Introduction to FPGA's and prototyping with the Elbert

How to get started developing on FPGA's for under thirty dollars in hardware and software

Created byStephen Borsay

Last updated 9/2017

English

What you'll learn

Understand what an FPGA is
Become familiar with the Elbert v2 with the Xilinx Spartan 3A FPGA
Understand how to use the Xilinx Webpack ISE tool flow with the Elbert V2
Program a simple example in HDL on the Elbert V2 Board
Prepare for next lecture series with the Elbert V2

Course content

1 section • 9 lectures • 37m total length

Introduction to the course2:11
A brief introduction to what will be covered in this short course.
What is a FPGA0:54
Discussion of what a FPGA is and what applications it has in the real world.
FPGA or MCU4:11
We compare and contrast FPGA's and the more commonly used MCU's. A brief discussion of where one product may be more suitable than the other. The student should acquire a basic understanding of the differences in design and use of these two embedded components.
Introduction to the Elbert V2 FPGA development board1:23
A discussion of the Elbert FPGA development board and its onboard peripherals
Installing the free Xilinx ISE Webpack Software2:30
In this lecture we will focus on Installing the necessary Xilinx software to program the Elbert development board.
Programming a simple "Hello World" blink project17:18
This is the code walk through for a simple blink program on the board and a how-to on using the free Xilinx ISE Webpack with the Elbert.
Setting the constraints (.ucf) file3:57
This is the Elbert V2 constarint file which links the on-board peripherlas with the inputs and outputs instanciated in your HDL code.
Uploading our code with a bitstream to the Elbert4:25
To upload the bitstream you complied with the Xilinx ISE Webpack tool use the Elbert Uploader which you can download here.

* Remember to change the option to generate a bitfile so you can upload your bit stream using the Elbert "configuration" uploading utility tool. to do this change the Webpack options by right clicking the "Generate Programming File" in the Xilinx Webpack. This will create a bitstream file that you can upload directly with the Numato "configuration" tool rather then trying to use the built-in Xilinx Webpack "configure target device" utility which may not work.
The next lecture series on the Elbert0:59
A discussion of what the next lecture series on the Elbert will include. The following lecture will cover the Elbert in more extensive detail, with multiple programming examples, utilizing not only the built-in onboard peripepherals but also inexpensive extrenal decices and senors.

Requirements

Basic Programming and working in an IDE
Knowledge of what embedded systems do in the real world

Description

This is a free course which will teach you how to get up and running with field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's). You will learn the basics of programming in HDL on an inexpensive FPGA development board which is a valuable tool for both the hobbyist interested in "making" or the full time engineer with an interest in expanding his career options. FPGA's are both fun and challenging and provide many useful applications that can be applied to the real world. Whether you are a student, hobbyist, or engineer it is important to have the skills demanded in the digital age. By having a working knowledge of FPGA's you can differentiate yourself from your competitors in the marketplace and turbo charge your career with an additional, well paid, skill set that is currently needed in the marketplace. With these new digital skills you can help design communication equipment, audio and video, or signal processing and filtering applications; the ability to program and implement FPGA's can help you succeed in whichever engineering career path you choose..

This courtse will be taught using the Elbert V2 FPGA demonstration board and the Xilinx tool flow with the Xilinx Webpack ISE. I will explain the basics of FPGA development on the Elbert V2 board and end up the introduction to FPGA's with an uploaded programming example to see the HDL code at work on the Elbert development board. This free lecture will be followed by a more extensive lecture series getting into further detail of programming and implementing FPGA's.

Who this course is for:

Students interested in FPGA's
Engineers in Embedded Systems but not FPGA's
Those with an interest in reconfigurable logic and digital design
Hobbyists who want to "make" with FPGA's and reconfigurable logic