Getting
Started With
FPGAs —
Part 1
by David Ward
www.servomagazine.com/index.php?/magazine/article/september2011_Ward
You’ve probably heard about FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) recently
if you’re involved in the electronics field. FPGAs are some of the latest ICs to be
found in electronics products such as: digital flat screen televisions, digital
cameras, and multi-function printers. Anyone involved in the field of digital
electronics should be interested in learning more about FPGAs because of their
growing influence in the field of electronics.
Since most FPGAs are bundled in surface-mount packages, it isn’t very practical to try and breadboard one to experiment with. There are several good
FPGA training boards available from Digilent; go to
www.digilentinc.com to see what they have available in
FPGA trainers.
This two-part series FPGAs will deal with
the Digilent Basys2 FPGA board which costs
from $49 up to $79 depending on whether
you are a student or not (see Photo 1). The
Basys2 FPGA board comes with a Xilinx
XC3S100E 100K gate FPGA or, for another
$20 you can upgrade the board to a
XC3S250E 250K gate FPGA. This article will only deal with
the basic 100K FPGA.
PHOTO 1.
PHOTO 2.
SERVO 09.2011 55
