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Improve Your Skills with a "Free" Minized Dev Board Project Contest

rscasny

There's something to be said for making something just for the sake of it. You can say that for learning as well. At some point in time, we all learn something for the pure enjoyment of learning. But let's flip the coin. On the other side is making or learning with an end goal in mind. Entrepreneurs are in this group; they make something to sell for profit. Other people learn something so they can do something; often times this boils down to winning a job, a contract, or be a member of the gig economy!image

 

Learn as if you were to live forever.

A famous man once said, "Learn as if you were to live forever." I was reminded of this old saying when I was given a Minized development board to giveaway for "free" to someone on the element14 community.image

 

A lightbulb illuminated above my head when it happened. I thought, "geez, this is a great opportunity to give a member the gift of learning."

 

Yes, I said...FREE.

 

So, what do you have to do to get a "free" Minized development board?

Enter in the comments section below how the Minized will help you learn and improve your skills. Tell me how receiving a Minized will challenge you and help you do something that you have been wanting to do for a long time. Tell me a little about your background and any experience you have with the technology that's packed into a Minized.

 

Are you new to the Minized? Well, here are the facts in a few sentences:image

The MiniZedTm is a single-core Zynq 7Z007S development board. This compact design features on-board connectivity through USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Peripherals can be plugged into dual Pmod-compatible connectors, the Arduino-compatible shield interface or the USB 2.0 host interface. JTAG circuitry is incorporated onto the MiniZed base board, so with a single micro- USB cable to your laptop you are already up and running. User LED’s, a button and a switch allow for a physical board interface.

 

Here's a few specs

  • Xilinx Zynq XC7Z007S SoC
  • Micron 512 MB DDR3L,128 Mb QSPI flash, 8GB eMMC
  • Murata Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
  • User button, switch, 2 x OSRAM bi-element LEDs
  • On-board USB to JTAG and debug UART circuit
  • Murata Bluetooth 4.1 plus EDR
  • USB 2.0 host (Microchip PHY), 2 x Pmod, Arduino interface
  • Dialog Semiconductor PMIC
  • ST Micro Accelerometer & Temperature sensor
  • ST Micro Digital MEMS microphone

 

Here's What You Get

  • Micro USB cable
  • MiniZed development board
  • Voucher for SDSoC license from Xilinx
  • TDM114 Camera Module, 1.26 Megapixel, Pmod, For ZED Development Kits

  • Dear Randall,

     

    Hope it is not too late.

     

    I've been looking at such 'dual-brained' SOCs for some time already with the intention to build some toy project and to put my hands on this technology. Here comes the chance. And as you're asking about what each of us would learn primarily, not what we will  build, the answer is quite straightforward for me - I would like to learn how such solutions can be designed and implemented efficiently where one need to run in parallel the hardware and software development threads and to keep all design aspects aligned to the common goal.  

     

    As the target solution I'm considering a multi-channel logic analyzer. I have some spare ideas for implementation including some tasks related to media processing which can leverage the integrated mic and advanced SIMD capabilities of the ARM core. Or smart sensor edge aggregation.

     

    But it seems that  the logic analyzer project will give much more flexibility in the sense of complexity. It will be possible to start from the simple signal triggering and basic filtering done on FPGA followed by the direct bypass of data to USB and to continue with implementing of some advanced protocol analysis on the ARM core involving creation of state engine and session analysis.

     

    From the form factor perspective it is possible to start from the USB box attached top PC and to implement the complete device with VGA interface on the later stage.

     

    Anyway, no matter what you will decide about this my 'application' I'm very grateful for bringing my attention back to this type of solutions.

     

    Anton

  • in reply to neuromodulator

    I closed it and am in the processing of choosing the people.

  • in reply to mrburnwal

    Interesting comparison: Minized to a Cute Baby Board. Not what came to my mind but.....

  •  

    Hmm, too late but I would be interested int the camera mostly.

    I built an application with the Minized using a cheap camera last month. If you have a PYNQ-Z2 contest in the future let me know.

     

    I would like to port this application to PYNQ-Z2 since it has much more logic and it would allow for applications like object tracking.

     

    https://www.hackster.io/dhq/fpga-camera-edge-detection-02dce2

     

    The ZC7007 does not have enough BRAM for complex applications.