8192-point FFT with Intel FFT IP Core

[MLaus3]

Dear Intel Support Community,

I am writing my bachelor thesis in electrical engineering at Vector Informatik GmbH at the moment.

My target is to develop a cheap spectrum analyzer using the Fast Fourier-Transformation for the PLC (Powerline Communication)-calibration assuring the communication between electric vehicle and its supply equipment/power station. The PLC-Signal ranges between 2 and 30 MHz. I want to execute the FFT on a FPGA Evaluation Board from Intel (Arria V, Cyclone V or Stratix V-device with FFT IP CORE).

There is a special carrier-bandwith i have to sample to match the valid standards. My AD-Converter (seperately on a PCB) is sampling with 13 bit -> 8192 Samples. The resolution is between 12 and 16 bit and the sampling frequency fS is ca. 75 MHz. I want to do the FFT ca. 100x and store the data in an external storage.

After reading the FFT IP CORE User Guide and especially the Performance and Resource Utilization chapter, I noticed that there is no device able to do a 8192-point-FFT (maximum is 4096-point-FFT). As I already mentioned I am looking for an Evaluation Board to keep the implementation as simple as possible. I am not an expert in FPGA, so I would like to ask for your advice:

- Is there an Evaluation Board from Intel able doing the 8192-point-FFT?

- How many storage (block RAM or distributed RAM) do you need for a FFT with this size? (I would guess 50-100MB, but I didn’t find anything about this topic in the references and manuals..)

- What is the cheapest Evaluation Board from Intel which is also able doing the 8192-point-FFT?

- What is the best way to connect the (high speed) ADC with the FPGA Evaluation Board? (I thought about a FMC-connector)

I would be very happy if you could help me.

Thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Maximilian Lausenmeyer

Vector Informatik GmbH

[CheePin_C_Intel]

Hi,

Please correct me if I am wrong, as I understand it, you have some inquiries related to the Transform Length supported by the FFT IP in V series devices. If yes, for your information, the V series FFT IP supports the 8192 length. You may refer to the "Table 8. Basic Parameters" of the FFT IP user guide for further details on the supported length settings.

For your information the "Table 3. Performance and Resource Utilization" in the user guide are showing some example of resource utilization for some configuration. It is not referring the supported transform length. 

Regarding the storage required, it is recommended for you to run through Quartus compilation to tell on the resource utilization based on your specific configuration. 

Regarding the devkit price, you might need to refer to the https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/programmable/products/boards_and_kits/all-development-kits.html for further details. Alternatively, you may check with your local sales for as well.

As for the connection between ADC and devkit, I believe this would be dependent on the connectors available on your chosen devkit and ADC card. You might need to cross check on the devkit and ADC card datasheet to decide the connection.

Please let me know if there is any concern. Thank you.

Best regards,

Chee Pin

[MLaus3]

Hi, thank you for your information so far, I really appreciate that! I found an Eval Board (DE10 from Terasic with Intel Cyclone® V SE 5CSXFC6D6F31C6N device) which could fit for my requirements: • Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 (HPS) • 110K programmable logic elements • 5,761 Kbits embedded memory • 6 fractional PLLs I think it has enough resources and LEs. Do you think that it is possible to do the 8192-FFT on this board? Thank you in advance, Best regards Max

[CheePin_C_Intel]

Hi Max, By merely based on the existing resource utilization table in the user guide, there should be no issue to implement the 8192 point FFT with the CV device. However, I would recommend you to create simple test design with the same CV device and run through Fitter compilation to verify this. Please let me know if there is any concern. Thank you. Best regards, Chee Pin

[CheePin_C_Intel]

Hi,

I believe the initial inquiry has been addressed. This thread will be transitioned to community support. If you have a new question, feel free to open a new thread to get the support from Intel experts. Otherwise, the community users will continue to help you on this thread. Thank you.