Open-source FPGA development board from Farnell has compact form factor
Single board computer (SBC) development kits from Farnell, an Avnet company, includes the OrangeCrab r0.2 open-source FPGA development board from Good Stuff Department.
The OrangeCrab combines the compact Adafruit Feather form factor with the high power normally associated with much larger FPGA development boards, claims Farnell. The OrangeCrab is based on the Lattice EPC5 FPGA. There are two memory configurations – the ECP5 25F/128Mbit and ECP5 85F/521Mbit devices. The FPGA is compatible with open-source toolchain and can be used for experimenting with RISC-V and other soft core SoCs.
Users can port to the OrangeCrab over CircuitPython. While not currently implemented, developers can target the FPGA itself with gateware synthesised hardware description language (HDL). The ECP5 can run a RISC-V softcore for SoC development platforms. The LiteX project also provides developers with increased flexibility and capability.
The OrangeCrab r0.2 FPGA development board includes a Lattice Semiconductor EPC5 FPGA with 24K LUT elements, 10-pin FPGA programming header and MicroSD socket with full speed direct USB connection to FPGA.
Memory options include up to 8Gbit DDR3 onboard system memory (x16) and storage 128 or 512Mbit QSPI flash memory. There is also a microSD card slot for board storage.
The OrangeCrab measures just 22.86 x 50.8mm. The open source USB bootloader enables users to connect over the FPGA’s native USB interface to upload code and access the memories over MicroSD. There is also a standard 2×5, 1.27mm header to develop applications on the USB layer.
The board offers high efficiency DC/DC for main supplies, a battery charger chip (100mA), a LiPo battery connector (PH type) and a 48MHz oscillator.
Good Stuff Department develops open source hardware products with a focus on microcontroller and FPGA development boards.
Distributor Farnell offers a market leading range of embedded computers, education and maker boards with a full range of accessories available for fast delivery. Customers can benefit from 24/5 technical support alongside free access to valuable online resources on the Farnell website, and engineering and maker community, element14.
The OrangeCrab r0.2 open-source FPGA development board is available from Farnell in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in APAC.
