Global clock networks | 32 | 10 - 20 | ||
| Maximum user I/O pins | 192 - 284 | 176 - 525 | ||
| Maximum LVDS pairs 1.4 Gbps (RX or TX) | 72 - 118 | |||
| Maximum LVDS channels | - | 65 - 230 | ||
| Maximum transceiver count (10.3 Gbps) | 4 - 12 | - | ||
| Maximum 3V I/O pins | 48 | - | ||
| PCIe 2.0 x4 hard IP blocks | 1 | - | ||
| Memory devices supported | DDR3, DDR3L, LPDDR3 | - | ||
| Packaging | ||||
| E144 pin | - | 22 x 22 mm, 0.5 mm pitch | ||
| M164 pin | - | 8 x 8 mm, 0.5 mm pitch | ||
| U256 pin | - | 14 x 14 mm, 0.8 mm pitch | ||
| U484 pin | 19 x 19 mm, 0.8 mm pitch | |||
| F484 pin | - | 23 x 23 mm, 1.0 mm pitch | ||
| F672 pin | 27 x 27 mm, 1.0 mm pitch | |||
| F780 pin | 29 x 29 mm, 1.0 mm pitch | |||
Intel’s Cyclone 10-series FPGAs, as well as evaluation kits and boards on their base, will be available in the second half of 2017. In addition to hardware, Intel also plans to release its Quartus programming software that supports the new FPGAs.
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Source: Intel
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HollyDOL - Monday, February 20, 2017 - link
Luckily they didn't name it Cyclone B.Chicken76 - Monday, February 20, 2017 - link
Isn't Cyclone a registered trademark of Apple?Meteor2 - Monday, February 20, 2017 - link
I think that's just a codename.Vlad_Da_Great - Monday, February 20, 2017 - link
This sentence structure doesn't seem right to me "The 10 GX family is made on TSMC's 20nmSoC planar process, in line with what we perhaps expect as Intel is working through Altera roadmaps set before the acquisition." Why nobody in AnandTech has edited that? Another blogger dumpster is going down.bminor13 - Tuesday, February 21, 2017 - link
What's wrong with that sentence? Another comma might clarify things a little, but calling this a "blogger dumpster" seems a bit harsh.mr2kat - Thursday, February 23, 2017 - link
There seems to be much confusion about IoT. As I've been designing IoT for the past 5 years, I would like to clarify both the intended purpose and state-of-play.But first, a quick word about Intel. Intel has an unbroken record of failure in consumer products despite spending billions of dollars trying to break into the market. They've failed on everything from Smart Cars to Smart Homes to Media to Phones. It is ironic because Intel hires the smartest engineers. Unfortunately its culture and leadership is grossly inadequate where consumer markets are concerned. Fortunately for them their core areas of excellence are... excellent. Processors, chipsets, SSD.... new standards for USB and beyond... Intel rules! But consumer products? Nope. Anyone remember Viiv?
So then, IoT is useless unless it makes your home easier to live in, cheaper to run, and is genuinely useful. Installation must be a breeze and system cost must be low and progressive (over time). System components should be interchangeable between manufacturers so your home system can always be updated and never becomes end-of-life (requiring a new investment).
What can you do with IoT? I'll explain with an example, my own home.
When I arrive home the lights are on outside. A wireless security camera at the door recognizes me (facial recognition) and confirms with a voice print challenge and (optionally) a fingerprint biometric - the front door unlocks.
The house was updated when I left work so the house HVAC system has adjusted the temperature in the house ahead of my return home. Meanwhile my car and the house are exchanging information which includes car diagnostics, media updates, battery condition etc.. I'll be notified if any upcoming actions are needed.
BTW, if my car is stolen it can drive itself to the nearest police station (actually I'm going to leave that system to Telsa etc because I regard it as a part of automated driving which is outside my scope).
Although I'm back in the house the alarm system is not disabled - it doesn't need to be. The house knows who is in residence at any moment; any unauthorized presence will start an alarm escalation process. In fact I never need to arm or disarm my system. Nor do I need a monitoring service. Think about that for a moment - it means that even if the house is occupied, an intruder is immediately detected.
Because Arizona is very hot it pays to air-condition the rooms in-use and to do so intelligently throughout the day. For this I have a combination of controlled vents and split-system HVACs for the most frequently used rooms. The house monitors (and predicts) room usage and heats/cools accordingly. In the event we decide to break pattern (which is frequent) the room can quickly be brought to a comfortable temperature.
The house not only monitors who is in the house, it also monitors continuously for fires and other anomalies ranging from appliance failures, water leaks, depletion of salt in water softener, and expired or clogged filter (air and water). I will be warned ahead of time when I need to take some action or, for instance, buy new filters. My appliances are upgraded so when my Bosch dishwasher stripped a valve actuator mechanism and trashed the turbine pump I was notified of the precise problem - saved me several hundreds of dollars as I was able to order the components online and have them ready (along with a full description of the problem) when the service person arrived - he reckoned I'd saved myself over $400 or a brand new dishwasher (over $1500).
Let's say there is a house fire. The house will attempt to map the safest route out of the house for all occupants. It is capable of waking everyone and provide each person a tailored route out of the house. This includes inducting fresh air from outside (through low-down wall vents) so the occupants are not overcome by smoke. The same system is also designed to contain fire and prevent back-drafts. Rather like an aircraft, a route will light up to guide people to safety (doubles as night and mood lighting).
If anything does go wrong the system will tell me exactly what to buy or what service to employ. Yes, my lights are computer controlled (so I can do stuff like night-time lights to the kitchen for a glass of water, or subdued lights so I can stop watching a film and get a snack) but really those are the gimmicks - they don't add much value. I also don't use stupid gadgets like fridge cameras. On the other hand the house does have load management which allows the system to optimize for electricity plans, solar (I have a 7.2kW system) etc..
Outside I have a camera watching the pool - anyone falls in, night or day, or if a child is approaching the pool (but has not yet fallen in) then an alarm will be raised immediately. Again, the system does not need to be armed/disarmed. The irrigation system is controlled by computer based on plants, dryness of soil, time of year etc.. It also monitors water flow so it can instantly detect both a seized valve or water leak. There's no outside box - it doesn't need one.
In addition the entire system is voice controlled (with voice response too) so although you can use a mobile or touch screen, there's rarely any need.
We've worked out our system saves us over $2500 a year in utilities. It does way more than I've described here (including non-obtrusive health monitoring), but I'm really just trying to give you an idea of what IoT can do for you.
Now onto the technology. As I've mentioned, everything is either automatic or voice controlled. We have no keys, not even for backup - we simply don't need them thanks to good design. We use a bunch of technologies including ESP32, ESP8266, Raspberry Pi, C.H.I.P., FPGA's (for facial and audio recognition). We have some legacy Zigbee devices and of course a huge number of sensors. Very, very few batteries - we either use capacitors or other methods of power scavenging to avoid both batteries and wires. Indeed there were zero changes made to the house structure or wiring; the only time intervention was required was the appliance modifications, installation of water flow sensors and the split HVAC systems. Otherwise 99% of the gear work can be retrofitted to a house by the owner.
When I see a Nest thermostat at Lowes, I laugh. It's like finding a living dinosaur that doesn't know it's extinct.