Microblaze + Fuzzy Processor to Robot interface!

[FuzzySNR]

picoblaze lab

Hello all,

A little bit of history first....
I have designed a soft core fast fuzzy processor (Published work) in vhdl and implemented in a Spartan 3-1500 FPGA using Memec MB1500 board(+P160 analog board).
Now....
What I want do is interface it with a lab robot to run a tracker algorithm for obstacle avoidance. The problem is that I don't have direct access on the robot's motors and encoders to hard-wire it with the fpga board directly, but only the serial port on the robot itself, hence I have to treat the robot as a black box. So, I though of using Microblaze with a UART core and somehow(C code to decode-encode robot data packets) decode the packets from the robot's serial port to feed my fuzzy controller with the encoder data and also send data to the robot (motors) as well. Up to now, I have a very rough idea of how to do that but cannot realy figure out where and how to connect the microblaze (through the OPB bus maybe??) with the fuzzy processor to exchange data.
Any ideas, help, or other possible workarounds not necessarily using Microblaze (could use Picoblaze possibly which is FREE!) are welcomed and kindly appreciated!

 

[yego]

Your Fuzzy processor can be attached easily via the FSL interface to the MB.
This interface has many useful features and has been incorporated in the MB to interface to coprocessors.
The link is fast, easy to handle and there are up to eight channels available.

Read the DS449 available on the Xilinx website.

Regards , Yego

 

[samcheetah]

why not just use the UART core that comes with Picoblaze? how about that?

 

[FuzzySNR]

why not just use the UART core that comes with Picoblaze? how about that?

Well yes, obviously I will use the UART core (Microblaze or Picoblaze), no doubt about that. How about the FSL bus? Is it availble in the Picoblaze architecture, or I have to interface my FP with the Picoblaze using a diiferent bus protocol? Any ideas?

 

[samcheetah]

the picoblaze microcontroller doesnt have the FSL bus. it has 256 input ports and 256 output ports, maybe that will help!

actually i was saying that why dont you just connect a UART with your fuzzy processor? i mean no picoblaze or microblaze involved.

 

[FuzzySNR]

Reasonable question, actually that was my original idea, but then again I need some sort of microcontroller for the path planning part which is easier to code in C rather than realize it in RTL, Besides if I implement the pp in VHDL, I'll end up implementing a microcontroller at the end of the day!

 

[samcheetah]

okay, but xilinx doesnt provide a C compiler for picoblaze. and there is one C compiler for picoblaze (in its beta stage) but i havent tested it yet.

but microblaze does have a C compiler so i think you should use microblaze.

 

[FuzzySNR]

Hhmm, better safe than sorry...I think MB too.