Exploring Shrike: A Compact FPGA-MCU Development Board for Diverse Applications

[Bitpower]

In the growing field of embedded systems and digital design, the integration of microcontrollers and FPGAs is opening up new possibilities. Shrike, a development board available through Crowd Supply, brings together the Renesas ForgeFPGA and Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller into a small, accessible platform.
But what exactly does Shrike offer, and how might it fit into the workflows of developers, educators, and hobbyists?
 
What is Shrike? Shrike is a compact development board designed to support both hardware and software experimentation. It combines an RP2040 microcontroller—a popular dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ chip—with the SLG47910V ForgeFPGA from Renesas, which offers 1,120 4-input LUTs. The two components communicate via a 6-bit high-speed bridge.
Technical highlights include:
 

• A USB Type-C port for programming and power
• Open-source documentation and reference designs
• Support for Verilog development and integration with MicroPython
• A small footprint measuring 60 x 25 mm

This setup invites questions about what’s possible when FPGAs and MCUs work in tandem. Can users explore complex digital logic design without high overhead? Could this integration simplify hardware-software co-design?
 
Potential Use Cases While Shrike doesn't target a specific industry, its combination of FPGA and microcontroller functionality makes it a flexible tool.
In education, it could serve as a practical introduction to digital design and embedded systems. Students might ask: What kinds of hands-on learning experiences does Shrike enable that traditional microcontroller boards do not?
In prototyping, engineers might use Shrike to test ideas that require both low-level logic and general-purpose computation. Could this platform be an early-stage tool for custom communication protocols, sensor data processing, or automation systems?
In creative technology, interactive installations and DIY input devices are possible, especially with USB-HID support. Could artists and musicians use Shrike to build novel, responsive tools?
These examples only scratch the surface. What unexplored applications might emerge as more users get their hands on this board?
 
Open Questions for Industry and Innovation Shrike’s architecture raises several broader questions relevant to both newcomers and experienced developers:
 

• How does combining a microcontroller and FPGA on one board influence the way embedded systems are designed?
• In what ways could this board reduce the complexity of learning FPGA development for someone with a software background?
• Could Shrike play a role in simplifying proof-of-concept designs before moving to more complex or costly platforms?

These unanswered questions are central to understanding the role a product like Shrike might play across different domains.
 
Closing Thoughts Shrike may not aim to revolutionize industries on its own, but its approach—lowering the entry barrier to FPGA development while offering flexibility in system design—reflects an ongoing shift. As more developers experiment with combining hardware-level customization and software logic, tools like Shrike may become part of the larger conversation.
Is this the beginning of broader accessibility in FPGA-based development? Only time—and experimentation—will tell.

[abeyer]

This kind of reads like spam.

There isn't any kind of blanket ban on discussion (or even promotion) around products... but you're likely to get more engagement if you're upfront about your relationship to the product (if any) and don't post content that sounds like LLM-generated marketing copy pasta.

[pcprogrammer]

For a quick access to the crowd fund page, here is the link: https://www.crowdsupply.com/vicharak/shrike

Also on hackster.io: https://www.hackster.io/news/vicharak-sets-the-shrike-aflight-promises-low-cost-fpga-development-on-a-renesas-forgefpga-ce431aa2e34e

Not convinced on it's usefulness though. A more capable FPGA with more IO and internal SDRAM would allow for more use cases. Sure drives up the price, but might be worth it. And the RP2040 is more or less outdated with the RP2350 now fully available.

[Bitpower]

Yes, I understand the concerns about using LLM-generated content, and I’ll make sure to write everything on my own moving forward.

Also, the end goal of this project is to offer the same functionality at around $5 — which is a huge differentiator compared to other FPGA-based dev boards out there. I know it’s not a high LE count FPGA, but even with just 1K LUTs, there’s still a lot of amazing things that can be done.