FPGA remote update for nuclear environments

The Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear (IPFN) has developed dedicated reconfigurable modules based on field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices for several nuclear fusion machines worldwide. Moreover, new Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture (ATCA) based modules developed by IPFN are already included in the ITER fast plant Instrumentation & Control products catalogue. One of the requirements for reconfigurable modules operating in future nuclear environments including ITER is the remote update capability. Accordingly, this work presents an alternative method for FPGA remote programming to be implemented in new ATCA based reconfigurable modules. FPGAs are volatile devices and their programming code is usually stored in dedicated flash memories for properly configuration during module power-on. The presented method is capable to store new FPGA codes in Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash memories using the PCI-express (PCIe) network established on the ATCA backplane, linking data acquisition endpoints and the data switch blades. The method is based on the Xilinx Quick Boot application note, adapted to PCIe protocol and ATCA based modules.