MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS
FILENUMBER: 5015
BEGIN_KEYWORDS
borg board prototyping xilinx fpga
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DATE: january 1994
TITLE: BORG: Multiple Xilinx FPGA Prototyping Board
BORG: Multiple Xilinx FPGA Prototyping Board
(Contributed by Pak Chan of Univ. of California, Santa Cruz)
***********************************************************
* *
* The BORG prototyping board distribution package is *
* available to qualified educators (instructors) only. *
* *
***********************************************************
The package contains:
1. BORG boards with XC4002A and XC4003A devices
2. Software for the BORG board
3. User's guide
4. Lab examples for BORG
* Qualified universities who are new to the FPGA
technology and don't have the tools, and would like to
include it in their curriculum may qualify to receive core
FPGA implementation tools from Xilinx and schematic
capture and simulation tools from OrCAD.
Introduction:
-------------
Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) provide
a medium to accelerate the process of prototyping
digital designs. For designs with multiple FPGAs
that need to be connected together, the bottleneck
is now the process of wire-wrapping, bread-boarding,
the construction of a printed circuit board, or the
construction of a multi-chip module, which cannot
be carried out until all FPGA designs are routed.
The BORG prototyping board is designed to facilitate
digital design prototyping using multiple FPGAs.
It is also a rapid prototyping
board that allows students to focus on digital design.
To facilitate the design process using the BORG prototyping
board, tools have been developed to automatically configure
the routing FPGAs.
The toolset, user FPGAs, and the routing FPGAs and the
reprogrammability of the FPGAs serve to further reduce the
time/cost of constructing prototypes using multiple FPGAs.
Features of the reconfigurable XC4000 FPGA prototyping board
-------------------------------------------------------------
1. Total Five Xilinx FPGAs on board
* One FPGA as an interface controller
* Two reconfigurable FPGAs for logic
* two reconfigurable FPGAs for routing/connection
between components or logic.
Maximum capacity = 4x5000 = 20,000 gates
based on using four XC4005 parts with approximately
5000 gate count each
Minimum capacity = 2,000 gates
2. Ways to use the BORG board
* Single-chip Mode (Entry-level - similar to a Xilinx 4000
demo board)
* Multi-chip Mode (use four FPGAs, connected as a CLOS network)
3. Interface to daughter boards for adding miscellaneous
components by supplied fly wires.
4. Multiple FPGAs configuration methods
* Standard 8-bit PC Interface.
* Serial port XChecker cable connector
* Serial or Parallel PROM
* 50-pin socket for ISA connector cable
* No device programmer necessary
5. 8K Dual-ported static RAM
6. JTAG Boundary Scan board-level testing
7. LEDs, 7 Segment displays and dip switches.
8. On-board prototyping area for additional components.
Information on obtaining packages
----------------------------------
1. A maximum of two BORG boards can be
obtained from Pak K. Chan with no charge.
Availability is limited since there will
be a total of 50 free BORG boards.
If demand exceeds availability, selection
of recipients will be judged based on
the merits of the proposal (see below).
2. Additional BORG boards may be purchased.
3. A proposal to gain financial support from a
government agency is underway. If proposal
is granted, more free boards will be available.
Recipients' role
-----------------
By applying for and receiving a 4K BORG prototyping board,
you have agreed to contribute to the project by providing
a. Yours and your students' valuable feedback
or comments on the BORG distribution package
b. Labs that you have designed around the BORG board.
c. Any documentation on the modifications of the hardware
and software that can be include in BORG distribution
package.
d. Provide technical support to new BORG users.
Availability
------------
1. Boards should be available by mid Feb. 1994.
2. A proposal to obtain the BORG distribution package
can be obtained by WRITING to
Pak K Chan
Assistant Professor
Computer Engineering
225 Applied Sciences
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 U.S.A.
Fax: (408)459-4829
3. In your letter, please state
a. The course title and nature
b. Number of students (to be) enrolled
c. Number of BORG protoboards needed (2 maximum)
d. Design entry tool desired (None, Workview or OrCAD)
e. Type of hardware platform desired (PC or Workstation)
f. Current Xilinx user (Yes/No)
g. Your plans to use the BORG board (single chip or
multiple chips)
h. Ideas of lab that you plan to develop
Acknowledgments:
The development of the 4K BORG board has been supported in part
by the National Science Foundation, and Xilinx, Inc.
dbouldin@utk.edu
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