Help needed to choose fpga hardware

Hi,
i want to do project in fpga... I know basics of xilinx... Can anyone suggest me to choose an fpga hardware using which i can do small implimentations of logic gates... I am new to this field and i prefer a homemade programmer(if needed) and simplisity in understandin... Pls help...

Just search this forum!

This seems to be a regularly returning topic - is the forum search function (or Google) not working? :lol:

Much depends on your budget, and what goal / application(s) you have in mind - it would help if you could tell us more about that? For starters: if you have to ask this question, how come you think you'd need a FPGA?

Hi Dematel,

I had used Xilinx Spartan-3A series .....So here are some of the things that I followed.......First of all fix your functionality......Findout no of LUT \Gates\DRAM cell that you need ......I mean get ISE software.....then intially Select High end family of Xilinx that you want to use.....then make Verilog of VHDL coding in that to achive the functionality.....After doing this make sure that code that your used dose not exceed the limits of the FPGA.....then there is a option to change the part....Slowly imagrate to Lower end family....once you did this ....generally 70% Resource utilization will be fine ....as you re designing for first time....Once you reach up to this stage....then you can think of desiging a hardware....

This is the way that I followed.....But of couse there is another way also to compute the resources ....and then select the chip for that....and start designing.....Kindly please note that here it is bank architecture .....so if you are plaaning to use DDR or some thing like that....you need to be extremely carefu....U need to use MIG tool ( memory interface generator ) for getting proper delay and other interface parameter....So hardware is bit different there.....

Let me know if more info....I can help in hardware design.....

regards,

milind

Is there any general purpose fpga...? I just want to implement simple lab experiments like shift register counter etc. using fpga... And i am not familiar with these parameters... Only i know is to write basic codes in xilinx... Is this knowledge enough to going for hardware..?

I will recommand you to go for CPLD if only a couple of counter and shift register is your requirement ....Even Spartan-3a XC3S50A and XC3S200A both comes in QTFP packages and easy while routing ...but other will come in high end BGA kind of Package ....so you can think based on your budge and cost.....as BGA required generally Multilayer design.....

what simple lab experiments do you have in mind? What basic code have you written for xilinx, ie. what language have you used? What kind of interfaces do you want to implement?

Apparently you have some knowledge about Xilinx. That makes life a bit easier:
you can chose between FPGA and CPLD (as suggested above). Unfortunately, Xilinx' CPLDs are not the big enough to implement 'a lot of' interfaces at the same time. So probably a small FPGA will be a better option. Then I would suggest a standard eval board for Spartan3 or Spartan6. There are some distributors that can deliver some good boards for less than $500.

If you come back to the forum with more information about what you want to achieve, we can guide you a bit further ...

Good luck

demetal said:

Is there any general purpose fpga...?

Click to expand...

FPGA's are more or less general purpose by definition... :smile:

I just want to implement simple lab experiments like shift register counter etc. using fpga...

Click to expand...

You just want to implement some simple experiments in a FPGA, or you just want to implement some simple experiments like shift register etc?

If the latter case (and if that's all), a CPLD might be better choice. For starters they're usually non-volatile, read: on power-up it does what you last implemented in it, unlike most FPGA's that need an external memory device to 'boot into' their programmed function.

For example a Xilinx XC9572 can do the equivalent of a dozen or more 74xxx IC's. And there's some very cheap/simple kits like ) or USB programming cable. Hook up a few LEDs, switches & clock source, and you're good to go.

If you plan to move onto larger projects, by all means get a FPGA board. But if you just want to 'get your feet wet', no point in wasting your $$ on that.