Discover New Applications For Low-Cost Solutions Discover ... - Xilinx

To give you a good jump-start on designing
your own applications, we give you design
examples in both schematic and high-level
language, such as VHDL.
The kit comes with a resource CD that
contains a great deal of useful information:
• Reference designs in VHDL, user constraint
file (UCF), and HDL design files
• Instructional video demonstrating the
entire process, from design to programming
of the device
• ISE WebPACK overview and software
options for different Xilinx devices
• Links to related websites
• Application notes, data sheets, power
consumption comparison, product
pages, articles, and other product
presentations
• Technical presentations and
packaging information
• Top 10 FAQs and where to find
other answers to questions
• Product brochures, reference
manuals, and product briefs
• Video featuring Xilinx CEO
Wim Roelandts.
Simple Tutorial, Advanced Features
Whether you already design with programmable
logic or would like to begin, this kit
can help you. The accomplished designer
will appreciate the many advanced features
and new interfaces on CoolRunner-II,
including high-speed transceiver logic
(HSTL) and stub-series-terminated transceiver
logic (SSTL).
Or you might experiment with the
other new memory device interfaces not
supported on your current microprocessor.
A breadboard area allows you to add components
for use in future designs, and you
can also connect a daughtercard to the
CoolRunner-II design kit board via the
dual inline headers.
Designers new to programmable logic
can use the demo board with its tutorial
to quickly get up to speed on tool usage.
The demo covers all aspects of designing
a CPLD, from design entry with
WebPACK, through simulation, to production
of a JEDEC file used to program
the device. This straightforward tutorial
should get you up and designing within
hours, and can also be used to encourage
lab technicians to explore their own
design aspirations.
The demo board is handy to have in
your lab to test new design ideas for implementation
on current products. If your
system already includes a CPLD, it serves
as a nice test bed for running upgrade
tests. If power is your concern, the
Figure 1 – CoolRunner-II design kit board
CoolRunner-II development board is especially
useful for running different designs
to test power consumption. If you want
some ideas about reducing power consumption,
check out the low-power tips
and tricks application note XAPP346 on
the CLPD application notes webpage
(www.xilinx.com/apps/epld.htm – see Table 1
for a list of all of the application notes
described in this article).
The 256-macrocell (XC2C256) CPLD
in a TQ144 – with room for other devices
– gives you a good sense of design capacity.
With this device configuration you get 118
I/Os, two I/O banks, clock doubling/division,
and voltage-referenced I/O. If you
need voltage-level translation, this device
can handle 1.5V, 1.8V, 2.5V, or 3.3V I/Os.
If your design is relatively simple, try the
32 or 64 macrocell device. If your design is
complex, try the 256 macrocell configuration.
If you think partitioning your design
offers the best solution, use both devices.
This board is designed to give you the maximum
amount of flexibility.
What Can You Do With It?
With both a breadboard area and dual
inline header sockets, the design kit board
is suitable for developing on-board
applications, attaching
daughtercard boards, or
communicating with
another board via headers.
It is large enough to
accept many useful
designs, including standard
bus protocols (SPI
and I2C), microcontroller
interfaces, and
serial communications,
such as Infrared Data
Association and universal
asynchronous receiver
transmitter (UART)
designs, which have
already been created by
Xilinx application engineers.
These last items
are available free by
downloading application
note XAPP345.
PicoBlaze Soft Processor
The CoolRunner-II design board is
extremely useful for evaluating the
PicoBlaze soft processor in your
design. Available for downloading free
from application note XAPP387, the
PicoBlaze soft processor offers a constant
K-coded programmable state machine,
and is written in VHDL and C programming
languages. Extremely customizable,
both its size and functionality can easily
be changed, making PicoBlaze an ideal
application for content-sensitive designs.
The PicoBlaze soft processor provides 49
different instructions, eight 8-bit registers,
256 directly addressable ports, and a
maskable interrupt. If you simply want an
Fall 2003 Xcell Journal 59