Basys 3 connected to smartphone.

[GuilTy]

I want to connect  a smartphone to the Basys 3 FPGA board from Xilinx. Has anybody tried this before and have some piece of advice on how to do that?

For the beginning I just want to establish the connection between the smartphone and FPGA. I'm thinking of designing an android app that sends data to the FPGA board,  and lights an LED from the board.

Is there any chance that I can use the usb type A from the FPGA or do I need to use the micro-usb type B?
 
I have attached a picture with the board and a reference manual of it.
Link to reference manual: https://reference.digilentinc.com/_media/basys3:basys3_rm.pdf


Thank you,
GuilTy

[bazsa56]

You have 3 options basically:

- As far as I know FTDI has usb serial port support for Android with some sort of API ready. Never tried it.
- You could use a bluetooth serial port module. The're available pretty cheap these days and the cheaper ones are quite easy to use. Used a few of these where I wrote both the PC/Android/iOS/WP code and the MCU code. Should be pretty easy to inteface with an FPGA.
- Use a Wifi module. There are some wifi->serial port modules out there that are quite easy to use. This option though would still be the hardest. Good learning experience though.

[jnz]

You have 3 options basically:

- As far as I know FTDI has usb serial port support for Android with some sort of API ready. Never tried it.
- You could use a bluetooth serial port module. The're available pretty cheap these days and the cheaper ones are quite easy to use. Used a few of these where I wrote both the PC/Android/iOS/WP code and the MCU code. Should be pretty easy to inteface with an FPGA.
- Use a Wifi module. There are some wifi->serial port modules out there that are quite easy to use. This option though would still be the hardest. Good learning experience though.

That's pretty much it.

I'd add that if you only need slow data, there is the data-over-3.mm-audio connection to the headset jack.

The FDTI/Serial/USB over an actual wire is 99% NO GO on iphone.

Bluetooth is divided into Bluetooth Classic (SPP for serial connection) and BT Low Energy (BT Smart actually, but no one calls it that.

And wifi is going to be the only fast option that works regardless of platform.

[hamster_nz]

I've got a project allowing a Basys3 to talk to a ESP8266 WiFi module... In this case it sends data from the Basys3 to preconfigured IP address, but you could adapt it to receive data off the Wifi too.

http://hamsterworks.co.nz/mediawiki/index.php/FPGA_ESP8266

[GuilTy]

Thank you all for your responses. I've taken into consideration using bluetooth and Wi-fi, but I was more curious if I can establish a connection between smartphone and FPGA using an USB cable.
 
Thanks for the example.

I've got a project allowing a Basys3 to talk to a ESP8266 WiFi module... In this case it sends data from the Basys3 to preconfigured IP address, but you could adapt it to receive data off the Wifi too.

http://hamsterworks.co.nz/mediawiki/index.php/FPGA_ESP8266

Happy synthesis,
GuilTy

[NiHaoMike]

It looks like the Basys doesn't connect the SPI from the PIC to the FPGA, unlike the Atlys. I once managed to program the PIC onboard the Atlys to communicate with an Android tablet and charge it at the same time, but the PIC only implements USB 1.1 which greatly limits the potential applications. I looked into using a PIC32 with USB 2.0 to replace it but the pinout wasn't compatible. Most likely I'll end up adding a small Linux embedded system like a Pi Zero.