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In Preparation for the AVNET MiniZed (Xilinx Zynq XC7Z007S SoC) RoadTest. What Do You Need?

rscasny

We will be roadtesting the AVNET MiniZed FPGA SoC development board in September. I find this to be an exicting prospect and can't wait to let it loose on the element14 community.

 

In brief, the MiniZedTm is a single-core Zynq 7Z007S development board. This board targets entry-level Zynq developers with a low-cost prototyping platform.image

 

The Minized's 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.

 

Micron memory solutions are presented for QSPI flash, DDR3L memory and on-board eMMC instead of an external SD card. The Murata Type 1DX wireless solution incorporates 802.11b/g /n Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth 4.1, which provides both Bluetooth Classic and Low Energy (BLE). The integrated power supply from Dialog generates all on-board voltages, while an auxiliary supply input can be used to power designs that require additional current. From ST Micro there is an on-board motion and temperature sensor, as well as a digital microphone.

 

MiniZed provides for an efficient hardware reference design, while it is also an inexpensive board that can be used to run workshops and tutorials. The board aims to showcase the power of Zynq, where the Cortex A9 processor core integrates seamlessly with the programmable fabric to provide signal processing and control solutions. The on-board digital microphone serves as an input for a variety of illustrations of how to implement FIR filters, FFT’s and direct memory access.

 

Feel free to download the attached pdf to learn more about the Minized.

 

In preparation of roadtesting the Minized, what do you feel you need?

 

  • Technical Information?
  • Tutorials?
  • Example Projects?
  • Other?

 

Please leave your comments below. I will try to get any additional information and post it to both the RoadTest and the FPGA groups.

 

Sincerely,

 

Randall Scasny

RoadTest Program Manager

Attachments:
image5239-PB-XC7Z007S-1CLG225C-V11a.pdf
  • in reply to DAB

    Hello DAB,

    As others have pointed out, not everyone has the detailed electronic component and circuit design skills and knowledge that are required to become proficient with FPGA solutions.

    Couple that with specific development tools and you greatly increase the amount of time needed for newbies to get up to speed and become proficient.

     

    IMHO who embark in a road test of this board (or similar) maybe a newbie in the FPGA world - I think that with this board we all are probably newbie or near to - but this means that there is at least the intention to test and learn and then go ahead with this approach managing FPGA. It is acceptable that then the road tester then decide to start playing with a different one for thousand of reasons but not a newbie in electronics. I think that also Randall consider this as one of the aspects; I think we can't expect an incredible participation of any kind of users. Just for the treated topic. But I think that it is a good way to move also in an unknown world. Despite the perplexity of the skilled users.

     

    I like what did with the NEO board, so I would use her posts as sort of a starting point on what you need to do and how to present it.

     

    And I totally agree with this point. Her posts together with some few other stuff here and around I think that this adventure is anyway a fascinating path. I  think I will enroll a road test of this kind. With a high risk factor, I should recognise.

     

    Enrico

  • Hi,

     

    I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask but I was wondering if you had any idea when these boards will be arriving?

     

    Concerning the original question the Q&A seems to me like a good idea for interested parties, I would be up for joining in on that.

     

    Concerning tutorials the Zynq Book Tutorials are already there along with quite a few Vivado ones littered around the web. The main problem I see from a total beginners point of view is that these tutorials are usually made for certain boards and unless you know the basics of Vivado it is hard to convert them to other boards.

     

    I'm guessing that the people buying this board are going to fall into two categories: the first will be the total beginner looking to learn a bit about programmable logic while the second group will have a little experience and be looking for cheap a board with wifi. So maybe some content for both of this groups could be provided?

     

    What would be a good set of tutorials would be one that gradually leads to a system that makes use of the wifi, say a simple network server controlling components in the PL. This series of tutorials could build up the readers knowledge in steps to get to the final solution, all this could be done at the block level with a minimal use of VHDL/Verilog and maybe without even involving linux.

     

    I'm looking forward to having a look at one anyway, if I can ever get hold of one that is!

     

    Cheers

     

    Andy

  • Hi Randall,

    Thanks for putting on this webinar.

     

    Over the last month, I've been familiarizing myself with the Vivado/SDK flow, with MiniZed as my dev board. My interest is in using the platform to prototype small accelerators.

     

    I'd be most interested in content that isn't already available in the Avnet MiniZed tutorials.

     

    In particular, I would find an end-to-end workflow and best practices for development of PL-based accelerators (using HDL, not using HLS because I think that would be a rabbit hole on its own) on Zynq to be helpful. This might include tips on profiling application code in SDK, behavioral modeling of the AXI4 peripheral IP, picking the right PL-PS interface, simulation with Zynq VIP, debugging, performance debugging of the data exchange.

     

    With that goal, I would find either1-2 projects or Enrico's idea of 10 projects in 10 days to be good formats.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Brandon

  • in reply to rscasny

    Is this link now out of date? Looks like there is a 3-4pm CST one now?

  • in reply to bm010

    Thanks for catching that!

     

    Sometimes the time zone flips. the 3-4pm was a european time zone.

     

    The time is 9-10 am CST (Chicago time on Nov 17th.

     

    Check back again:

     

    NEW!: Let's Get Started with the Zynq 7000 Using the AVNET MiniZed Dev Board