Arrow Electronics has taken a bold step in advancing FPGA innovation with the launch of its latest development platform, the AXE5000 Starter Kit. Marking a global first, this kit features production silicon from the highly anticipated Altera Agilex™ 5 FPGA family, offering engineers an unprecedented opportunity to prototype and build with a commercially ready device.
Following the successful rollout of the AXE5-Eagle devkit in 2024, the AXE5000 continues Arrow’s mission to deliver accessible, cutting-edge tools for system designers and developers. The platform is designed to meet the demands of today’s embedded development environments—particularly those focused on AI acceleration, high-throughput computing, and energy-efficient architectures.
With this release, Arrow positions itself at the forefront of semiconductor enablement, targeting professionals across the electronics industry—embedded developers, AI hardware engineers, and FPGA architects—who are driving the next wave of innovation in smart devices, edge computing, and industrial automation.
At the core of the AXE5000 Starter Kit is the A5EC008BM16AE6S Altera Agilex™ 5 FPGA, a production-grade device engineered to deliver high-performance compute capabilities in a compact footprint. This FPGA is part of the E-series, tailored for power efficiency while enabling advanced AI and DSP workloads.
The development board is well-equipped for memory-intensive applications, featuring 16MB HyperRAM and 32MB of QSPI Flash. A 256 Mbit configuration flash handles FPGA boot-up while offering additional space for user data storage, making it ideal for fast prototyping cycles.
Practical embedded development needs are addressed through a well-rounded set of on-board components, including an RGB LED, a 3-axis accelerometer, and four push buttons—suitable for sensor integration, user interaction, and motion-based experimentation.
Designed with versatility in mind, the AXE5000 platform supports a broad range of applications such as computer vision systems, AI inference at the edge, and signal processing pipelines. This makes it an ideal choice for both industrial R&D and academic prototyping.
What sets the Agilex™ 5 series apart is its forward-looking architecture, purpose-built for the evolving demands of artificial intelligence and high-performance embedded computing. At the heart of this advancement are AI Tensor Blocks, integrated directly into enhanced DSP resources. These blocks enable real-time edge-AI processing and high-speed digital signal processing (DSP), giving developers the tools to deploy AI models natively on silicon.
The devices also feature Intel’s second-generation Hyperflex™ FPGA architecture, providing notable improvements in performance-per-watt. This architecture supports ultra-fast data paths, pipelining, and adaptive logic density that help unlock new levels of power efficiency—especially critical for edge applications with tight thermal and energy constraints.
The Agilex™ 5 family scales from 50k to 656k Logic Elements (LEs) and is offered in a variety of package sizes, including footprints as small as 15mm x 15mm. This scalability enables a wide design spectrum—from compact embedded systems to more demanding AI-accelerated workloads in the data pipeline.
With its blend of custom AI acceleration, efficient architecture, and flexible deployment options, Agilex™ 5 positions itself as a market-ready solution for mid-range AI workloads, embedded vision systems, and compute-intensive applications where agility, speed, and power efficiency are paramount.
The AXE5000 Starter Kit isn't just a hardware platform—it's a launchpad for prototyping, experimentation, and rapid product development. At the core of its versatility are CRUVI HS connectors and Arduino MKR-compatible pads, providing seamless interoperability with a wide range of adapter and sensor modules.
Whether you're integrating camera modules for computer vision, adding memory expansions, or experimenting with ADC/DAC peripherals and environmental sensors, the AXE5000’s modular design accelerates your development workflow. These connections support rapid system validation and adaptation across a broad array of embedded applications.
Developers will appreciate the on-board programming and debugging tools, which eliminate the need for external hardware during design and testing phases. This makes the platform ideal for both professional and academic environments where accessibility and speed are key.
To further streamline development, Arrow will release starter labs, demo projects, and comprehensive documentation through GitHub—enabling quick onboarding and code reuse. For OEMs and research teams, the AXE5000 is fully customisable, allowing reconfiguration of the board to meet specific performance, size, or feature requirements.
