How to Achieve Multi Board Synchronization in RFSoC Systems?
In complex RF systems, aligning one board is hard enough, but what happens when you need multiple RFSoC boards to sample in perfect sync, down to the nanosecond?
Our engineers took on the challenge of multi-board synchronization in wideband systems. Along the way, they encountered subtle phase drifts, clock skew across JESD links, and even issues with deterministic latency.
The breakthrough? A precise orchestration of external reference clocks, SYSREF alignment, and careful use of MTS (Multi Tile Sync) features across multiple boards, not just tiles.
If you’re working on phased arrays, beamforming, or multi-channel SDR systems, this is the behind-the-scenes story you need. " iWave iG42P ZU49DR RFSoC Platform, synchronized waveform generation and data capture were achieved across two RFSoC boards, validating reliable multi-board timing alignment."
Read the full article here
SCALABILITY ACROSS GEN1 TO GEN3 RFSoC FPGAs
iWave’s RFSoC SoMs iG-G42M and iG-G60M are designed for seamless scalability across the AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC portfolio, supporting migration from Gen1 to Gen3 devices, including ZU25DR through ZU49DR, without changes to the carrier board.
Despite minor differences in form factor (100mm x 90mm vs. 100mm x 82mm), both modules feature the same dual 400-pin high-speed Board-to-Board (B2B) connectors, enabling full pin-compatibility on a shared development platform.
This allows developers to switch between SoMs with different RF channel counts or device grades without modifying their carrier board design, reducing time-to-market and maximizing design reuse.
iG42M: ZU49/ZU39/ZU29DR RFSoC SoM Mounted on the Evaluation Platform
- Compatible with ZU49/ZU39/ZU29DR
- 16 x ADC channels up to 2.5Gsps and 16 x DAC channels up to 10Gsps
- Supports 16 high-speed GTY transceivers up to 28.21Gbps
- Supports 4 high-speed GTR transceivers up to 6Gbps
- Zynq® UltraScale+™ RFSoC - iWave | DigiKey
iG60M: ZU48/47/43/28/27/25DR RFSoC SoM Mounted on the Evaluation Platform
- Compatible with ZU48/47/43/28/27/25DR
- 8 x ADC channels up to 5Gsps and 8 x DAC channels up to 9.85Gsps
- Supports 16 high-speed GTY transceivers up to 28.21Gbps
- Supports 4 high-speed GTR transceivers up to 6Gbps
- With integrated SD-FEC IP Block
- Zynq® UltraScale+™ RFSoC - iWave | DigiKey
What challenges do you face in RFSoC-based system design?