Microchip Technology Hello FPGA User manual

11
Kit Contents
Quantity Description
1 Hello FPGA Board with SmartFusion®2 M2S010 VF256
1 Camera Sensor Board
1 LCD Board
1 USB 2.0 A to Mini-B cable
Hello FPGA
Quickstart Guide
Hardware Connectivity

22
Hello FPGA Kit
Quickstart Guide
Prerequisite
Before you start, download and install the Hello FPGA GUI Application from the resources section of the
Hello FPGA web page.
User Push Buttons Power LEDs User LEDs FPGA JTAG
Header
PICkit
Header
PIC32MX795F512L
Arduino Compatible
Interface
20 Pin Expansion
Header
SmartFusion2
FPGA
20 Pin Expansion
Header
USB 2.0
Hello FPGA Board Layout

3
Hello FPGA Kit
Quickstart Guide
Demo Setup and Instructions
Programming the FPGA
1. Invoke the Hello_FPGA_GUI. Select the appropriate COM port from the drop down list and click
Connect . The GUI displays COM Connected on successful connection.
2. In the FPGA Programmer tab, click browse and select one of the FPGA Programming files
(.dat).
3. Select PROGRAM under Action from the drop-down list and click Run.
4. Upon successful completion of FPGA programming, user LEDs 2 and 3 starts blinking on the
Hello FPGA board.
5. Unplug the USB cable from the hardware and follow the preceding instructions to reconnect the
cable.
6. Click Power Graph tab to see the FPGA Core Power information.
7. Click FPGA Demo tab to run the demo for the programmed file (.dat).
Connect the USB cable from the host PC to USB 2.0 port of the Hello FPGA board.
See Microchip Logo on the display followed by the Hello FPGA board image.

4
Running a Digital Signal Processing Application
Hello FPGA Kit
Quickstart Guide
After programming with
Demo1_FIR_FILTER_Vx.x.dat file,
follow these steps:
1. Go to the FPGA Demo tab
> Input Parameters tab.
2. In the Filter Generation
pane, select Filter Type,
Filter Window, enter
Cut-off Frequency (MHz)
and click Generate Filter
to generate the filter
coefficients.
3. In the Input Signal
Generation pane, enter the
Input frequencies. Click
Generate Signal and observe
the Filter Input.
4. Click Start to send the
generated input signal, filter
coefficients to SmartFusion2
FPGA and observe the
filtered output.

5
Hello FPGA Kit
Quickstart Guide
5. The filtered output from
SmartFusion2 FPGA as
per the filter configuration
can be observed on the
Filter Output tab.
6. In the Text Viewer tab, you
can see the numerical values
of the graphs plotted in the
Filter Input and Filter Output
tabs.

6
Hello FPGA Kit
Quickstart Guide
7. Click Autosweep, the GUI
automatically sweeps
one of the input signal
frequencies (Sweep)
through a range of values
and sends to the FPGA to
perform filter operation .
Filtered output from FPGA
is displayed on the right .
Running an Image Processing Application
After programming with
Demo2_HF10_CAM_LCD_FF_Vx.x.dat
file, follow these steps:
1. The video captured from
camera is displayed on
LCD with FPGA running
Image Signal processing.
If required, turn the lens to
adjust the focus.
2. Go to FPGA demo tab to
adjust contrast, brightness
and color balance through
sliders The Contrast,
Brightness, and Color
Balance can be adjusted
through the sliders.
3. Click Reset to set the
default values.

7
Running an AI Digit Recognition Application
Hello FPGA Kit
Quickstart Guide
After programming with Demo3_
HF10_DIGIT_CNN_FF_Vxx.dat file,
follow these steps:
1. Go to the FPGA Demo tab.
The FPGA captures the
video from camera and runs
Convolution Neural Network
(CNN) to recognize the digit
in the video stream.
2. Point the camera to align
green box around a digit
with the green box on the
LCD. The recognized digit is
displayed on the LCD and
on the left side of the GUI
window.
3. Use Digit Set 1, Digit Set 2
or Digit Set 3 to test with
different fonts.
Measuring Power in Active and Low Power Mode
The Power Graph Tab can be used
to observe the FPGA Core Power (W)
and initiate Flash Freeze.
1. In the Flash Freeze pane,
click Flash Freeze Entry
to switch the FPGA from
functional mode to low
power mode and observe
the power drop in the GUI.
2. Click Flash Freeze Exit to
switch the FPGA back to
functional mode. The time
to exit Flash Freeze mode
can be observed in the
Flash Freeze pane.

The Microchip name and logo, the Microchip logo IGLOO and SmartFusion are registered trademarks and PolarFire is a trademark of Microchip Technology Incorporated in
the U.S.A. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are property of their respective companies.
©2019 Microchip Technology Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. 1/19. 
50200876. 02. 12/19
Licensing
To create custom applications for the Hello FPGA kit, a free Libero SoC Design Suite silver license
is required. For more information, see https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/design-
resources/1711-licensing#overview
Documentation Resources
For more information about the Hello FPGA Kit, including schematics and demo guide, see the
documentation at the resources section of the Hello FPGA web page.
Support
Technical support is available Online at https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/product-
support/4217-fpgas-socs-support.
Serial Terminal
Each demo that comes with the GUI
is identified by the design version set
in the dat file. Version numbers 4,6,
and 7 are reserved. User should not
use these design version numbers
during dat file generation of their
custom designs. GUI reads the
current design version on the Kit and
loads the appropriate FPGA Demo on
a successful connection. For custom
designs, a generic ‘Serial Terminal’ is
loaded instead of FPGA Demo. This
tab enables the user to communicate
to the FPGA over Serial protocol.