Communication and Processing Platforms
Spring Electronics – Advanced Platform Designs 2025
Communication and Processing Platforms
Spring Electronics designs and delivers high-end communication and processing platforms based on AMD Versal™ SoC devices, providing complete solutions that span hardware design, FPGA development, and real-time embedded systems.
Our platforms include:
• High-performance processing and computation architectures using AMD Versal
• Custom hardware development, including base boards and system integration
• Advanced FPGA design, covering control, data processing, and high-speed interfaces
• Real-time embedded Linux development, including BSP creation and deployment
A key architectural feature of our designs is a fully hardware-based board control and management implementation, realized inside a non-volatile FPGA. This approach eliminates the need for external microcontrollers or software-based control, significantly improving system safety, reliability, determinism, and startup robustness.
Our FPGA designs demonstrate complex board control logic alongside high-end processing pipelines, including:
• Integrated processing subsystems
• High-speed communication interfaces (10GbE, 40GbE, PCIe)
• Advanced data-flow handling and buffering
• Multi-link JESD204 integration, management, synchronization, and bridging
• Optional ports
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MIPI Ports
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NVIDIA Module Integration
Each platform includes a complete processing system running Linux, supporting:
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet
• Multiple PCIe interfaces
• Full data exchange between Processing System (PS) and Programmable Logic (PL)
• Custom BSP development tailored to the target hardware
Hardware development is based on extensive prior experience with AMD FPGAs and SoC’s families, enabling delivery of turnkey solutions from concept through production.
System Architecture Overview
Figure 1 presents the high-level system block diagram of the Spring Electronics communication and processing platform.
The system is centered around an AMD Versal™ SoC, integrating high-performance processing, programmable logic, and advanced connectivity. The Versal device interfaces with multiple high-speed external subsystems, including network interfaces, PCIe endpoints, JESD204-based data converters, and system memory.
A dedicated Non-Volatile FPGA (NVFPGA) is used for board-level control, configuration, sequencing, and power management. This separation ensures deterministic system behavior and allows the main processing system to operate independently from board management functions.
AMD Versal Platform Block Diagram
Figure 2 shows the internal block diagram of the AMD Versal platform as implemented in the system.
The Versal device combines a Processing System (PS) running embedded Linux with Programmable Logic (PL) implementing high-performance data-path and control logic. Integrated high-speed transceivers support Ethernet, PCIe, and JESD204 interfaces.
The PS handles system software execution, networking, and application-level control, while the PL implements high-speed data processing pipelines, JESD204 cores, buffering, routing, and deterministic PS–PL data exchange.
Non-Volatile FPGA (NVFPGA) Block Diagram
Figure 3 presents the block diagram of the Non-Volatile FPGA (NVFPGA) used for board control and management.
The NVFPGA implements all critical board-level functions entirely in hardware, including power sequencing, reset generation, clock management, configuration control, health monitoring, and fault handling.
By eliminating software and microcontroller dependencies, the NVFPGA ensures deterministic startup behavior, improved system reliability, and suitability for safety-critical applications.
