Xilinx’s latest development kit is aimed at the design of embedded processing systems based on PowerPC 440 and MicroBlaze processors.

Built around Virtex-5 FXT FPGAs, the platform also has the support of the company’s BlueCat Linux BSP, which means it can be used as a common software development platform for both MicroBlaze and PowerPC processors.

The kit incorporates a Virtex-5 FX70T FPGA development board, the ML507, Linux reference designs, a library of processing IP cores and a USB JTAG download/debug cable.

There is a pre-built Linux image and embedded processing reference design based on the PowerPC 440 processor, DDR2 memory interface and Gigabit Ethernet interface.

The ML507 board provides a range of I/O interfacing options including standard interfaces like Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express as well as custom interfaces they can develop using the gigabit transceivers available on the Virtex-5 FXT device using SMA connectors.