Time and Space Prize

RE: Time and Space Prize

shabaz — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 21:48:41 GMT

I drew a little breakout board for the GreenPAK chip, but it also supports the SLG47910 FPGA chip too.

(Note: a normal off-the-shelf QFN adapter PCB isn't the same; the pads are not standard).

The underside of the board can be used for (say) a decoupling capacitor, or pull-downs, etc.

The board can be used with pin headers and could also fit a wide DIP24 socket (15.24 mm spacing between rows).

I've not tested this yet, but it uploads fine onto PCB manufacturer website.

Here's the Gerber files in case anyone else wants this:

[View:/cfs-file/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-c4915b19-f890-4238-97cd-dd470f01dc61/export_5F00_qfn24_5F00_l_5F00_3_5F00_3_5F00_0_5F00_4mm_5F00_gerbers_5F00_rev1.zip:640:360]

Ordered from JLC PCB, for a total (including shipping) of £6.65 (qty 20, which is strangely cheaper than qty 10!).

RE: Time and Space Prize

shabaz — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 15:45:13 GMT

There's a very small FPGA, part code SLG47910 that uses the same Go Configure software too. The dev-kit is about £200 though, but looks worthwhile.

It's in a 24-pin 0.4 mm pitch package, i.e. identical package to the GreenPAK chip.

It doesn't have a lot of capacity, but is definitely more than just glue logic, so it looks useful. It has SPI RAM access for configuration, but also has one-time programmable memory for making things permanent.

A downside is that only Verilog is supported not VHDL. However, on the plus side, the software is really straightforward, it could be very easy to get going.

The IP is straightforward too; from what I can tell, it directly provides the entire source, not just an interface.

Floorplan view:

There is a schematic entry method that immediately generates Verilog, so that could initially be a nice learning tool even without the dev-board.

I think the SPI interface also allows generating simulated signals, i.e. you can send in logic patterns, and view outputs, but I can't access that part without connecting to a real board, so I'm not 100% sure.

RE: Time and Space Prize

shabaz — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 21:09:36 GMT

I installed the software needed for the GreenPAK device, which is called (awful name) Go Configure Software Hub. Upon startup, it was possible to select the chip, and then a 'GreenPAK Designer' window appears with a center black area for schematics.

For a first project I just clicked on the right-side pane list of internal components to choose an op amp. Them I selected some external components (resistors and voltage sources) using the left side pane. Very straightforward. Wires are added by clicking on any two nodes (only valid connections will be formed).

Then, I clicked on Debug, a simulation pane appeared on the right, and then it was possible to right-click on nodes to add probes.

When the simulation was run from the simulation pane, charts with the probe outputs appeared. The bottom blue trace is the op amp output.

Interesting how the output wasn't correct for the first approx 2 msec. Probably that's the chip initializing itself (maybe). I'm guessing.

So far I've only used the software, and have not tried to connect to the board.

Anyway, this is really neat. I need to explore this more. There are examples online, that do more sophisticated stuff such as reading rotary encoders and generating adjustable sine-waves.

The incredible thing is the low cost. These chips are about $2 in single quantity, yet house several op-amps, electronically controlled resistors, oscillators, logic and so on. They are also low-power (can operate from coin cells).

RE: Time and Space Prize

DAB — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 17:59:00 GMT

Nice set of toys.

I look forward to hearing what you do with them.

RE: Time and Space Prize

balajivan1995 — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 04:27:51 GMT

I'm planning on creating a voice assistant (Gemini API), but I need a really good microphone and speaker (with amplifier). The idea is capturing the audio using mic, storing it in ESP32's flash memory, and make a http post and get the response. I don't have much hardware knowledge and I don't even know where to started on mic and speaker part. Is it possible to use the audio dev kit for that purpose?

RE: Time and Space Prize

genebren — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 22:41:11 GMT

Very interesting selections for your prize. I am sure that you will find some interest projects to use these on.

A very deserved prize for a very interesting contest entry/project!