fpga News - Page 30 of 32 - CNX Software

May 6, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ARM Based COM Express Modules by MEN Mikro Electronik and Pactron

A few days ago, in a post listing different system-on-module (SoM) standards, I mentioned COM Express standard was targeting SoMs based on x86 processors, and SMARC was the equivalent for ARM. I still understand it’s the case as COM Express standard defines mechanical dimensions that are usually larger than SoM standard for low power processors, some buses found in ARM and x86 are different (e.g. AFAIK LPC and PCI are not found in ARM SoC), and the standard supports high power signals which are not needed in ARM or MIPS processors. Having said that, I’ve been pointed out to two ARM based COM Express modules, which could make sense if you want to use an ARM based module using existing COM Express compatible baseboards. The COM Express modules below feature Freescale i.MX6 and Marvell Armada XP SoCs, and have been designed respectively by MEN Mikro Electronik and Pactron. MEN Mikro […]

April 30, 2014April 30, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Meet Arduissimo, a Multi-core Arduino Board with a 16-core Xilinx Spartan FPGA (Crowdfunding)

Arduissimo a MultiCore Arduino project based on an FPGA Arduino Board powered by Xilinx Spartan LX6. It supports virtual peripherals, and allows you to configure PWMs, I2Cs, SPIs, and more on any of the 124 General Purpose IOs available through the board. Arduissimo specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan-6 LX16 CSG326 -2 System Memory SDRAM Interface 1 – 1x 256MBit, 4x 64MBit, 166MHz SDRAM Interface 2 – 1x 64MBit, 166MHz Storage – EEprom for configuration file + micro SD card slot (4 pins connected to FPGA) USB – High Speed USB, FTDI HS2232HL (13 pins for “245 fifo sync” connected to the FPGA) 124 IOs: 4 IOs – 2.54mm header (e.g. Raspberry Pi) 72 IOs: Arduino Mega footprint (44 IOs shared with uPlug) 92 IOs: 8 uPlug connector slots (44 IOs shared with Arduino Mega) 50MHz oscillator Misc – Reset switch, 1x yellow LED, 4x bumpers Dimensions – 98.5 mm x […]

April 24, 2014April 24, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-Module Plus System-on-Module

In January 2014, Avnet announced Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-ITX board featuring Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 ARM + FPGA SoC, and more recently, the company has launched “Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-Module Plus” systems-on-module (SoM) based on the same platforms, as well as a corresponding development kit including a baseboard and a power module. The SoM and development platform target PCI Express, embedded controllers, general-purpose prototyping, networking and communications, storage and servers, and Ethernet/Internet applications. Xilinx Zynq-7000 Mini-Module Plus specifications: SoC- Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 dual core Cortex-A9 @ up to 1GHz with FPGA (350K or 444K logic cells) System Memory – 1GB DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 128MB parallel flash, 32MB QSPI flash, 8KB EEPROM, and micro SD slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – USB 2.0 OTG port Debugging – USB UART, JTAG programming/configuration port, PJTAG header User’s IO via dual board-to-board connectors: 132 User I/O (66 […]

February 6, 2014February 6, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

ZYBO Development Board Features Xilinx Zynq-7010 FPGA + ARM SoC, VGA and HDMI Output

Digilent ZYBO (ZYnq BOard) is a low cost development board powered by Xilinq Zynq-7010 SoC featuring a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor and FPGA fabric. It’s using the same SoC as MicroZed, is in the same price range as it costs $189 ($125 for academic purpose), but adds video interfaces, namely bi-directional HDMI and VGA, that are not available in MicroZed. It does come however with less RAM (512 MB vs 1GB). Digilent ZYBO specifications: SoC – Xilinx ZYNQ XC7Z010-1CLG400C dual core Cortex A9 processor + FPGA with 28K Logic Cells (~430K ASIC gates). System Memory – 512MB x32 DDR3 w/ 1050Mbps bandwidth Storage – 128Mb Serial Flash w/ QSPI interface, MicroSD slot for Linux file system, EEPROM programmed with 48-bit globally unique EUI-48/64™ compatible identifier. Video I/O – Dual-role (Source/Sink) HDMI port, 16-bits per pixel VGA output port Audio I/O – Audio codec with headphone out, microphone and […]

January 25, 2014January 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

ARM Unveils Cortex-M Prototyping System Based on Altera Cyclone V FPGA

Before micro-controllers or processors are manufactured, simulation is performed in (usually) expensive boards based on FPGA chips from Altera or Xilinx, and once designers have found the system to work as expected, they can move to the next phase and work on the actual silicon. ARM has just released V2M-MPS2 Cortex-M Prototyping System for MCU / SoC / ASIC designers working on Cortex-M processors. Key features: Altera Cyclone V FPGA with ~150K LE 4x 2MB ZBTRAM (32-bit each, with two of them forming a 64-bit memory). ZBT = Zero Bus Latency 16MB PSRAM (16-bit) Touch screen LCD module Range of hardware interfaces – UART, VGA (4 bit per color), SPI, audio (I2S), Ethernet, LEDs, buttons I/O expansion ports (GPIO) FPGA images for Cortex-M processors Example project for Cortex-M0 DesignStart (processor IP has to be licensed separately) USB connection for downloading FPGA images and program image to micro SD card on board […]

January 19, 2014January 19, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-ITX Development Board

Avnet has recently introduced Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC Mini-ITX Development Board powered by the top of the range Xilinx Zynq-7045 or Zynq-7100 dual ARM Cortex A9 + FPGA SoC with 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, PCIe Gen2 x16 Root Complex slot (x4 electrical), SATA-III interface, 10/100/1000 Ethernet PHY, and more. Target applications include PCI Express, embedded controllers, general-purpose prototyping, networking and communications, storage and servers and video applications. Here are the motherboard specifications: SoC – Xilinx XC7Z045/XC7Z100-2FFG900 dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 800 MHz + Kintex-7 FPGA with respectively 350K Logic Cells (~5.2M gates) and 444K Logic Cells (~6.6M gates). System Memory – 1 GB PS DDR3 SDRAM, 1 GB PL DDR3 SDRAM Storage – 32 MB of QSPI Flash, 8 KB of I2C EEPROM, SATA-III Interface, and microSD Card Interface Real-Time Clock Connectivity – 10/100/1000 Ethernet Interface Video – LVDS Touch Panel Interface, HDMI Interface Audio – Audio input […]

December 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

$89 LOGi Development Boards Add FPGA and Arduino Headers to the Raspberry Pi and Beaglebone Black (Crowdfunding)

LOGi-Pi and LOGi-Bone are expansion boards featuring Xilinx Spartan 6 for respectively the Raspberry Pi, and the Beaglebone Black. Valent F(x), the company who designed the boards, is currently looking for funds via Kickstarter in order to bring the cost down to $89, or even $69 for early backers. LOGi boards specifications: FPGA – Xilinx Spartan 6 LX9 TQFP-144 FPGA 9,152 Logic Cells, 16 DSP48A1 Slices, 576KB Ram, and 96 User Available I/O Pins System Memory – 256 Mb SDRAM connected to the FPGA Storage – 1x High Bandwidth SATA connector expansion port Video Output – 10x Length-tuned LVDS Pairs Connectors: 2x Digilent Inc. PMOD ports supporting 59+ plug-and-play hardware modules Arduino compatible headers connected to the FPGA pins (3.3v only) supporting over 200 Arduino Shields. Bit-Stream loading interface connected to the host processor, optional bitstream FPGA self-loading from onboard Flash. Misc – 2x LEDs 2x Push Buttons 2x DIP Switches 3.3v I/O Regulator and […]

December 7, 2013December 7, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Crystal Board Combines Rockchip RK3188 ARM SoC with Xilinx FPGA and Arduino Compatible Board (Crowdfunding)

Red Crystal, a German startup, has just introduced the Crystal Board, a 3-in-1 development board with Rockchip RK3188 SoC running Linux or Android, an Arduino UNO compatible board, and a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. The concept is a similar to the UDOO board, but adds an FPGA. The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to gather funds to manufacture the Lite and Pro versions of the board for respectively $149 and $179. Crystal Board specifications (Lite and Pro versions): SoC – Rockchip RK3188 ARM Cortex-A9 quad core up to 1.8Ghz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU MCU – Atmel Atmega328 SMD FPGA – Xilinx Spartan6 XC6SLX9 with 9152 logic cells System Memory – 2GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz (1GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz for Lite version) Storage – micro SD card slot, SPI flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Connectivity: 10/100M Ethernet port Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with antenna. Dual band for Pro version, 2.4GHz band for […]