Arm MPS3 FPGA Prototyping Board

The Arm MPS3 is a feature-rich FPGA IoT development platform built around the Xilinx Kintex UltraScale XCKU115-1FLVB1760C, one of the largest FPGAs available in a development board form factor. The board supports FPGA implementations of Arm Cortex-M class processors, small to medium Cortex-A and Cortex-R class processors, and dedicated custom designs, making it the go-to platform for pre-silicon software development and SoC prototyping.

With 4 GB DDR4 (expandable to 8 GB), 8 MB QSPI flash, 16 GB eMMC, and up to 8 MB of FPGA BRAM, the MPS3 handles everything from bare-metal Cortex-M firmware to full Linux on Cortex-A class processors. The FMC-HPC expansion port provides up to 160 I/O lines and 10 multi-gigabit transceivers for high-speed interface prototyping, while two Arduino shield slots and four Pmod ports connect sensors, motors, and other design-specific peripherals.

Technical Specifications

Feature	Specification
FPGA	Xilinx Kintex UltraScale XCKU115-1FLVB1760C
Processor Support	Cortex-M, Cortex-A, Cortex-R (via FPGA images)
DDR4 Memory	4 GB (expandable to 8 GB)
Boot Flash	8 MB QSPI
FPGA BRAM	Up to 8 MB
eMMC Storage	16 GB
SD Card	microSD interface
Ethernet	10/100 Mbps
Video	HDMI up to 1080p
Display	QVGA CLCD with touchscreen
Audio	AC97 codec
USB	Dual USB-A ports
Expansion	FMC-HPC (160 I/O + 10 GBT + clocks)
Arduino	2x Arduino Shield interfaces
Pmod	4x Pmod expansion ports
User I/O	10 LEDs, 8 switches, 2 push buttons
Clocks	RTC, 5 programmable clocks, 1 fixed 24 MHz
Debug	P-JTAG, F-JTAG (FPGA), SWD, 16-bit trace, 4-bit trace
On-board Debug	CMSIS-DAP + 4 serial ports over USB
Board Controller	Motherboard Configuration Controller (MCC)

Corstone reference subsystems on MPS3

The MPS3 is the canonical Arm Cortex-M / Cortex-A bring-up platform for the Corstone-300 and Corstone-310 reference subsystems, Arm’s pre-integrated subsystem IP that combines Cortex-M cores with peripherals, security, and (optionally) Ethos-U NPU support. Per Arm’s published Corstone documentation, MPS3 runs:

• Corstone-300: Cortex-M55 + Ethos-U55 (edge AI reference subsystem)
• Corstone-310: Cortex-M85 + Ethos-U55 (high-performance edge AI variant)
• SSE-200 / SSE-300 legacy subsystem images for Cortex-M family evaluation

For Corstone-315 / Corstone-320 (newer Cortex-M + Ethos-U85 subsystems) the canonical platform is MPS4.

Software Development

The MPS3 enables development across the full Arm software spectrum:

• Linux on Cortex-A or Cortex-R class FPGA images
• Mbed OS / CMSIS-RTOS on Cortex-M class FPGA images
• Zephyr RTOS with board support packages for Corstone subsystems
• Bare metal firmware development and bring-up
• Tool development: compiler, debugger, and RTOS integration

MPS Board Comparison

Feature	MPS2+	MPS3	MPS4
FPGA	Altera Cyclone V	Xilinx Kintex UltraScale	AMD Virtex UltraScale+ XCVU13P (3.8M LE)
Processor Support	Cortex-M (incl. SSE-100/200)	Cortex-M + A + R (incl. Corstone-300/310)	Cortex-A + R + M (incl. Corstone-315/320)
Memory	8 MB SSRAM + 16 MB PSRAM	4 GB DDR4 + 16 GB eMMC	16 GB DDR4 + 128 MB QSPI + ~11.8 MB Block RAM
Expansion	3x IDC + SPI	FMC-HPC + 2x Arduino + 4x Pmod	FMC+ HPC + 2x Arduino + 4x Pmod + HAT + 3x ARC6 MGT + PCIe Gen 3
Video	QSVGA touchscreen	HDMI 1080p + QVGA touchscreen	HDMI 1.4a 1080p + MIPI CSI/DSI
Debug	JTAG + 16-bit trace	P-JTAG + F-JTAG + SWD + 16-bit trace + CMSIS-DAP	On-board ULINKplus + MIPI 60w + 32-bit trace
Best For	Cortex-M evaluation	Complex SoC prototyping (Corstone-300/310)	Next-gen SoC bring-up (Corstone-315/320, AI/ML, high-speed I/O)

Why GSAS for MPS3

GSAS provides MPS3 FPGA prototyping boards in India with manufacturer warranty and local application engineering support. The MPS3 is the recommended platform for teams prototyping complex SoC designs, running Linux on Cortex-A FPGA images, or evaluating multiple Arm processor variants on a single board. Our team assists with FPGA image selection, DDR4 configuration, FMC-HPC integration, and development toolchain setup with Keil MDK, Arm Development Studio, or Zephyr.