Is it worth to choose ZYNQ for SDR designs

[rakeshm55]

Hi,
Is it worth to choose ZYNQ FPGA for SDR designs... We have a traditional system of virtex 6 FPGA & OMAP combi...
What advantage can an Zynq offer??....
What are is disadvantages....
The price of Zynq seems exorbitant  so I have doubts on viability of using ZYNQ..... Xilinx projects Zynq as the technology to go with.... is it worth choosing ??

Please share your thoughts....

[Scrts]

You want to do processing on ARM cores? Then it depends. Personally, I would go for Cyclone V with hard PCIe plus nVidia Tegra. What are your requirements?

[tggzzz]

Basically Zynq = Artix7 fabric plus dual-core ARM. If your designs would benefit from ARM processors that are tightly coupled with FPGA logic and external memory, then Zynq might be appropriate.

You might like to look at the kinds of things that are possible, and see if they are relevant to your situation. Look at the MicroZed board, the Red Pitaya scope+, and the IP primitives that are supplied by Xilinx.

We cannot advise you what your designs require; sorry!

[rakeshm55]

We usually design Waveform (AM FM etc) PHY & MAC in FPGA and rest of the system in OMAP......now there is a suggestion to use ZYNQ to replace the combi and go with single chip design Zynq....this is the jist.... Every where i look for I see praise for Zynq....so did wanted to know the disadvantages of going for Zynq

[tggzzz]

Only you can define what disadvantages you might encounter, since they are highly design specific and company specific.

You would have to use Vivado, not ISE, but ISE is on the way out anyway.

Why not buy one of the MicroZed family of boards, which comes with Vivado+ChipScope plus decently flexible high speed IO? That would force you to crystallise your thoughts and quickly test your undersanding and designs. Make sure the MicroZed is in stock before committing to a purchase.

[Rasz]

I read in a couple of places Ettus will come out with Zynq based USRP, so it has to have some advantages (well, maybe they get great price and thats the only reason)