FWDT - GPU peer-to-peer streaming firmware

ADQ14-FWDT is a firmware and software bundle which upgrades the PCI Express interface of an ADQ14 to generation 3 by 8 lane (Gen3 x8) specifically for peer-to-peer streaming. The firmware adds support for peer-to-peer streaming to a selected number of graphics processing units (GPUs) from AMD and NVIDIA. Peer-to-peer data transfers can be done at sustained rates of 6 Gbyte/s and with peak rates at up to 6.8 GByte/s.

ADQ14-FWDT offers an alternative to the open FPGA architecture for those customers that prefer to work with GPUs. With peer-to-peer technology, the data is transferred directly from the digitizer to the GPU with minimal involvement of the host computer’s CPU. This is a huge advantage compared to conventional solutions which require data to be copied via the RAM of the host PC. With peer-to-peer, both the CPU and RAM can instead be used for other tasks. The captured data can be post-processed in OpenCL™ or CUDA™. See the datasheet for details about supported GPU models and operating systems.