BeagleBoard.org Launches the Open-Hardware BeagleV-Fire, Powered by Microchip's PolarFire SoC
Powered by the same chip family as the PolarFire SoC Icicle Kit and Video Kit, this low-cost RISC-V-and-FPGA board packs a punch.
Open source single-board computer pioneer BeagleBoard.org has announced a new device, featuring a Microchip PolarFire SoC — combining four user-accessible 64-bit RISC-V cores with a flexible field-programmable gate array (FPGA) fabric, on a compact footprint: the BeagleV-Fire.
"“We aren't just interested in openness at the board level, or even at the instruction-set level; we want to pave paths for everyone interested in what digital technology can enable in sensing and controlling the world around them and BeagleV-Fire marks significant progress down that path," claims BeagleBoard.org co-founder Jason Kridner of his company's latest launch. "By harnessing the power of Microchip’s PolarFire FPGA SoC IC and embracing the RISC-V architecture, we are unleashing the potential for groundbreaking innovation within the open source community."
The PolarFire SoC MPFS025T FCVG484E at the heart of the new board is from the same family as powers Microchip's Icicle Kit and Video Kit evaluation boards. It combines four 64-bit RV64GC RISC-V application cores running at up to 667MHz, and a fifth RV64IMAC monitor core, with an FPGA fabric boasting 23k logic elements, 68 18×18 math blocks, and four SERDES lanes with 12.7Gb/s of bandwidth.
To this, BeagleBoard.org has added 2GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 16GB of on-board eMMC storage pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux, and microSD expansion, a gigabit Ethernet port, an M.2 E-key slot which supports optional Wi-Fi modules, a high-speed SYZYGY interface on the underside, 92-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) headers compatible with BeagleBone Cape add-on boards, and a 22-pin MIPI Camera Serial Interface (CSI) connector.
"We share the open source community’s commitment to design freedom and flexibility and look forward to the projects that will be built using our multi-core PolarFire SOC, which bring asymmetric processing, power efficiency, security and reliability to intelligent edge applications," says Microchip's Bruce Weyer of the launch. "We applaud BeagleBoard.org for its longstanding leadership in fostering innovation, collaboration and proliferation of RISC-V’s open source ISA."
Perhaps the most interesting part of the BeagleV-Fire, though, is its price: at $150, the BeagleV-Fire considerably undercuts the near-$600 price of Microchip's own Icicle Kit — though comes at the cost of using a considerably smaller PolarFire SoC part with around a tenth the available logic elements and breaking out fewer of the chip's capabilities.
More information on the board is available on the BeagleBoard.org website; stock is now available in the channel, the company has confirmed.