Introduction

The GX3700/GX3700e is a user configurable, FPGA based, 3U PXI/PXI Express card which offers 160 digital I/O signals which can be configured for single-ended or differential interfaces. The card employs the Altera Stratix III FPGA, which can support data rates up to 1.2 Gb/s (SerDes interface) and features over 65,000 logic elements and 2.636 Kb of memory. The GX3700/GX3700e is supplied with an expansion board, GX3701 – Flex I/O Feed Through Module, providing access to the FPGA’s 160 I/Os. Alternatively, users can design their own custom expansion cards for specific applications eliminating the need for additional external boards which are cumbersome and physically difficult to integrate into a test system. The GX3702 provides the same functionality as the GX3701 except the I/O configuration (connectors J1-J4) is compatible with National Instruments' PXI 7811R and PXI 7813R modules.

I/O design of the FPGA is done by using Altera’s free Quartus II Web Edition tool set. Once the user has compiled the FPGA design, the configuration file can be loaded directly into the FPGA or via an on-board EEPROM.