Evaluation Boards - Embedded - Complex Logic (FPGA, CPLD)

Part Number	Description / PDF	Quantity
P0037 Terasic	BOARD DEV/EDUCATION ALTERA DE0	87
P0162 Terasic	DEV BOARD INTEL ATOM N2600	12
P0082 Terasic	DE0-NANO EVAL BOARD	1071
P0629 Terasic	DE10-PRO SX 2800KLE DEVELOPMENT	0
P0159 Terasic	EVAL BOARD FOR CYCLONE V SOC	112
P0685 Terasic	DE10-NANO FPGA CLOUD CONN KIT	19
P0638 Terasic	MAX 10 PLUS EVALBOARD	7
P0553 Terasic	TSOM MODULE	144
P0671 Terasic	APOLLO DEVELOPER KIT	2
P0627 Terasic	DE10-PRO SX 2800KLE DEVELOPMENT	0
P0446 Terasic	TR5-LITE STRATIX V GX DEV KIT	0
K0117 Terasic	STRATIX V GX VIDEO DEV SYSTEM	0
K0134 Terasic	CYCLONE V E VIDEO DEV SYSTEM	0
P0646 Terasic	DEV KIT DE10-PRO-16G XS 4GBX4	0
P0471 Terasic	VEEK-MT2 EVAL BOARD FOR CYCLONE	0
P0494 Terasic	MULTI-TOUCH LCD MODULE & ASSEMBL	0
P0205 Terasic	DEV KIT DE5-NET FOR STRATIX V GX	0
P0058 Terasic	BOARD DEV/EDUCATION ALTERA DE4	0
P0139 Terasic	DE5-NET_QDRII 450 - STRATIX V	0
P0122 Terasic	DE5-NET_QDRII 500 - STRATIX V	0

Evaluation Boards - Embedded - Complex Logic (FPGA, CPLD)

1. Overview

Evaluation boards for Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs) are hardware platforms designed to test and develop embedded systems using reconfigurable logic. These boards enable engineers to prototype custom digital circuits without permanent integrated circuit fabrication. As key tools in modern electronics development, they support rapid iteration for applications ranging from aerospace systems to consumer electronics.

2. Main Types and Functional Classification

Type	Functional Features	Application Examples
FPGA Evaluation Board	High logic density, reconfigurable fabric, DSP blocks, high-speed transceivers	5G baseband processing, AI accelerators
CPLD Development Kit	Lower power consumption, non-volatile configuration, simpler architecture	Industrial motor control, protocol bridging
SoC Embedded Board	Combines FPGA fabric with hard processor cores (ARM, RISC-V)	Smart sensors, autonomous vehicle perception systems
Prototype Verification Platform	Multi-FPGA systems with clock/data synchronization	ASIC pre-validation, high-energy physics experiments

3. Structure and Components

Typical evaluation boards include: - FPGA/CPLD chip with BGA packaging - On-board memory (DDR4 SDRAM, QDR SRAM) - Communication interfaces (PCIe Gen4, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.2) - Power management circuits with multiple voltage rails - Debug interfaces (JTAG, UART, FTDI chips) - Expansion headers (FMC, PMOD) - Oscillators and clock distribution networks

4. Key Technical Specifications

Parameter	Description
Logic Elements Count	Defines design complexity capacity (e.g., 500K-2M LUTs for high-end FPGAs)
Max Clock Frequency	Determines processing speed (up to 1.6GHz for networking applications)
I/O Count & Standards	Supports LVDS, SSTL, HSTL (e.g., 1024 differential pairs)
Power Consumption	Thermal design power (TDP) range 5W-35W
Memory Bandwidth	Up to 256-bit AXI interfaces with 1866MT/s DDR4
Transceiver Speed	28Gbps/58Gbps serial links for optical communication

5. Application Areas

Major industries include: - Telecommunications (5G NR base stations, optical transport) - Industrial Automation (real-time motion control, machine vision) - Automotive (ADAS sensor fusion, autonomous driving) - Medical Imaging (ultrasound beamforming, MRI reconstruction) - Consumer Electronics (AR/VR video processing) - Scientific Research (particle detector data acquisition)

6. Leading Manufacturers and Products

Manufacturer	Representative Product
Xilinx (AMD)	Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZCU106
Intel (Altera)	Stratix 10 GX 10M Evaluation Board
Lattice Semiconductor	iCE40 UltraPlus Breakout Board
Microchip (Microsemi)	SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA Development Kit
Allwinner (China)	Tang Nano 9K FPGA Module

7. Selection Guidelines

Key considerations: - Match logic density to design complexity with 20% margin - Verify interface compatibility (e.g., PCIe Gen5 vs Gen4) - Assess power delivery capability for worst-case scenarios - Check toolchain support (Vivado, Quartus, Lattice Diamond) - Consider thermal management requirements - Evaluate available IP core ecosystem - Compare cost/performance ratio for production scalability

8. Industry Trends

Emerging trends include: - AI/ML acceleration with quantized neural networks - Heterogeneous integration (photonics, RF components) - Open-source toolchain development (e.g., Yosys, SymbiFlow) - Energy-efficient architectures for edge computing - Increased adoption in safety-critical systems (ISO 26262 compliance) - Growth of RISC-V based FPGA SoCs - China's domestic substitution initiatives (Huawei HiSilicon, Phytium)