The Parallella Board

Overview

The Parallella computer platform is an open source, energy efficient, high performance, credit card sized computer based on the Epiphany multicore chips from Adapteva. This affordable platform is designed for developing and implementing high performance, parallel processing. Applications developed to take advantage of the on-board Epiphany parallel processor can achieve unprecedented performance at the lowest power in the industry.

The Epiphany 16 or 64 core chips consists of a scalable array of simple RISC processors programmable in C/C++ or a parallel programming framework like OpenCL. The mesh of independent cores are connected together with a fast on chip network within a single shared memory architecture.

 

The 66-core version of the Parallella board delivers over 90 GFLOPS while consuming only 5 Watts under typical work loads. For certain applications, this would provide more raw performance than a high end server costing thousands of dollars and consuming 400 Watts.

To get an idea just how powerful this little board is, check out benchmark scores for the Epiphany-IV and Epiphany-III processors at coremark.org or read our blog post.

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Highlights

  • Credit card size computer
  • Low cost, low power multicore platform
  • HDMI, Ethernet, USB and 48 GPIO ports
  • Dual core ARM and 16/64 core RISC processors on board
  • ANSI C/C++ and OpenCL programmable
  • Up to 90 GFLOPS processing capability

Benefits

  • Accessible solution with Open Source hardware and software
  • Simple and low-cost integration due toimplementation flexibility, and resource availability
  • Powerful platform with
    • Dual Core ARM Processor
    • Programmable FPGA
    • Epiphany 16 or 64 core parallel processor

Features

  • Zynq-Z7010 or Z7020 Dual-core ARM A9 CPU
  • 16 or 64-core Epiphany Multicore Accelerator
  • 1GB RAM
  • MicroSD Card
  • 2x USB 2.0
  • 4 general purpose expansion connectors
  • 10/100/1000 Ethernet
  • HDMI port
  • Linux Operating System
  • 54mm x 87mm  form factor

Product Selection Chart

SKU CPU Coprocessor GPIO Connector Status
A101010 Zynq 7010 Epiphany III No In Production
A101020 Zynq 7010 Epiphany III Yes In Production
A101030 Zynq 7020 Epiphany III No Not Currently Available
A101040 Zynq 7020 Epiphany III Yes In Production
A101050 Zynq 7010 Epiphany IV No Not Currently Available
A101060 Zynq 7010 Epiphany IV Yes Not Currently Available
A101070 Zynq 7020 Epiphany IV No Not Currently Available
A101080 Zynq 7020 Epiphany IV Yes Limited Quantities

Target Applications

Consumer:

  • Smart-phones and tablet app acceleration
  • High end audio
  • Computational photography
  • Speech Recognition
  • Face detection/recognition

Computing Infrastructure:

  • Super Computers
  • Big Data Analytics
  • Software Defined Networking
  • Data-center Appliances
  • High Frequency Trading

Mil/Aero:

  • Radar/Sonar
  • Extremely Large Sensor Imaging
  • Hyperspectral Imaging
  • Communication Jamming
  • Military Radios
  • Munitions/Guidance

Medical:

  • Ultrasound
  • CT

Communication:

  • Communication test-bed
  • Software defined radio
  • Adaptive Pre-distortion

Industrial/Instrumentation:

  • Machine Vision
  • Autonomous Robots/Navigation
  • Automotive Safety
  • High Speed Data Acquisition/Generation

Other:

  • Compression
  • Security Cameras
  • Video Transcoding

 

For detailed information

Source Files: