RocketIO compatibility between Virtex devices

[davidbowman]

Hi,

I have a number of Virtex II Pro boards in a current design and I'd like to be able to interface them to a Virtex6 via the MGTs. 

I'm assuming that the devices should be compatible (ie have the same physical layer) and it should work provided I keep the clock speed slow enough for the VIIP to keep up - but can anyone confirm this before I fork-out $2000 on a V6 dev board? 

More generally, are RocketIOs compatible across the Xilinx range allowing, of course, for speed differences?

Thanks

David Bowman

[austin]

David,

Yes, there are designed to meet various standards, so if the same standard is used, they interoperate just fine.

The only concern is to check to make sure the common mode voltage of the standards was implemented the same way:  for example the GTX runs from a lower analog voltage, so the inputs, and outputs have a lower common mode voltage than the GTP.  AC coupling will solve that issue.

Other than that, yes, they are all interoperable.

Austin