Wednesday, 11 June 2014

FPGA Development Boards

Should one use the FPGA or microcontroller for their embedded project is always an important questions to deal with.

Specially when lots of  low cost FPGA general purpose boards right at your door steps knocking their candidature.

their flexibility, increasing power and decreasing cost will lead the FPGA to rule the world.

We will ponder into all details of FPGA right here but the first task is to find out the manufactures of various FPGA chips.

1) Various Manufacturers of FPGA chips
  • Xilinx
  • ALTERA
  • Microsemi
  • Lattice
  • Cypress

are some of the manufacturers quite popular today.

2) Various Development Boards.


  • Waxwing Spartan 6 
  • Elbert Spartan 3A
  • Digilent Nexys 3
  • The Mojo
  • ZTEK usb FPGA module
  • Avnet spartan 6 microboard
  • papilio pro
  • lattice XP2
  • Arrow bemicro
  • Saturn - Spartan 6 FPGA Development Board with DDR SDRAM



Lets Get some introduction of Elbert - Spartan 3A FPGA Development Board (from Numato Lab)

ELBERT is a simple but versatile FPGA Learning/Development board featuring Xilinx Spartan 3A FPGA. An excellent choice for beginners and advance learners for experimenting and learning system design with FPGAs. This development board features Xilinx XC3S50A 100 pin FPGA with maximum 68 user IOs (Some are dedicated for system). USB2 interface provides fast and easy configuration download to the on board SPI flash.

You don’t need a programmer or special downloader cable to download bit stream to Elbert. ELBERT features a stable clock source which is derived from on board configuration controller. ELBERT incorporates LEDs and switches for curious users to get started with “Hello World” program in a matter of minutes.



Various Files and Documents can be found at 


#GIVEAWAY 
participate in the giveaway from numato.cc to own this elbert spartan 3A,
for your chance to win Enter Here .

2) Waxwing - Spartan 6 Mini Module Available at numato.com

Waxwing is a simple to use FPGA module that includes Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. This module features Xilinx XC6SLX series FPGA in CSG324 package. This module takes care of FPGA, Configuration, DDR and power thus you'll be able to invest longer Efforts on your application specific aspects of the hardware development. The module is pre-packed with 512Mb DDR memory and 128Mb SPI flash for FPGA configuration. a large variety of IOs and necessary signals together with JTAG are offered on the high pin count low profile connectors (DF40C-90DP) on the rear view of the module. Numato has created carrier boards and development boards which can be used for evaluation and development with this FPGA module. At simply 40mm x 36.5mm size, this module packs lots of power in such a tiny low footprint. 

Applications

• Product Prototype Development
• Development and testing of custom embedded processors
• Signal Processing
• Communication devices development
• Educational tool for Schools and Universities
• Volume production

Board features
• FPGA: Spartan-6 XC6S LX9, LX16, LX25 or LX45 in CSG324 package
• DDR: 166MHz 512Mb LPDDR
• Flash memory: 128 Mb SPI flash memory (W25Q128FV)
• Two 90-pin 0.4mm Hirose board-to-board connectors (DF40C-90DP)
• 100MHz CMOS oscillator
• All differential pairs are length matched on the module
• Maximum 134 IOs for user defined purposes
XC6SLX9 - 118 IOs
XC6SLX16 - 134 IOs
XC6SLX25 - 134 IOs
XC6SLX45 - 134 IOs
• On-board voltage regulators for single power rail operation
• Only 40mm x 36.5mm (1.58” x 1.4”) in size
• JTAG and SPI signals available on connector for configuration


Components/Tools required

Along with the module, you may need the items in the list below for easy and fast installation.

1. Waxwing Carrier Board or Waxwing Basic Development Board (sold separate).

2. DC Power supply.



Connection Diagram

Saturn - Spartan 6 FPGA Development Board with DDR SDRAM

Saturn is an easy to use FPGA Development board featuring Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. Saturn is specially designed for experimenting and learning system design with FPGAs. This development board features Xilinx XC6SLX series FPGA with FTDI’s FT2232H Dual-Channel USB device. The high speed USB 2.0 interface provides fast and easy configuration download to the on-board SPI flash. No programmer or special downloader cable is needed to download the bit stream to the board.


Board features

  • FPGA: Spartan-6 LX45 in CSG324 package (XC6SLX9, LX16 and LX25 available for custom order)

  • DDR: 166MHz 512Mb LPDDR

  • Flash memory: 128 Mb SPI flash memory (W25Q128FV)

  • 100MHz CMOS oscillator

  • High Speed USB 2.0 interface for On-board flash programming. FT2232H Channel A is dedicated for SPI Flash Programming. Channel B can be used for custom applications.

  • On-board voltage regulators for single power rail operation

  • FPGA configuration via JTAG and USB

  • Maximum 158 IOs for user defined purposes

    • XC6SLX9 - 118 IOs

    • XC6SLX16 - 150 IOs

    • XC6SLX25 - 144 IOs

    • XC6SLX45 - 136 IOs

    • FT2232H - 8 IOs


 GIVEAWAY TIME: Right now there is a Giveaway running for this whole week to win one of this Board. All you need to do is just shared about this giveaway on twitter, facebook etc and comment about it at numato.cc

Fore Example: I had shared it on my twitter page as shown below.

I had also mentioned this giveaway on Facebook as shown below



-GooD LucK..!!!
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)