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TITLE: Educational Uses of FPGAs
Since 2000, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
at The University of New Mexico (UNM) has been using Field
Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and programmable logic tools in
many of its Computer Engineering undergraduate and graduate
courses. The Xilinx University Program (XUP) supported a large
portion of UNM's efforts.
Beginning in the fall of 2000, students in the introductory
digital logic course began using Foundation 2.1 software on
XC4000 FPGA and XC9500 CPLD devices. Since then, UNM has taught
VHDL, FPGA, and CPLD technology in follow-on undergraduate
courses in digital design, VHDL programming, senior design, and
graduate courses in VLSI and computer architecture. Students are
currently taught digital logic using ISE 5.2 to develop projects
for the Spartan2E FPGA and CoolRunner CPLD devices. UNM has
developed online tutorials for a number of advanced
reconfigurable logic tools such as Coregen (prepackaged VHDL
modules), XPower (power consumption estimator), and Floorplanner
(tool for CLB/IOB analysis).
More recently, with the support of the XUP, UNM has developed
online tutorials for teaching digital system design using the
System Generator (Sysgen) and the Embedded Development Kit (EDK).
Sysgen is a supplement to Matlab's Simulink that allows graphical
development of DSP projects, which it then transfers to
programmable logic. EDK allows users to develop projects
involving virtual Microblaze microprocessors into FPGAs and the
programming of PowerPC microprocessors into Virtex2 Pro FPGAs. In
conjunction with the XUP, UNM has designed an eight-layer dual
Virtex FPGA prototyping platform. The board is currently being
tested at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), University of
Texas (El Paso), and University of Texas (Austin). This board is
designed to fill the need for versatile programmable platforms at
a more advanced level without being excessively expensive.
UNM is constantly assisting the XUP to promote advanced studies
and the ability to develop new teaching methodologies at other
universities. Annual Professors workshops at UNM allow academic
instructors the ability to exchange teaching taxonomies, see what
UNM can offer, and obtain briefings on new state-of-the-art
hardware and software (free of charge). UNM representatives will
also travel to assist in these areas. As part of their ongoing
efforts to assist other universities in developing their own
programmable logic laboratories, UNM recently provided
presentations at the Pan-American Studies Institute in Bolivia.
All developed tutorials, associated source code, and other
information are available (free) for any educational institution.
The driving personnel at UNM for all these efforts are: Dr.
Marios Pattichis, Dr. Howard Pollard, Jorge Parra, Alonzo Vera
(alonzo@eece.unm.edu), and Craig Kief (kiefc@eece.unm.edu). The
following website provides a central location for obtaining all
desired information: Univ. of New Mexico
Also, access:FPGA Military and Aerospace Design Center
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FILENUMBER: 1175
BEGIN_KEYWORDS
Educational FPGAs
END_KEYWORDS
DATE: July 2004
TITLE: Educational Uses of FPGAs
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