FPGA with PCIE and some DSP

[thewyliestcoyote]

Hello all,

I am considering starting a new project using a FGPA. It is going to PCIE and needs to be in a small form factor. Additionally some DSP and lower price are always pluses. The basic idea is the FPGA sitting between a small SBC with mini-PCIE and a ADC.

Does any one have any recommendations?

Thanks,
Wylie

[Ice-Tea]

Do you mean you wish to build a PCB yourself and are looking for chip recommendations? Or do you want something off the shelf? Or something off the shelf that you can build some custom circuitory on?

For something completely off the shelf, look at the dev boards for Xilinx, Altera,...

For something you can build on: had some very good experiences with Mesa Electronics.

[thewyliestcoyote]

It is more in the camp chip recommendations, however there is the reality of having to get started developing the HDL a off the shelf board using the chip in question is a place.

Its funny that you mention MESA cards, I have 2 of them, but they are in use in a CNC conversion that I did.

[Scrts]

I've had good experience with Altera, however some other people will tell you that they were happy with Xilinx. The question shows that you haven't done any FPGA work before? Otherwise, you'd probably have your taste already defined. On top of that, PCIe isn't very easy to implement.

[John_ITIC]

Altera Cyclone IV GX. Supports x4 PCIe 1.1 (2,5 Gbps) and has DSP blocks. Cheap.

[nctnico]

I'd look for some kind of reference design/dev. board + PCIe core to jumpstart such a design. IMHO the thing to focus on is how expensive the PCIe core is and whether it is actually a mature piece of versatile IP or just a quick demo. This will take careful reading and examining code.

[thewyliestcoyote]

I've had good experience with Altera, however some other people will tell you that they were happy with Xilinx. The question shows that you haven't done any FPGA work before? Otherwise, you'd probably have your taste already defined. On top of that, PCIe isn't very easy to implement.

I have done some, no PCIe stuff yet. At this point I have found not much a good reason to pick one tool set over the other. That said one can count the total number of FPGA projects that I have done that where not for a class on one hand.

Altera Cyclone IV GX. Supports x4 PCIe 1.1 (2,5 Gbps) and has DSP blocks. Cheap.

Thanks, I will take a look at it, but I have to say the $1300 dev board scares me. The is like 4 years pay for a graduate student

I'd look for some kind of reference design/dev. board + PCIe core to jumpstart such a design. IMHO the thing to focus on is how expensive the PCIe core is and whether it is actually a mature piece of versatile IP or just a quick demo. This will take careful reading and examining code.

I could not agree more.

[John_ITIC]

This one is $395:
https://www.altera.com/products/boards_and_kits/dev-kits/altera/kit-cyclone-iv-starter.html

[Scrts]

This one is $395:
https://www.altera.com/products/boards_and_kits/dev-kits/altera/kit-cyclone-iv-starter.html

No GPIO to hook up something?

[hamster_nz]

Lattice ECP5 Versa Development Kit - US$199

http://www.latticesemi.com/en/Products/DevelopmentBoardsAndKits/ECP5VersaDevelopmentKit.aspx

It looks to be an LFE5UM5G-45 part, with 72 DSP blocks

Comes with 1 year license for the tools.

I've never used Lattice tools, but it seems to tick all the boxes at a low cost. Features:

- Half-length PCI Express form-factor : Allows demonstration of PCI Express x1 interconnection

 - Electrical testing of one full-duplex SERDES channel via SMA connections

 - USB-B connection for UART and device programming

 - Two RJ45 interfaces to 10/100/1000 Ethernet to RGMII

 - On-board Boot Flash : 128M Serial SPI Flash

 - DDR3-1866 memory components (64Mb/x16)

Mike

[thewyliestcoyote]

No GPIO is a deal killer for a development board for this project. I am connecting the FGPA to some ADC's and DAC's so GPIOs are a must.

Thanks Mike for the recommendation. I am most most defiantly considering that board and device.