In the ever-evolving landscape of computer technology a new and transformative product has emerged—Commercially Available Off the Shelf (COTS) FPGA Programmable Acceleration Cards (PACs).

These latest generation compute acceleration cards have already gained immense popularity, revolutionizing industries with heavy computational demands such as Artificial Intelligence, Finance and Telecommunication. Now they are poised to change the Broadcast & Media industry as we know it. This article explores the rise of COTS FPGA PACs, delving into their benefits over traditional GPU and CPU architectures for specialized industries such as Tier-1 Live Broadcast Production.

The Evolution of COTS FPGA Programmable Acceleration Cards

Just like CPUs and GPUs, FPGAs offer flexibility and programmability. In fact the “P” in FPGA stands for Programmable. For a long time however most FPGAs were integrated into custom-built proprietary hardware platforms that were expensive and manufactured in low volumes which led to high costs. The introduction of the PAC promises to change this and democratize access to the power of FPGAs. PACs are designed to fit into the PCI Express port of any standard computer just like a Graphics Card. A PAC combines high capacity IP/Ethernet interfaces that connect directly to the latest generation FPGAs from Intel and AMD/Xilinx and can be programmed through software to perform any task that can be performed on an IP packet.  

The PAC was designed to be a standardized form factor for compute intensive tasks that could be done over an IP network. Initially they were adopted for applications such as high-frequency trading, high speed firewalls, 5G test and measurement devices and Gene Sequencing. Lately however AI inference (e.g. the part that provides the answers once the AI model has been trained) is the fastest growing use case.

Manufactured by multiple vendors and sold through large IT suppliers, the definition of COTS, PACs are nowadays offered as a configuration option when ordering many standard rack servers which makes purchasing them a simple and seamless process.

The Right Tool For the Job: FPGA vs. GPU and CPU

While CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs are all similar in that they are programmable to perform any task they have marked differences. CPUs are generalists and thanks to their common instruction set are extremely versatile and able to handle any task. GPUs on the other hand were initially designed for the very specific task of accelerating graphics and image processing but due to their parallel structure have also proven to have a great ability to handle other problems such as machine learning, albeit at the expense of high power consumption.

FPGAs on the other hand are specialists. They also offer the ability to be customized through software but they excel in performing a very particular function at high speed while retaining ultra-low latency and guaranteed performance. This makes them ideal candidates to meet the requirements for Tier-1 live broadcast video production which is highly specialized and demands guaranteed throughput with low latency at high data rates.

The move to IP: A Game-Changer for Specialized Industries such as Broadcast

While for a long time the Media & Broadcast industry were used to custom hardware platforms, the industry’s move to embrace IP technology has made it possible to utilize COTS compute platforms. The first Broadcast applications built on COTS platforms were not surprisingly those that were able to use standard IT technology and had modest performance requirements. For example non-linear editors which have no real-time requirements or audio processing with its relatively low data rates.

As CPU processing speeds evolved and with the addition of GPU acceleration it became possible to add first compressed and later on uncompressed real-time video processing such as ST2110. This however comes at the cost of throwing brute force compute at the problem since neither platform can be optimized for a specialized application such as uncompressed live video production.

With the development of COTS PACs which feature high speed network interfaces and a custom programmable FPGA it is possible to access and process large amounts of IP video with low latency, guaranteed performance and with low power consumption.

The Most Bang For the Buck

A common COTS FPGA PAC today typically offers 4 x 100GE network interfaces, and with up to 4 of these fitting into a server this provides a processing density of 1.6Tbps in a single 1RU.

In addition, the industry has already announced that the next generation 2 x 400GE PAC will start shipping next year which will effectively double the processing capacity.

Compared to CPU and/or GPU processing platforms current generation COTS FPGA PACs offer 10-20x the capacity with 90% less power consumption per RU, all while guaranteeing the latency and reliability that Tier-1 live broadcasters productions have come to expect.

In addition, and maybe most importantly, thanks to economies of scale where COTS PACs FPGA address a much larger market and are therefore manufactured in much higher volumes than custom hardware they are significantly more cost effective when compared to CPU and GPU as measured in $ per processed bit.

Conclusion: Another tool in the toolbox for live broadcast productions

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to the many and varied applications and use-cases that make up live broadcast production and therefore there are many instances where CPU and/or GPU processing are more appropriate than FPGA. However there is no doubt that for large scale, uncompressed live video applications there is no other technology that offers a higher ratio of processing performance to price.

As such it is clear that COTS FPGA PACs have a role to play in the future of Tier-1 live broadcast productions and we should expect to see them make up part of the technology stack of the modern broadcaster and broadcast service provider.