lowRISC project aims to produce a completely open-source SoC (System-on-Chip) based on the 64-bit RISC-V instruction set architecture, as well as a corresponding development board, thus eventually producing a fully open hardware systems. The project has now announced its first release “tagged memory preview release” with a tutorial explaining how this has all been designed, and how to run simulations with software tools, or FPGA boards such as Zedboard. The project is based on Rocket core, written in Chisel language by the RISC-V team at UC Berkeley. Chisel can generate code to produce a cycle-accurate C++ emulator, Verilog optimised for FPGAs or Verilog for use in an ASIC flow.If you want to try it out, you’ll need a Linux machine, preferably running Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit, with GNU GCC 4.8 installed, and follow the tutorial in order to get the source code, and build tools such as riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc compiler, and […]
$50 Mimas V2 Spartan 6 FPGA Development Board Comes with a VGA Port, 64MB RAM
Just last week, I wrote about miniSpartan3, an FPGA board powered by Xilinx Spartan 3A. It costs as low as $25, features an HDMI output port, but lacks RAM. Numato Lab’s Mimas V2 is another low cost FPGA board with a more powerful Spartan 6 FPGA, 512 Mb LPDDR memory, and instead of HDMI output, a VGA port has been included on the board. The board can be used for prototype development, signal processing, learning digital electronics and as an educational tool for schools and universities. Technical specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan XC6SLX9 in CSG324 package System Memory – 512Mb LPDDR @ 166 MHz (MT46H32M16LF/W949D6CBHX6E) Storage – 16 Mb SPI flash memory (M25P16) + micro SD card slot Video Output – VGA connector Audio – Stereo jack USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 port for on-board flash programming Expansion Headers – Four 6×2 header with access to 32 I/O pins, […]
miniSpartan3 is a $25 Xilinx Spartan 3A FPGA Board with HDMI Output
Last year, Scarab Hardware launched miniSpartan 6+, a low cost FPGA board featuring Xilinx Spartan6 LX9, on Kickstarter. Since the, they’ve made a third iteration of the board with either Spartan6 LX9 or LX25 and an extra HDMI port, and developed miniSpartan3, a smaller and cheaper FPGA board called miniSpartan3 powered by Xilinx Spartan 3A XC3A50 or XC3A200 FPGA. miniSpartan3 specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan 3A XC3A50 (50K logic gates) or XC3A200 (200K logic gates) Storage – 4Mbit SPI Flash Video / Audio Output – HDMI USB – Micro USB OTG port Debugging – On-board USB JTAG programmer; on-board USB to Serial Interface I/Os via breadboard friendly through holes 4-channel ADC running at 200 KSPS with 8 bit resolution. 41 Digital I/O pins. Misc – 3 LEDs for debugging; 2 DIP switches. Dimensions – 6.35 x 4.06 cm They have not provided much details about development tools, but it’s quite […]
Xilinx Zynq-Z7015 FPGA + ARM based System-on-Modules Include High Speed Transceivers
There’s a fair amount of low cost boards powered by Xilinx Zynq Z-7010 and Z-7020 with dual core Cortex A9 processor and Artix-7 FPGA, but those who wanted to have PCIe ports or high speed transceivers had to go with the higher-end Xilinx Z-7030/7040/7050 with Kintex-7 FPGA fabric for a much higher cost. But Xilinx introduced Zynq Z-7015 late last year, a low cost Artix-7 FPGA + Cortex A9 SoC that also adds four 6.25Gbps SerDes ports and one PCIe Gen2 x4 integrated block. At least two modules based on the new SoC are currently available with DAVE Embedded Systems’ BORA Xpress and Trenz Electronic TE0715 Series. DAVE Zynq XC7Z015/XC7Z030 BORA Xpress BORA Xpress specifications: SoC Xilinx ZYNQ XC7Z015 dual ARM Cortex-A9 @ up to 866MHz with Artix-7 FPGA with 74K logic cells, 46K LUTs, 92K Flip flops, 380 KB RAM. 32 KB I-cache, 32 KB D-cache, 512 KB L2 […]
Embedded Systems Conference 2015 Schedule – May 6-7, 2015
The Embedded Systems Conference took the name “Design West” for a couple of years, but this year, there’s no mention of Design West, and the Embedded System Conference 2015 will take place in Boston, MA, US on May 6-7, 2015. The 2-day event will have a demo hall, and well as sessions divided into 8 tracks: Connected Devices and the IoT Embedded Software Design Hardware: Design, I/O and Interfacing Prototyping Embedded Systems Design Software: Design, Languages, & Quality Fantastical Theater Teardowns The full schedule has now been posted, and I’ll build a virtual schedule with some of the sessions provided. Wednesday May 6, 2015 8:00 – 8:45 – Understanding Google/Nest Thread by Michael Anderson, Chief Scientist, The PTR Group, Inc. The IoT will live or die based on its connectivity. In examining existing wireless protocols, Google/Nest found most of them lacking. In order to address the needs for low-power wireless […]
Xilinx Introduces Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC with Cortex A53 & R5 Cores, Ultrascale FPGA
Xilinx Zynq-7000 dual core Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC family was announced in 2012, and provides a wide range of SoC with features and price range, and led to low cost ARM + FPGA such as ZedBoard, and more recently Parallela and MYiR Z-Turn boards. The company unveiled its successor with Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC providing five times more performance per watt, with four ARM Cortex A53 cores, two ARM Cortex R5 real-time MCU cores, a Mali-400MP GPU, an UltraScale FPGA fabric manufactured with 16nm FinFET+ process. There are two main sub-families in Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC for “smarter control & vision”, and “smarter network”. Both share the same processing systems (CPU, GPU, MCU, Peripherals, Security), but the networking family has beefier FPGAs, and lacks the H.264/H.265 video processing unit found in the control & vision version: Processing Systems Processor – Quad ARM Cortex A53 MPCore up to 1.3GHz Real-time Processor – […]
MYiR Tech Announces Low Cost Rico and Z-turn Boards Powered by TI AM437x and Xilinx Zynq-7010 SoCs
Shenzhen based MYIR Tech has just launched two new single board computers with Rico board featuring Texas Instruments Sitara AM437x ARM Cortex A9 industrial processor, and Z-Turn board based on Xilinx Zynq-7010 ARM Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC. Both boards sell for $99 in single quantity. Rico Board Specifications: SoC – Texas Instruments AM4379 single core ARM Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0GHz with PowerVR SGX530 GPU, and 4x PRU @ 200 MHz. Other AM437x on request. System Memory – 512MB DDR3 (Options: 256MB or 1GB) Storage – 4GB eMMC, 256 or 512 MB NAND flash (reserved), 16MB QSPI flash, 32KB EEPROM, and micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI and LCD interfaces (LCD connector located on bottom of the board). Connectivity – 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet USB – 1x mini USB 2.0 device port, 1x USB 2.0 host post Camera – 2x 30-pin camera interface Debugging – 1x debug serial port, […]
Technologic TS-7250-V2 Industrial Grade Embedded Computer Features Marvell PXA166/PXA168 Processor
Technologic Systems, as US based embedded systems solutions company, has announced availability of their TS-7250-V2 industrial grade PC/104 single board computer powered by Marvell PXA166 or PXA168 ARMv5 processor, with 512 MB RAM, 2GB eMMC SLC flash, single or dual Ethernet, and an optional Lattice FPGA with up to 17k LUT (Look-up Tables) among other features. They also have two enclosures namely TS-ENC720 (1x RJ45 port), and TS-ENC720-2ETH (2x RJ45 ports) for the boards. TS-7250-V2 technical specifications: Processor (one of the two) Marvell PXA166 Sheeva ARMv5 processor up to 800 MHz Marvell PXA168 Sheeva ARMv5 processor up to 1066 MHz FPGA – 17 KLut Lattice LFXP2-8E FPGA System Memory – 512 MB RAM Storage – micro SD card socket + optional 2GB eMMC flash + optional full size SD card socket Connectivity – 1x or 2x 10/100 Ethernet ports, USB – 2x USB HS host ports, 1x micro USB device […]