SparkFun Alchitry Au+ FPGA Development Board (Xilinx Artix 7)

The Alchitry Au+ is the "gold" standard for FPGA development boards and it's possibly one of the strongest boards of its type on the market. The Au+ substitutes a more robust & scalable FPGA chip (Xilinx XC7A100T) that allows for more complex application circuits. The number of Configurable logic blocks (LABs/CLBs), Logic Elements, and total RAM bits are all nearly 3x that of the standard Au; see "Features" for more details.

FPGAs, or Field-Programmable Gate Arrays, are an advanced development board type for engineers and hobbyists alike to experience the next step in programming with electronics. The Au+ continues the trend of more affordable and increasingly powerful FPGA boards arriving each year. This board will allow your project to grow beyond the typical starting points for FPGAs. Finally, now that this board is built by SparkFun, we added a Qwiic connector for easy I²C integration!

The Alchitry Au+ features a Xilinx Artix 7 XC7A100T FPGA with over 100k logic cells and 256MB of DDR3 RAM. The Au+ offers 102 3.3V logic level IO pins, 20 of which can be switched to 1.8V; Nine differential analog inputs; Eight general purpose LEDs; a 100MHz on-board clock that can be manipulated internally by the FPGA; a USB-C connector to configure and power the board; and a USB to serial interface for data transfer. To make getting started even easier, all Alchitry boards have full Lucid support, a built in library of useful components to use in your project, and a debugger!

By adding stackable expansion boards similar to shields or HATs called "Elements," the Alchitry Au is able to expand its own hardware capabilities by adding prototyping spaces, buttons, LEDs, and more!

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The SparkFun Qwiic Connect System is an ecosystem of I²C sensors, actuators, shields and cables that make prototyping faster and less prone to error. All Qwiic-enabled boards use a common 1mm pitch, 4-pin JST connector. This reduces the amount of required PCB space, and polarized connections mean you can�t hook it up wrong.

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Features:

What's different about the Au+?

The Au+ uses a similar Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA IC (same total I/O), but with a more rubust and over 3x scalable architecture that allow for more complex application circuits.

• Number of LABs/CLBs- 7925 (vs. 2600 on the Au) - Logic Array Block/Configurable logic blocks -
• Number of Logic Elements/Cells - 101440 (vs. 33,208 on the Au)
• Total RAM Bits - 4,976,640

Features

• Artix 7 XC7A100T - 101,440 logic cells
• 256MB DDR3 RAM
• 102 IO pins (3.3V logic level, 20 of then can be switched to 1.8V for LVDS)
• Nine differential analog inputs (One dedicated, Eight mixed with digital IO)
• USB-C to configure and power the board
• Eight general purpose LEDs
• One button (typically used as a reset)
• 100MHz on-board clock (can be multiplied internally by the FPGA)
• Powered with 5V through USB-C port, 0.1" holes, or headers
• USB to serial interface for data transfer (up to 12Mbaud)
• Qwiic Connector
• Dimensions of 65mm x 45mm

Documents:

• Schematic (PDF)
• How Does an FPGA Work?
• Programming an FPGA
• Getting Started Guide
• Alchitry Labs
• Lucid FPGA Tutorial
• So You Want to Learn FPGAs...
• FPGA Resource Page
• Alchitry Tutorials
• Alchitry Forums
• Qwiic Info Page

Examples:

• First FPGA Project - Getting Fancy with PWM
• External IO and Metastability

Videos

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