Microchip Technology has started volume production of its PolarFire field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) designed for automotive and military grade applications.
The FPGAs are both qualified for the Automotive Electronics Council Q100 specification Grade T2 and military temperature grade to withstand -40° C to 125° C.
The PolarFire FPGAs offer on-chip security features for secure communication, an encrypted bitstream and cryptographically secured supply chain. Unlike SRAM-based FPGAs, the Microchip devices operate without fans and without heatsinks in some cases, which simplifies the design of the system, Microchip said. The temperature range enables developers to trust and add more compute power within thermally constrained environments such as those found in advanced strategic weapons systems.
“Removing heat from a system is not free,” said Bruce Weyer, vice president of Microchip’s FPGA business unit. “The less heat you move, the lower your total system costs become. In some cases, complete removal of fans from systems, which often have a low mean time between failure, is possible. Automotive and aerospace design engineers can now develop mid-range FPGA solutions with the lowest total power, highest reliability, and best-in-class security technologies, all at a lower total system cost.”
