Buy Fpga Board ((INSTALL))
I bought Avnet's $49 Spartan 3A development board but it was discontinued not long afterward - right about the time when I decided I needed a few dozen more. I've since done some extensive research (thanks, Google!) to find a comparable thrifty thrill.
buy fpga board
Artix parts are becoming increasingly common in inexpensive development boards, taking the position previously occupied by the Spartan-6 in Xilinx's lineup, though they are only supplied in BGA packages.
Terasic DE10-Lite is a cost-effective Altera MAX 10 based FPGA board. The board utilizes the maximum capacity MAX 10 FPGA, which has around 50K logic elements(LEs) and on-die analog-to-digital converter (ADC). It features on-board USB-Blaster, SDRAM, accelerometer, VGA output, 2x20 GPIO expansion connector, and an Arduino UNO R3 expansion connector in a compact size. The kit provides the perfect system-level prototyping solution for industrial, automotive, consumer, and many other market applications.
I developed my project using Basys3 Board (Artix 7). Now I want 3 of my GPIO needs to work in 1.8v. I understood from data sheet I need to use bank 14 for this. but I don't know how to fix in the Basys3 trainer board.
The problem is that the FPGA I/O voltages are set on a per-bank basis. You can't change the I/O voltages without changing every wire on the bank. Doing so will require a soldering gun, adding a wire or two to your board, you might need a drill, and perhaps even some new capacitors ... it's not pretty. (No, I've never tried doing so myself ...) It will also thoroughly void any warranty you might have, and risk breaking your board entirely.
Digilent offers two boards with programmable I/O voltages: the Nexys 4 Video and the Genesys boards. However, as I understand them, all of the programmable I/O is on the FMC port. It's what you've asked for, if I understand correctly, just not in the really low cost or the PMod format.
FPGAs use a number of voltages depending on the die feature size. The Vccio voltage that powers the IO banks is decided by the FPGA board designer. Some FPGA boards have user adjustable Vccio. Boards with an FMC connector like the Nexys Video and Genesys2 will have user selectable Vccio for some IO connected to the FMC connector. Boards that support SYZYGY will as well. Some boards are designed so that the user can supply a Vccio to certain IO Banks. This comes with complications as current FPGA devices require having their voltages appear in a particular order on powering up. You have to know what to look for.
A really nice, low cost FPGA board that can have its GPIO set to 1.8V with a single resistor change is the Numato Labs MIMAS-A7. Be warned that it's a really tiny resistor. Also, the vendor is having issues, like almost everyone else, with supply due to COVID-19.
A good general rule of thumb is that if you don't know how to design a circuit that makes a particular interface compatible with an FPGA board then it's best to stick with vendor produced boards that let you accomplish your project. You could also learn how to design with logic ( not the programmable kind ) devices.
Check Trenz TE0725 family (remove one 0 ohms resistor for the bank voltage, solder a jumper wire to the large capacitor of the on-board regulator => Voilà, 1.8 V, even mixed with 3.3 V on the other bank if you want)
One consideration is that, in general lower IOSTANDARD gpio, especially differential signalling, imply a higher bandwidth transmission line and hence carefully constrained PCB layouts and terminations as well as connectors with suitable high frequency characteristics. Those requirement generally make connecting the FPGA pins (balls) to and external PCB more difficult if you need high performance. Vccio just restricts the possible IOSTANDARD options. The ideal situation is one where the FPGA board already has a suitable connector for your application.
There are hacks like using a series 10 kOhms resistor. It needs to drop 1.5 V so it'll sink 150 microamps into the ESD diode of the 1.8 V device at the other end. For proto-style development (and I guess that's what most of the one-size-fits-all-boards are all about) this is often acceptable.
Unfortunately, the FMC connector is the only variable Vccio IO options... though Digilent did an excellent job on both boards. I've use a number of FMC mezzanine cards on both platforms with excellent results. I haven't tried doing any wide LVDS busses on either board but Digilent will provide PCB trace length reports for both boards if you ask. That's pretty much all you can ask for if you need to design your own FMC mezzanine card for either board,
Digilent has the Eclypse-Z7 for SYZYGY that I've used but wouldn't recommend yet due to support deficiencies. Digilent also has a cheaper SYZYGY board that I have no experience with, so I can't comment on it. Opal Kelly has an Artix SYZYGY with 2 standard ports and one transceiver port plus USB 3.0 connectivity. I prefer to restrict my comments to platforms with which I have experience.
I forgot to mention my project. I am developing SPI slave through PMOD on 1.8V. Looking at the Nexsys Video, it support VADJ is connected to XJADC. So I am trying to investigate the possible boards with pros and cons.
Though this is a bit of an expansion of your questions You should carefully consider the initial purpose for choosing a board. If you want to do anything exotic then you better be competent with the HDL design flow or stick to a platform that has usable, no license required code and interfaces to get the job done.
All Digilent FPGA board PMODs are on fixed 3.3V IO banks. This would seem to constrain you to the 'hack" approach if you want to use a Digilent PMOD. There's nothing stopping you from connecting a Digilent PMOD add-on board to an FPGA board form another vendor; though obviously, some will require less work. Normal PMODs have 200 ohm series protection resistors. The differential PMODs don't.. but also don't support LVDS.
Intel Agilex SoC Standalone Module with onboard USB-Blaster II
FMC+ and FMC connectors for expansion
Support two independent 32GB DDR4 with ECC and one on-board QSFP28 connector
Ideal for Prototyping, Industrial Control System
Intel Stratix 10 SoC Standalone Module with onboard USB-Blaster II
FMC+ and FMC connectors for expansion
Support two independent 32GB DDR4 with ECC.
Ideal for Prototyping, Industrial Control System, Military and Aerospace
Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGA H-Tile(8 GB/16 GB)
On-board 8GB DDR4 , one DDR4 DIMM and one HiLo connector supporting DDR4 and QDR-IV
Two QSFP28 optical interface port
PCIe Root and End Point connector
Develop and test PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 designs using the PCI-SIG-compliant development board.
Develop and test memory subsystems consisting of DDR4, DDR3, QDR IV, and RLDRAM III memories.
Develop modular and scalable designs by using the FPGA mezzanine card (FMC) connectors to interface to a FMC mezzanine card provided by Altera partners and supporting protocols, such as JESD204B, Serial RapidIO, 10 Gbps Ethernet (10GbE), SONET, Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI),OBSAI, and many others.
Cyclone V SoC with Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 (HPS)
On-board two high speed A/D conveters
1GB DDR3 SDRAM (32-bit data bus)(HPS)
Arduino Expansion Header (Uno R3 Compatibility), UART-to-USB, USB OTG Port, Micro SD Card Socket, Gigabit Ethernet and GPIO Headers
First, the board has a few displays and switches that will help you get started in the shortest time possible. Ideally, the displays and switches can be used out-of-the-box without debugging or wiring. That way, you will use the online starter labs, control displays, switches, and buttons to start reconfiguring or reprogramming the device.
Another feature we like the most on the Digilent Basys 3 is the PMOD, which a standard interface for adding peripherals to the board. That way, it will be easier to include many other functions, such as Sensors, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
We understand that it can be difficult, especially when you are just starting. That is why we always recommend the Mojo FPGA for beginners. This FPGA board is not only easy to use but was also designed with beginners in mind. So, no matter your experience with reprogramming devices with FPGA boards, you can be confident that the Mojo FPGA is what you need to excel at the job.
Altera DE2 is a Development and Education FPGA board that was built with the networking, multimedia, and storage prototypes in mind. The idea is to empower programmers to use the Altera DE2 to restructure the aesthetics of the networking, multimedia, and storage prototypes.
As a design engineer, you tend to value an FPGA development board that makes the work easier for you. That is what the Altera DE2 does for you via the implementable laboratory exercises that guide you every step of the way. There are multiple illustrative demonstrations aimed at helping you to leverage the board to reprogram any type of device.
We are particularly pleased with the various use cases of the Altera DE2, which were made possible because of the inclusion of multiple tools. With that in place, you will find it easier to use the development board for the development of sophisticated digital systems, as well as for handling laboratory applications in both colleges and universities.
The learning process may be complicated at some point. That is why the Icebreaker FPGA was introduced. This is the first of its kind. It is not only one of the first open-source FPGA boards. It is also the first FPGA development board designed for students and teachers.
It will interest you to know that the open-source design of the Icebreaker FPGA allows for the usage of the board across different FPGA design flows, such as SymbiFlow, Yosys, Icarus Verilog, and IceStorm.
Besides, the board was not just designed for the theoretical part only. Instead, it also features GPIO, which is mostly exposed. That way, the students and teachers can have a swell time using the board during the practical development sessions. 041b061a72