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FPGA for instrumentation

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marcelino

marcelino

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I have this small background of programming VHDL codes using Xilinx. Now i wish to do it using FPGA itself, i wish to write my code to FPGA.

i am thinking of a very simple application to begin with, like a sensor integrated to the FPGA board then save the result or probably give an indication if the sensor saved a data to a memory.

My question is, what should I have to begin with...?
I have look over the Xilinx website and found some starter kits there. i was thinking of purchasing the Spartan 3 stater kit. Would this kit be sufficient for me to learn?

I am actually into instrumentations. I like integrating different sensors and actuators. Can anyone suggest a better kit for me?

Thank you very much.
 

Yes, that's a good little starter kit. It's inexpensive, and you can learn a lot from it. It has a rather small FPGA, and it doesn't have many fancy features, but it's easy to connect external devices. The board and various optional accessory modules are actually made by Digilent:
http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=S3BOARD
 

thanks echo.
I thought only xilinx manufacture such boards.. i will now browse over deligent. I guess i have to look for a more I/O port board so that i can interface more sensors...

God bless.
 

echo,

Are those USB ports connected to the FGPA board kit, that are supposedly for downloading and debugging the program can be use as an I/O port? I will actually interface a USB GSM modem... and the rest of the I/O port will be used for other applications sensing like temperature, moisture level, etc...
Can you recommend an FPGA board that has a USB port that can be used an I/O port?

thank you?
 

Some Xilinx FPGA boards have a USB port that's used only to configure the FPGA. It's not intended for general USB I/O, although you may find some tricky way of getting data through it.

The Xilinx/Digilent Spartan-3 Stater Kit doesn't include a USB port, but you could add a Digilent USB2 accessory module:
http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=USB2&Nav1=Products&Nav2=Accessory

I haven't explored the USB ports on other boards.
 

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