UniBoard2, A Generic Scalable High-Performance Computing Platform for Radio Astronomy

Abstract

With the ever-increasing data rates in radio astronomy, a universal Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based hardware platform which can be used at different locations in the signal processing chain, like a beamformer, data router or correlator, would reduce development time significantly. In this paper, we present the design of such a platform, the UniBoard2. With UniBoard2, both large rack-based and single-board systems can be made. Standard Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) input and output (IO) interfaces on the front side make it easy to interface UniBoard2 to standard 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network equipment. Hardware design challenges, like transceiver links, power supplies, power dissipation and cooling are described. The paper concludes with some examples of systems (like beamformers and correlators) that can be built using the UniBoard2 hardware platform.