MOST controller brings flexible partitioning to infotainment

Xilinx has come up with a programmable solution structured around the Media Oriented System Transport (MOST) networking protocol for automotive electronics. It enables automotive Tier Ones to develop in-vehicle entertainment systems that can scale and evolve as new features and capabilities become available. Based on its PLDs, the complete hardware/software offering includes a MOST Network Interface Controller (NIC), an associated software stack, and application-tailored intellectual property (IP) cores.

Adding solutions to the MOST protocol provides automotive electronics developers an alternative for implementing customised systems. Now developers can separate specific applications from the MOST network requirements specified by the OEM. As a result, this programmable hardware approach gives developers optimal architectural flexibility for targeting different end-user needs. They also can determine their own system partitioning instead of letting the silicon supplier define it, as is the case with existing ASSP implementations.

At the core of the solution lies the company’s MOST NIC, which will be made available in the LogiCORE library. It can be implemented in either a Virtex-4 or Spartan-3 series device, with support available for the soft 32- bit MicroBlaze and embedded PowerPC processors.