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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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11 years ago

FPGA Evaluation Board

Hi,

I'd like to use an FPGA to control a DDS to generate arbitrary waveforms. I'd like to have the waveform data stored onto the FPGA SDRAM and then on a trigger be sent to the DDS. My concern is regarding the interface between the PC and the SDRAM. What evaluation board would you suggest such that transferring data from the computer to the FPGA is simple. Thanks!

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  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    11 years ago

    Depending on how much data you're transferring a simple UART interface is simple to implement and works great. Lots of dev kit boards these days include FTDI chips that convert USB to serial, so it's USB from PC to the dev kit (an FTDI driver is required on the PC to map the USB port appear to a COM port).

    I'm currently using this board from Dallas Logic on a project and it has the FTDI FT232H chip on-board:

    http://dallaslogic.com/prod_cmc1003/

    I use the FTDI interface to transfer images captured from an image sensor over to the PC using the Teraterm terminal emulator. It's slow, but it works. The board is "only" $389 and the owner of Dallas Logic (Eric Tauch) gives great support. Example projects are also included with the board.

    Good luck!