First FPGA Project - Getting Fancy with PWM

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Contributors: Alchitry, Ell C
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Introduction

When you first buy an Alchitry Au+, Alchitry Au, or Alchitry Cu board, the default FPGA configuration creates a fancy wave effect on the LEDs. In this tutorial we are going to walk through different steps for how to make something like this. It will be a great overview for how to approach a design and various things to consider given that we are working with hardware.

Let's dig in and see how all this works!

Alchitry Cu FPGA Development Board (Lattice iCE40 HX)

Alchitry Cu FPGA Development Board (Lattice iCE40 HX)

DEV-16526
$53.50
3
Alchitry Au FPGA Development Board (Xilinx Artix 7)

Alchitry Au FPGA Development Board (Xilinx Artix 7)

DEV-16527
$109.95
7
Alchitry Au+ FPGA Development Board (Xilinx Artix 7)

Alchitry Au+ FPGA Development Board (Xilinx Artix 7)

DEV-17514
$324.95
3

I’m going to assume you already have the tools setup and are working in Alchitry Labs using Lucid with an Alchitry Au or Cu. You should also have read the previous tutorial, Programming an FPGA, to get down some of the fundamentals.

Programming an FPGA

July 30, 2020

Come look at the basics of working with Field Programmable Gate Arrays.

Required Materials

To follow along with this tutorial, you will need the following materials. You may not need everything though depending on what you have. Add it to your cart, read through the guide, and adjust the cart as necessary.

Suggested Reading

If you aren’t familiar with the following concepts, we recommend checking out these tutorials before continuing.

Programming an FPGA

Come look at the basics of working with Field Programmable Gate Arrays.

How Does an FPGA Work?

The What, How, Why, and When of Field Programmable Gate Arrays, aka FPGAs