I have posted this to comp.arch.fpga but realised that comp.arch.embedded has as likely a target audience. Anyone who's thinking of embedding an Altera FPGA and wants to test various IO functionality up front could find this useful.
It could also be a good basis for a wide varietry or educational labs/ be generally useful for recording/logging data.....
Due to the lack of useful IO on the CycloneIII Starter kit we have we have developed a general purpose expansion board for Altera's new HSMC connector.
This provides...
8 * 10 bit ADC Inputs 8 * 10 bit DAC Outputs 2 * General Purpose 8 bit Digital IO ports 3 * RS232 Interfaces 2 * RS484 Interfaces 3 * One Wire Interfaces (2 of these can be combined for 5V I2C communications, all 3 can be used as jumper selection inputs, they can also be used to 5V RC servo control) Micro SD card socket (SPI lines connected) Header for an FTDI Vinculum VDIP1 or pin compatible NSD FT245R USB slave board, this can also be used as a 16 bit general purpose digital IO header. 8 * LEDs 2 * SPI InterfacesThe SPI headers allow functionality such as the following to be easily added ... LCD Screen Zigbee Interface GPS Interface CAN Interface LIN Interface EEPROM memory Stepper motor control.
Further details here...
The board has only been tested on the CIII starter kit but should be compatible with any eval board with an HSMC connector, I'm trying to get my hands on a Stratix dev kit to test it.
An example app has been posted, this drives most of the interfaces via an RS232 link driving internal registers on a local bus. The Uart/control module is all fully commented & described in the user guide.
I've posted a small Python app that can be used to drive this from a PC, I will also be posting an Excel app that shows how easy it is to drive things from Excel. Anyone with Excel installed should be able to use this without installing anything else.
Constructive comments and feedback are welcome.
Nial
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