Help for a embeded system with SPARTAN-6 project

T

Thales2

Guest
Hi,

I an new to FPGA develepement and I want to build a litte embeded syste
using the SP601 SPARTAN-6, to develepod my VHDL,c++ and PCB skill. But
dont kwon if my projet is realitical, so I seek input from experienc
developer here, before I buy the stuff.

I am currently designing a dauterboard for the SP601 kit to the include th
folowing periferals :

- tft LCD http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8335
- 1 or more CMOS camera like this on
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8667
- an audio codex (to be chosen)
- SD card reade

As a first projet with this board. I would like to code in VHDL the LCD an
camera controler and use the microblaze softcore to devepod in c++ a GU
using the QT tools (http://qt.nokia.com/). So basically I want the user t
be able to take a shot using the GUI control and display it to the LCD.

Latter I would like to implement function like music and video player an
maybe latter implement some cool computer vision processing using th
openCV library and dedicated FPGA hardware.

1) Do this look possible to you ?
2) is the microblaze core able to handle the QT and OpenCV lib ?
3) any suggestion to help me get that project started ?

Thx for your inputs

Eric






---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.FPGARelated.com
 
"Thales2" <eric.dube.3@n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:HLCdnR2u8oF1HWvRnZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d@giganews.com...
Hi,

I an new to FPGA develepement and I want to build a litte embeded system
using the SP601 SPARTAN-6, to develepod my VHDL,c++ and PCB skill. But I
dont kwon if my projet is realitical, so I seek input from experience
developer here, before I buy the stuff.

I am currently designing a dauterboard for the SP601 kit to the include
the
folowing periferals :

- tft LCD http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8335
- 1 or more CMOS camera like this one
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8667
- an audio codex (to be chosen)
- SD card reade

As a first projet with this board. I would like to code in VHDL the LCD
and
camera controler and use the microblaze softcore to devepod in c++ a GUI
using the QT tools (http://qt.nokia.com/). So basically I want the user to
be able to take a shot using the GUI control and display it to the LCD.

Latter I would like to implement function like music and video player and
maybe latter implement some cool computer vision processing using the
openCV library and dedicated FPGA hardware.

1) Do this look possible to you ?
2) is the microblaze core able to handle the QT and OpenCV lib ?
3) any suggestion to help me get that project started ?

Thx for your inputs

Eric






---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.FPGARelated.com
Click to expand...
As John said it's possible but it's much too ambitious for a first project
to learn about FPGAs. You'll get bogged down with the softcore and the touch
screen etc which won't teach you much about FPGA or VHDL.

Start with a much less complex design and a really cheap dev kit (Lattice
have some real cheapos !).

If you haven't done the traffic lights or 7 seg LCD controller in VHDL then
start with them.

If you are past that stage and want a big FPGA challenge try the MP3 decoder
in VHDL !

(There may be more suitable projects in between but you'll get the idea -
pick something which is 90% VHDL on the FPGA if it's VHDL you want to
learn.)

Michael Kellett
 
I can't speak about QT and C++ bits as I still count myself as a
hardware engineer but the hardware side is viable depending on exactly
what you want to do. The size of the LX16 FPGA of the SP601 may limit
you a bit on what you can do and it might be better to have a bigger
FPGA like a LX45-LX150.

Here we have been working on a new derivative of our Drigmorn4
Sparatn-6 board http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/drigmorn/drigmorn4.html
that will support a touchscreen display as an option. We are also
looking at doing an add-on camera that will support a lot of our
product range including all our Spartan-6 boards Raggedstone2,
Drigmorn3 and Drigmorn4. If you want a board that is ISE Webpack
compatible we are already shipping LX75 versions of the Drigmorn4 to
customers that have asked for it. That version doesn't appear in any
of our website information.

John Adair
Enterpoint Ltd.

On Dec 1, 5:07 pm, "Thales2" <eric.dube.3@n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi,

I an new to FPGA develepement and I want to build a litte embeded system
using the SP601 SPARTAN-6, to develepod my VHDL,c++ and PCB skill. But I
dont kwon if my projet is realitical, so I seek input from experience
developer here, before I buy the stuff.

I am currently designing a dauterboard for the SP601 kit to the include the
folowing periferals :

- tft LCDhttp://www.sparkfun.com/products/8335
- 1 or more CMOS camera like this onehttp://www.sparkfun.com/products/8667
- an audio codex (to be chosen)
- SD card reade

As a first projet with this board. I would like to code in VHDL the LCD and
camera controler and use the microblaze softcore to devepod in c++ a GUI
using the QT tools (http://qt.nokia.com/). So basically I want the user to
be able to take a shot using the GUI control and display it to the LCD.

Latter I would like to implement function like music and video player and
maybe latter implement some cool computer vision processing using the
openCV library and dedicated FPGA hardware.

1) Do this look possible to you ?
2) is the microblaze core able to handle the QT and OpenCV lib ?
3) any suggestion to help me get that project started ?

Thx for your inputs

Eric

---------------------------------------        
Posted throughhttp://www.FPGARelated.com
Click to expand...
 
Thx for the replies,

@John Those board look nice unfortunately there also outside my price
range, because I currently unemployed witch suck for the money, but
also give me time to learn cool thing.

@Michael Kellett

I like your suggestion, I have already the basic VHDL skill from
university course, so I had already done the littles projects, the
trafic ligths, coffee machine, Simon memory game, barrel shifter,
floating point multiplier and more.

But I do like your MP3 decoder suggestion, I do remember it involve
huffman coding and inverse cosine transform, I just wonder if the
standard is open ?
I think I can code a fixed point implantation in Matlab first and then
code the decoder in VHDL, and why not add after a JPEG codex to use
the LCD and the camera.

thx for the idea :)

Eric


On Dec 2, 3:32 am, "Michael Kellett" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
"Thales2" <eric.dube.3@n_o_s_p_a_m.gmail.com> wrote in message

news:HLCdnR2u8oF1HWvRnZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d@giganews.com...









Hi,

I an new to FPGA develepement and I want to build a litte embeded system
using the SP601 SPARTAN-6, to develepod my VHDL,c++ and PCB skill. But I
dont kwon if my projet is realitical, so I seek input from experience
developer here, before I buy the stuff.

I am currently designing a dauterboard for the SP601 kit to the include
the
folowing periferals :

- tft LCDhttp://www.sparkfun.com/products/8335
- 1 or more CMOS camera like this one
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8667
- an audio codex (to be chosen)
- SD card reade

As a first projet with this board. I would like to code in VHDL the LCD
and
camera controler and use the microblaze softcore to devepod in c++ a GUI
using the QT tools (http://qt.nokia.com/). So basically I want the user to
be able to take a shot using the GUI control and display it to the LCD.

Latter I would like to implement function like music and video player and
maybe latter implement some cool computer vision processing using the
openCV library and dedicated FPGA hardware.

1) Do this look possible to you ?
2) is the microblaze core able to handle the QT and OpenCV lib ?
3) any suggestion to help me get that project started ?

Thx for your inputs

Eric

---------------------------------------
Posted throughhttp://www.FPGARelated.com

As John said it's possible but it's much too ambitious for a first project
to learn about FPGAs. You'll get bogged down with the softcore and the touch
screen etc which won't teach you much about FPGA or VHDL.

Start with a much less complex design and a really cheap dev kit (Lattice
have some real cheapos !).

If you haven't done the traffic lights or 7 seg LCD controller in VHDL then
start with them.

If you are past that stage and want a big FPGA challenge try the MP3 decoder
in VHDL !

(There may be more suitable projects in between but you'll get the idea -
pick something which is 90% VHDL on the FPGA if it's VHDL you want to
learn.)

Michael Kellett
Click to expand...
 
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