Forum Discussion
Honored ContributorBeginner lost
Hi, my name is Onofre Garrido and I'm currently working for a company called MECWINS. We have developed some prototype devices to test biological parameters. So far since we are on prototype stage we have built our devices around daq cards from N.I,, labview software and dedicated PC to manage all the components. Our last device uses a matlab software running on several pc cores in order to process images.
My current work focus is on exploring the possibility for using fpga's instead of dedicated pc's for instance in our last device. My knowledge about fpga’s is quite limited so now I think I need some support in order to go in the proper direction. I have seen for example that there are several softwares to convert matlab code to vhdl that could be potentially implemented on a fpga, but many doubts come up to my mid. How would be the interface for the fpga to be connected to the external world, for example to open a file in any kind of data format? What kind of fpga do I need for processing images? how to interface with the daq world, for example to receive signals from a PSD ...? May be we need a development card that surround a fpga with kind of peripheral hardware such memory, A/D converters, etc.. I've got a DEO-nano board that I am currently testing in order to get into the fpga world, but I need some support for sure. I know that perhaps this mail is a crazy mix of probably not well digested ideas. Sorry for that. Thank you in advance for your support.i15 Replies
Altera_ForumThere may be reference designs with some interfaces, and IP cores are available for common ones (ethernet, PCI, PCIe, RS232) from altera that you can import into your design. Then its a case of connecting it all up to your custom logic.
Remember, writing logic for the FPGA is not like software programming.- Altera_Forum
Ok understood.
Correct me if I am wrong but my assumption was that there should be any kind of card or development board which have already implemented such interface in order to simplify this job and get focused on the core of the question , that in this case is just the calculations required for processing the image.. Am I right??? - Altera_Forum
You will need to write a design that contains some form of input, the processing and then output it somewhere.
You do not transfer the data as a file, you transfer it as raw bytes. The FPGA has no knowledge of a file system or files, just pure binary data. - Altera_Forum
Let's simplify the thing. A good way to start would be just reading an image file from an input , make some calculations and just provide a numeric output.
How could I do just this as a starting point? kind regards - Altera_Forum
You need to know that FPGAs are blank canvases for you to add your own IP in to. They can do everything you describe, but YOU need to provide all of the code, connectivity etc. They are also NOTHING like writing software.
If you have little experience with FPGAs, you are going to struggle with what you describe as they can be fairly advanced projects to generate, debug and integrate and are not going to be turned around quick. So you know what you're getting into.
