The ultra-compact high-end OrangeCrab FPGA development board allows for flexible design thanks to its tiny Adafruit Feather form factor and 2 configuration options.
Farnell, an Avnet company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, has expanded its range of single-board computer development kits with the integration of the open source OrangeCrab r0.2 FPGA development board from Good Stuff Department. .
The OrangeCrab professionally combines Adafruit's Feather format so popular with electronic designers with the high power typically associated with considerably larger FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) development boards. The OrangeCrab is based on Lattice's EPC5 FPGA and features 2 memory configurations, ECP5 25F/128Mbit and ECP5 85F/521Mbit. The FPGA is compatible with open source programming tools and ideal for testing with RISC-V and other softcore SoCs. The variety of peripherals built into the OrangeCrab make it capable of many real world applications.
Users can use CircuitPython in OrangeCrab, which is perfectly capable of hosting the interpreter. Although not yet incorporated, developers are free to work on the FPGA with HDL synthesized in the gateware. For those more familiar with development platforms at the SoC level, the ECP5 can run a RISC-V softcore. The LiteX project also offers more flexibility and capabilities to developers.
Among the main features of the OrangeCrab r0.2 FPGA development board are:
• Processor: One Lattice Semiconductor EPC5 FPGA with 24K LUT elements, XNUMX-pin FPGA programming connector, and MicroSD socket with direct high-speed USB connection to the FPGA.
• Memory: Memory options include up to 3 Gbit (x16) DDRXNUMX system memory and QSPI Flash memory with either XNUMX or XNUMX Mbit of storage. A μSD card slot increases the storage potential of the development card.
• Format: The OrangeCrab follows the slim specification of Adafruit's Feather cards with dimensions of just XNUMXmm x XNUMXmm. It fits in your pocket and works as a complete foundation for prototyping custom SoC designs.
• Connectivity: The open source USB bootloader lets users connect to the FPGA's native USB interface to load code and access memories via MSD. The standard XNUMX x XNUMX XNUMX/XNUMXmm connector is a great integration for those who want to develop applications on the USB layer.
• Power: High efficiency DC/DC conversion for mains, battery charger chip (XNUMX mA), LiPo battery connector (PH type) and XNUMX MHz oscillator.
Romain Soreau, Head of SBC at Farnell, comments: “The OrangeCrab ultra-compact, full-featured and multi-purpose open source FPGA development board is a great addition to our extensive portfolio of development boards and evaluation kits for single-board computers. The OrangeCrab is a cleverly developed and versatile card that can be used for different professional applications or by enthusiasts interested in FPGA hardware development.”
Good Stuff Department is a leading open source hardware product development company with a focus on FPGA and microcontroller development boards. The company's founder, Greg S. Davill, was the mastermind behind the development of the successful ArticKoala and ButterStick cards.
Farnell offers a leading range of embedded computers and boards for education and makers with a variety of free accessories for fast delivery. Customers of the service can take advantage of 14-hour technical support on weekdays, free access to valuable resources on the Farnell site, and the community of engineers and makers at elementXNUMX.
The open source OrangeCrab r0.2 FPGA development board is available from Farnell in Europe, Newark in North America and element14 in Asia Pacific.
