Ready PCIe data streaming solutions for FPGAs

The PCIe attachment of FPGA accelerators within host workstations is convenient and offers a high-performance direct integration. FPGA-boards designed and equipped as PCIe extension cards are available off-the-shelf. This paper gives an overview on options to provide data streaming abstractions in user applications using PCIe technology. RIFFA and Xillybus are straightforward implementations, which aim at providing ready solutions at this level. This paper will describe these platforms and evaluate them in terms of their ease of use, their perceived maturity and the performance metrics bandwidth and latency. It concludes with providing a brief guideline on how to select the proper platform depending on the usage context.