Xilinx Adaptive Computing Challenge 2021 at hackster.io

The 2021 Adaptive Computing Challenge at hackster.io will reward top Xilinx development projects up to $10,000 (prizes are all Visa gift cards).   You can apply for free hardware to compete in the contest until October 15, 2021.  Final submissions are due February 28, 2022.  The Xilinx University Program is sponsoring an additional $2500 prize for college students.

There are three main categories in the contest: Edge Computing, Data Center AI and Big Data Analytics.  The edge computing requires a solution running on the Xilinx Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit.  Data center AI must use the Xilinx VCK5000 development card.  Big data analytics requires the Xilinx Big Data Analytics card (not much information on this board).

The Kria KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit is listed at $199 but currently out of stock at most distributors.  It is meant for vision application development for Edge computing.  It has multiple camera interfaces including support for the Raspberry Pi camera module.  Multiple cameras are supported by using additional interfaces such as IAS or USB.  A power supply is also required.  One is also included in the  basic accessory pack which also includes a 13MP camera module, available from Xilinx for $59.

KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit with Basic Accessory Pack

Electronics Deals Cyber Monday 2020

Cyber Monday electronics deals are here.  Many of the deals listed in my blog post on Black Friday are still available from Adafruit, Polulu, SparkFun, and Tindie.

1BitSquared has a 15% discount off any piece of hardware with the checkout code BLACKFRIDAY2020 through Midnight (US PST).  They have a few unique development boards and JTAG accessories.  They have hard to find JTAG adapters and cables that are useful for ARM processor debugging.  I have used the Black Magic 0.1in Pin Header JTAG cable for STM32 debugging.  They also have STM32 and FPGA development boards and the Black Magic Probe for ARM Cortex MCUs.

MikroE is having deals until Tuesday December 1st on many products.  This includes 25% off most Click Boards.  These are small accessory boards that use the microBUS socket available on many different development boards including the low cost Microchip Curiosity Development Boards.  MicroBus Click Boards are great for prototyping or general DIY projects.  You can add just about any sensor, analog or digital interface, or communications module you would need.

RobotShop is discounting specific products from 5% to 50% for it's Cyber Monday sale.  Of course this includes robot kits and parts, but you can also find Arduino boards, electronic learning kits, drones and Raspberry Pi development boards.

Lattice Development Board Sale and New Crowd Funded Board

Lattice has three boards on sale until December 31, 2018, click on the board links to learn more.
MachXO3-9400 Development Board - MachXO3LF-9400C PLD - includes Arduino and Raspberry Pi connectors -  $39

Embedded Vision Development Kit - FPGA for embedded vision systems - $199

iCE40 UltraPlus Breakout Board - FPGA for mobile and IoT - $49

If you are interested in learning how to program the iCE40 with open source tools and hardware see the recently funded iCEBreaker FPGA project by 1BitSquared.

Lattice FPGA Development Kit and Development Tools Sale

Lattice Semiconductor is offering big discounts on ECP5 FPGA development boards and development tools while supplies last until March 31, 2017 UPDATE: promotion has been extended to June 30, 2017 while supplies last.

Items on sale for less than $100 US include the ECP5 Versa Development kit ($110 discount), the ECP5-5G Versa Development Kit ($150 discount), the Connectivity IP Suite ($896 discount), and the Lattice Diamond FPGA Design Software 12 month subscription ($796 discount).   The development kits include a free limited version of the Lattice Diamond Software so you can have a powerful ECP5 FPGA development kit with tools for only $89.

BeScope Dual Channel Analog Oscilloscope

The BeScope developed by Arrow is a two-channel analog oscilloscope system available for only $50 (USD) while supplies last.  The BeScope system supports real-time waveform analysis using an Altera Cyclone V FPGA. The BeScope Bundle includes a BeMirco CV Eval Kit (FPGA board), the BeScope daughter card, a 100MHz scope probe with 1x and 10x, a windows GUI written in python with source code, and an SDP interposer board for compatibility with Analog Devices evaluation boards.

New Microsemi ARM uClinux Starter Kit

Microsemi's SmartFusion2 Starter Kit includes a small ARM SoC FPGA module and a baseboard for user interfaces and expansion.  The kit is $299 but if you attend an Avnet Electronics Marketing Microsemi SpeedWay Design Workshop ($99) you receive a kit at no additional cost.  The SmartFusion2 SoC integrates a 166 MHz ARM Cortex-M3, accellerators for DSP, security and communication interfaces on a single chip.  The Microsemi press release for the starter kit has a nice summary of features for the development board and the SoC itself.

The module itself is an Emcraft Systems mezzanine form factor system-on-module (M2S SOM), you can find more information about the M2S SOM, including documentation and baseboard schematics, at Emcraft's website.  The development sysetem will run uCLinux, and boasts a 0.5sec boot (to console prompt) in this video:

New Low Cost Lattice FPGA Kits

For $19 you can buy a high performance or low power iCE40 family evaluation kit with free iCEcube2 development tool support.

The iCEblink40-HX1K Evaluation Kit is the high-performance platform with a iCE40HX1K FPGA.  The board is USB powered and programmable.  An onboard Atmel 90USB162 8-bit microcontroller allows two-way communication with the FPGA.

The iCEblink40-LP1K Evaluation Kit is contains a low-power and small footprint iCE40LP1K FPGA.  It also contains the Atmel 90USB162 for communication.

Both iCEblink40 kits feature 1280 tables, on-chip RAM, 1Mbit SPI flash and capacitive buttons.  The low price lasts until October 31, 2012.

Lattice is also reducing the price of the MachXO2 Pico Development Kit to $29 until the end of the year.  This kit allows you to test popular serial interfaces using the LatticeMico8 open, free 8-bit soft microcontroller, it also features a segmented LCD, 4 capacitive buttons, SPI Flash, I2C temperature sensor and power measurement.

Summer Development Board Deals

Discounts on ARM, DSP and PLD boards are available from TI and Lattice.  Texas Instruments new LCDK boards are 20% off until the end of August from the TI estore.  One model is a multicore ARM+DSP, and the other has only the DSP.  See my LCDK post for more details.  For PLD development, the MachXO2 Pico Development Kit from Lattice Semiconductor is now only $29.

Xilinx Embedded Kit Discounted

Xilinx has discounted a few development kits including the Spartan-6 FPGA Embedded Kit available for $695.  It features the MicroBlaze core and Eclipse IDE for software development.  The included SP605 Evaluation board is a high-end platform with 10/100/1000 Ethernet, SFP transceiver connector, GTP port, PCI express x1 edge connector, DVI/VGA out, 128MB DDR3 and multiple I/O connectors.

Actel Giving Away Evaluation Kits For Best SmartFusion Designs

The Actel SmartFusion design contest offers winners a free SmartFusion Evaluation Kit.  To enter you will need to answer questions about how you would utilize all of the features of SmartFusion.  These devices combine an FPGA, programmable analog, and an ARM Cortex-M3.   Your answers must describe  your use of the FPGA, choice of algorithms, OS,  network stack, external signals, and external transducers.