7 Ways to Leave Your Spartan-6 FPGA

7 Ways to Leave your Spartan-6 is an element14 community program run in conjunction with AMD-Xilinx to teach you about the migration from the Spartan-6 to the Spartan-7 FPGAs.

7 Ways to Leave Your Spartan-6

Challenge is now over and the grand prize winner is jure. See his contest blogs here! Full winners announcement

What's This About?

The AMD Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA family was introduced in 2009. With current parts shortages, designers are learning how to migrate their designs to the newer Spartan-7 FPGA. element14 is inviting you to participate in this fun activity, where you can win great prizes by putting a twist on an old song with element14’s 7 Ways to Leave Your Spartan-6.

How To Play

You have to play to win and in the process, you'll learn about the Spartan-7 FPGA family. Every two weeks, element14 will go live with a new activity that will help you better understand the Spartan-6 to Spartan-7 FPGA migration. Our judges will award you points for every activity you do. At the end of the program, element14 will tally up the points, and the top point-getters will win some great prizes. You don't have to complete every activity, but the more you play, the better chance you have to win BIG.

Take the Quiz

The Arty S7 Spartan-7 FPGA Development Board

Some of the activities below require a dev board. Applications to receive the board are now closed. See selected applicants.

If you are not chosen to receive one of the 25 free boards, you can still join this competition, but you would need to purchase a board here.

The Activities

The activities for the competition are listed below. Just post your blogs or projects in the FPGA group and tag it with “Spartan_Migration.” The deadline for completion of all activities is August 5, 2022.

Write a blog comparing the differences between the Spartan-6 and Spartan-7 FPGAs. Up to 10 points
Take our quiz here with available resource guide to help. Only the first attempt will be counted towards the point total. Up to 10 points
Build a project with the Arty S7. Up to 50 points
Ask/answer a question or start a discussion. Up to 25 points
Add a sensor to your project. Up to 50 points
Use your ongoing project to create an experiment. Up to 50 points
Write a summary blog on what you learned about the Spartan-7 FPGA. Up to 15 points

The Prizes

There will be four big prizes awarded in this competition: a Grand Prize, Second Prize, Third Prize and an Honorable Mention. If prizes are not available in your location, equivalent value substitutes may be selected. Participants who have met the requirements for finishing the competition, but have not been chosen for the four big prizes will receive a T-Shirt or other swag. (Note: The winners of the four big prizes will not receive a participant prize.)

The Grand Prize

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex Laptop + Active2 Galaxy Watch ($1522)*

The Runner Up

Apple iPad Air + Series 7 Watch ($1000)*

The Third Prize

Audio Technica Bluetooth Turntable + Bose Soundlink Resolve+ II BluetoothSpeaker + Frames Tenor (Non-Prescription) ($749)*

Honorable Mention Prize

Lenovo Tab M8 2nd Gen ($100)*

*Or local equivalent

Resources/Technical Documentation

Tips on Writing Your Application

If you want to get a chance to receive one of the 25 FREE Kits, you will need to submit an application no later than May 12, 2022. The key to writing a winning application is to provide as much meaningful information about your proposed experiments as possible.

The application entry form should be detailed enough to give a good idea of what you plan to do and how you plan to pull it off. But you don’t have to write a book! By answering each of the following questions in your application, you will provide enough information:

(a) Describe your technical background.

(b) Why are you interested in this competition? What interests you about FPGAs?

(d) Have you participated in the element14 Community? If so, please provide some links to what you've done. If you are a new member, answer "New Member."

All interested element14 members must submit an application entry form before the end of enrollment on May 12, 2022.

Here are some other suggestions for completing a winning application:

Please complete all required information (contact information, etc.) Please use the email address that is associated with your element14 profile.

Answer all of the application questions. Tell us why you want to be selected. Before deciding what you want to write, think about the following things:You are entering a competition. The most persuasive applications are the ones that attract the eye of the judges.

A single sentence application will never be selected. This competition is not a game of chance.

Be as detailed as possible, but don't write a book.

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