Alinx ARTIX-7 FPGA User manual

ARTIX-7 FPGA
Development Board
AX7A035
User Manual

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Version Record
Version
Date
Release By
Description
Rev 1.0
2020-10-06
Rachel Zhou
First Release

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Table of Contents
Version Record...................................................................................................... 2
Part 1: FPGA Development Board Introduction................................................6
Part 2: AC7A200 Core Board.............................................................................10
Part 2.1: AC7A200 Core Board Introduction...........................................10
Part 2.2: FPGA Chip....................................................................................12
Part 2.3: Active Differential Crystal........................................................... 13
Part 2.4: DDR3 DRAM................................................................................16
Part 2.5: QSPI Flash................................................................................... 19
Part 2.6: LED Light on Core Board...........................................................21
Part 2.7: JTAG Interface............................................................................. 22
Part 2.8: Power Interface on the Core Board......................................... 23
Part 2.9: Board to Board Connectors pin assignment.......................... 24
Part 2.10: Power Supply.............................................................................31
Part 2.11: Size Dimension..........................................................................34
Part 3: Carrier Board........................................................................................... 35
Part 3.1: Carrier Board Introduction......................................................... 35
Part 3.2: Gigabit Ethernet Interface..........................................................36
Part 3.3: SFP Interface............................................................................... 38
Part 3.4: PCIe x2 Interface.........................................................................40
Part 3.5: HDMI output interface.................................................................41
Part 3.6: HDMI Input interface...................................................................43
Part 3.7: SD Card Slot................................................................................ 45
Part 3.8: USB-to-Uart Bridge Connector................................................. 47
Part 3.9: EEPROM 24LC04....................................................................... 48
Part 3.10: Temperature Sensor................................................................. 49
Part 3.11: Expansion Header.....................................................................50
Part 3.12: JTAG Interface...........................................................................54

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Part 3.13: keys............................................................................................. 54
Part 3.14: LED Light....................................................................................56
Part 3.15: Power Supply.............................................................................57
Part 3.16: Fan...............................................................................................58
Part 3.17: Carrier Board Size Dimension................................................ 59

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This ARTIX-7 FPGA development platform (Module: AX7A035) adopts the
core board + carrier board mode, which is convenient for users to use the core
board for secondary development.
In the design of carrier board, we have extended a wealth of interfaces for
users, such as 1 PCIex2 interface, 2 SFP cage, 1 HDMI Output interface, 1
HDMI Input interface, 1 Gigabit Ethernet interface, Uart Interface, SD card slot
etc. It meets user's requirements for PCIe high-speed data exchange, video
transmission processing and industrial control. It is a "Versatile" ARTIX-7 FPGA
development platform. It provides the possibility for high-speed video
transmission, pre-validation and post-application of network, fiber and PCIe
communication and data processing. This product is very suitable for students,
engineers and other groups engaged in ARTIX-7 FPGA development.

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Part 1: FPGA Development Board Introduction
The entire structure of the AX7A035 FPGA development board is inherited
from our consistent core board + carrier board model. A high-speed inter-board
connector is used between the core board and the carrier board.
The core board is mainly composed of FPGA + 2 DDR3 + QSPI FLASH,
which undertakes the functions of high-speed data processing and storage of
FPGA, high-speed data reading and writing between FPGA and two DDR3s,
data bit width is 32 bits, and the bandwidth of the whole system is up to 25Gb.
/s(800M*32bit); The two DDR3 capacities are up to 8Gbit, which meets the
need for high buffers during data processing. The selected FPGA is the
XC7A35T chip of XILINX's ARTIX-7 series, in BGA 484 package. The
communication frequency between the XC7A35T and DDR3 reaches 400Mhz
and the data rate is 800Mhz, which fully meets the needs of high-speed
multi-channel data processing. In addition, the XC7A35T FPGA features four
GTP high-speed transceivers with speeds up to 6.6Gb/s per channel, making it
ideal for fiber-optic communications and PCIe data communications.
The AX7A035 carrier board expands its rich peripheral interface, including
1 PCIex2 interface, 2 SFP Interface, 1 HDMI Output interface, 1 HDMI Input
interface, 1 Uart Interface, 1 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces,1 SD card slot, 2-way
40-pin expansion header, some Keys, LED and EEPROM circuit.

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Figure 1-1-1: The Schematic Diagram of the AX7A035
Through this diagram, you can see the interfaces and functions that the
AX7A035 FPGA Development Board contains:
Artix-7 FPGA core board
The core board consists of XC7A35T + 8Gb DDR3 + 128Mb QSPI
FLASH. There are two high-precision Sitime LVDS differential crystals,
one at 200MHz and the other at 125MHz, providing stable clock input
for FPGA systems and GTP modules.
1-channel PCIe x2 interface
Supports PCI Express 2.0 standard, provides PCIe x 2 high-speed data
transmission interface, single channel communication rate up to
5Gbaud

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2-channel high-speed SFP Interface
The two high-speed transceivers of the GTP transceiver of ARTIX-7
FPGA are connected to the transmission and reception of two optical
modules to realize four high-speed optical fiber communication
interfaces. Each fiber optic data communication receives and transmits
at speeds up to 6.6 Gb/s.
1-channel Gigabit Ethernet Interface RJ-45 interface
The Gigabit Ethernet interface chip uses Micrel's KSZ9031RNX
Ethernet PHY chip to provide network communication services to users.
The KSZ9031RNX chip supports 10/100/1000 Mbps network
transmission rates; full duplex and adaptive.
1-channel HDMI Output interface
Silion Image's SIL9134 HDMI encoding chip is selected to support up to
1080P@60Hz output and support 3D output.
1-channel HDMI Input interface
Silion Image's SIL9011/ SIL9013 HDMI decoder chip is selected, which
supports up to 1080P@60Hz input and supports data output in different
formats.
1-channel USB-to-Uart interface
1-channel USB-to-Uart interface for communication with the computer
for user debugging. The serial port chip is the USB-UAR chip of Silicon
Labs CP2102GM, and the USB interface is the MINI USB interface.
Micro SD card holder
1-port Micro SD card slot, support SD mode and SPI mode
EEPROM
Onboard an IIC interface EEPROM 24LC04
2-way 40-pin expansion port
Reserve 2-way 40-pin 0.1inch pitch expansion port can be connected
to various ALINX modules (binocular camera, TFT LCD screen,

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high-speed AD module, etc.). The expansion port contains 1 channel
5V power supply, 2 channel 3.3V power supply, 3 way ground, 34 IOs
port.
JTAG Interface
A 10-pin 0.1 inch spacing standard JTAG ports for FPGA program
download and debugging.
key
4 keys; 1 reset key (on the core board)
LED Light
5 user LEDs (1 on the core board and 4 on the carrier board)

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Part 2: AC7A035 Core Board
Part 2.1: AC7A035 Core Board Introduction
AC7A035 (core board model, the same below) FPGA core board, it is
based on XILINX's ARTIX-7 series 100T XC7A35T-2FGG484I. It is a
high-performance core board with high speed, high bandwidth and high
capacity. It is suitable for high-speed data communication, video image
processing, high-speed data acquisition etc.
This AC7A035 core board uses two pieces of MICRON's
MT41J256M16HA-125 DDR3 chip, each DDR has a capacity of 4Gbit; two
DDR chips are combined into a 32-bit data bus width, and the read/write data
bandwidth between FPGA and DDR3 is up to 25Gb; such a configuration can
meet the needs of high bandwidth data processing.
The AC7A035 core board expands 180 standard IO ports of 3.3V level, 15
standard IO ports of 1.5V level, and 4 pairs of GTP high speed RX/TX
differential signals. For users who need a lot of IO, this core board will be a
good choice. Moreover, the routing between the FPGA chip and the interface is
equal length and differential processing, and the core board size is only 2.36
inch *2.36 inch, which is very suitable for secondary development.