REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

www.mod.gov.rs

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Material Resources Sector

Defensive Technologies Department

Military Technical Institute

www.vti.mod.gov.rs

An FPGA based generic platform for Ethernet communication processing up to 10G

Saša vukosavljev

RT-RK Computer Based Systems LLC, Novi Sad, Sasa.Vukosavljev@rt-rk.com

BORIS RADIN

Faculty of Technical Sciences at University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Boris.Radin@rt-rk.com

Vladimir Marinković

Faculty of Technical Sciences at University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Vladimir.Marinkovic@rt-rk.com

Abstract: Improvements in logic density and achievable clock frequencies for FPGAs have dramatically increased the applicability in arena of high performance computer communication. Considering high-speed and popularity of Ethernet communication, developing a reliable real-time Ethernet processing platform is of special value. In this paper, an FPGA generic platform for Ethernet communication processing is presented. The concept is proposed after analysis of temporal and functional requirements. It involves a generic architecture using programmable hardware design, soft processors and modular software approach. As main result, high speed Ethernet platform is developed for real time data processing on the link of 10 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, 1 Gbit/s or 10 Gbit/s speed with low latency and minimal throughput degradation. The presented approach offers a convenient/flexible platform for educational base and further development focused on specific areas such as: link aggregation, network traffic profiling, packet filtering and secure communication.

Keywords: FPGA, Ethernet, 10 GbE, soft processor, packet processing.