spartan 3e starter kit

[michaelfpga]

hello all

I want to buy the spartan 3e starter kit, but before that I want to make sure that I can control motors using the Kit, can I ?

thnx

[eteam00]

If you can read and understand the Spartan-3e datasheet, and you can read and understand the datasheet for the motors you wish to control, you should have no trouble answering your question.  Do you know where to find the datasheets you need?

-- Bob Elkind

[michaelfpga]

I understand from your answer that you don't know if I can or cannot connect a motor to the starter kit???!

[bassman59]

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@michaelfpga wrote:

I understand from your answer that you don't know if I can or cannot connect a motor to the starter kit???!

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You haven't told us anything about the motor you want to connect to the kit. I mean, there's a several-horsepower electric motor sitting in the warehouse, and I'm sure I can control it with an S3, assuming also that I bodge together the proper drive electronics.

[michaelfpga]

I have the datasheet for the spartan 3e family, should I look within this datasheet or there is a seperate datasheet for the starter kit?

[bassman59]

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@michaelfpga wrote:

I have the datasheet for the spartan 3e family, should I look within this datasheet or there is a seperate datasheet for the starter kit?

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You still haven't told us what kind of motor you're using.

Some motors have built-in drivers which can accept signals from a micro or FPGA. Others require an amplifier/motor driver. 

Some motors are smart and accept commands from a processor. Others have nothing other than coil inputs and need to have their steps generated and amplfied.

So before we can give you an answer, you have to help us to understand what you're doing.

[eteam00]

I want to buy the spartan 3e starter kit, but before that I want to make sure that I can control motors using the Kit, can I ?

If all you want to do is control some motors, you really shouldn't bother with any FPGA development kit.  FPGA development boards are designed first and foremost as a platform and experimentation device for learning about specific FPGAs and learning the use of FPGAs in general.  It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to become proficient in the use of FPGA tools and technology, and it would largely be wasted effort for you.

It would be far simpler to hire some experienced design engineer or someone familiar with motor control to help set you up with a rig for your motor control application.  If this is a one-off project, hire someone knowledgeable who already knows how to do this.

-- Bob Elkind

[michaelfpga]

I want to use DC motors( 12v, 0.5 A)  and control them through H bridge

[michaelfpga]

I will use the FPGA kit to control the dc motors beside other tasks. So I just want to make sure that I can connect the Kit to H bridge?

[eteam00]

What H bridge circuit are you using?  Something like this, for example? And how many of them?

-- Bob Elkind

[joelby]

You're in luck - Digilent produce something called the PmodHB5, an H-bridge with feedback inputs:

"The Digilent PmodHB5 2A H-bridge module is an ideal solution for robotics and other applications where logic signals are used to drive small to medium-sized DC motors such as the Digilent motor/gearbox"

You can connect up to three of these to one Spartan-3E Starter Board, or more if you use the Digilent board that breaks out the expansion connector to additional Pmod ports. If you're not proficient in designing power electronics for motor control applications, this will probably be the cheapest and easiest way to control your DC motors.

[michaelfpga]

I will use L293N

[michaelfpga]

I want to totally isolate the motors from the fpga, if I used the PmodHB5 can I still use opto couplers to isolate the motors?

[eilert]

Hi Michael,

in either case (using the PMOD vs. L293) you can use a breadboard like this

http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,401,471&Prod=PMOD-BB

for a small circuit with less IOs. (I wouldn't buy it from Digilent but make it from cheap original parts)

Or if you have need for more IOs and a larger circuit this board will be useful:

http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,648,559&Prod=FX2WW

I think that's the right one for the S3E Starter kit. Please check the connector.

If you don't want to waste this board on your first tries, you may put some pinheaders on it and put another circuit board on that, piggy back style.

This way you can develop your motor driver circuit with opto isolation and keep the stress for the FX2Ww at a minimum.

Have a nice synthesis

  Eilert

[michaelfpga]

thnx alot 4 u all

I have another question If I  want to connect a camera to the kit , I have searched and found that the best is to use CMOS cameras but to control the camera I need to use I2C, can I do something like this or not?

[bassman59]

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@michaelfpga wrote:

thnx alot 4 u all

I have another question If I  want to connect a camera to the kit , I have searched and found that the best is to use CMOS cameras but to control the camera I need to use I2C, can I do something like this or not?

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WHICH CAMERA?

Not all CMOS cameras use I2C for control, and not all cameras share a common interface!

[mattbrowner]

Avnet has just announced a new Spartan-6 Motor Control Development Kit that might be just what you're looking for to prototype your design.

The kit includes a Spartan-6 LX75T baseboard, an FMC daughtercard for the motor drive, plus a BLDC and Stepper motor.

The FMC card uses low-cost Texas Instruments DRV8312 integrated drivers that include 3 half-bridges, FET drivers and protection circuitry.  The FMC can drive two DC motors up to 24V at 2A.

Lead time is ~10 weeks (February timeframe), but if your schedule allows, it might be a good option.

For your camera, have a look at the Avnet S6 Industrial Video Kit.  It includes an FMC module and OmniVision camera, and comes with reference designs that implement the full video pipeline for capturing high resolution video up to 1280x800 @ 30fps. The S6 LX150T baseboard has two FMC slots, so you could use both the Motor Control FMC module *and* the FMC camera module at the same time.

Note that the Motor Control FMC module and FMC OmniVision Camera module can be purchased separately.

[eilert]

Hi Michael,

we do not know what you can do.

We don't know either what the requirements of your project are.

And we also don't know is what the camera of your choice is capable of, or its interface requirements.

But you can be fairly sure that FPGAs are capable to be connected to most any digital device available.

There are some limits, like max clock frequency and I/O standards and driving capabilities, however.

The first one can almost be neglected, since actual FPGAs are close to the leading edge of high speed devices.

(They can controll DDR-RAMs and have special high speed serial transceivers up to the multi GB range).

The second one is merely a question of level converters and driver circuits connected between FPGA and other circuits.

The most limiting factor is the designer.

So ask yourself. Can you do it, or not? ;-)

Have a nice synthesis and Merry Christmas

  Eilert

[michaelfpga]

Thanks all

Any suggestions of what type of camera can I use? I need the size of the image to be small, and I don't want to use ADC to get the image

[michaelfpga]

@eilert

the fx2 bread board you told me about can be connected directly to the kit through the fx2 connector or should I use a cable or wires  ?

[joelby]

The only easy way to connect a camera would be using this Digilent module and an analogue camera: http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?Prod=VDEC1

Anything else would require some custom hardware development. The Digilent ATLYS board works with a stereo camera module that may be worth considering, too. I'd probably go with a Spartan-6 board for a new design if I had the choice.


The FX2 breadboard module is designed to connect directly to the FPGA development board, though if you can find a suitable cable assembly, you could try using that between them.

[michaelfpga]

where can I find such assembly cables? I searched digilent site and couldn't find any :smileysad: 

[joelby]

I've no idea. If you can't find one, you might have to make one.

It's probably going to be easier to run a camera on the end of a long composite cable than extending the 100-way FX2 connector, if that's what you're angling at.

[eteam00]

Michael,

You want to build a robot.  We want you to succeed in this endeavour, but you will need to invest your own time and energy and talents.  We cannot do the work, we can only make vague suggestions.

It's clear that you do not yet know enough about hardware design, FPGAs, FPGA design, HDL, or the FPGA design toolkit to accomplish your goal.  You will need to learn these things in order to design, implement, debug, and test your FPGA-based robot controller.  Learning these things should be your short-term goal.

It would be useful for you to compose a plan for learning how to design, implement, debug, and test an FPGA-based design.  Let us review your plan, and possibly make suggestions.  Then set about completing this plan, step by step.

Does this make sense?

-- Bob Elkind

[eilert]

Hi Michael,

wether you are using some extra cable between the two FX2 connectors depends on the signal speed and integrity requirements.

For slow signals this may be an option, but since you are about to grab some video data you should minimize the sources for data transmission problems. Each extra connector and wire is a potential source of disturbance (if not failure, e.g. open circuits).

so maybe you first get your design running with the boards connected directly, and then you might add some cables in between for better mounting or whatever you need it for. If you proved that the design did work without the cable, then the only source of possible errors can be the cable (either lenght or quality).

Have a nice synthesis and a happy new year

  Eilert