Avnet introduced MiniZed Zynq SoC development platform that provides an entry-level development and demonstration platform for single-core Xilinx Zynq-7000 all programmable SoC devices. This cost-optimized solution supports cloud connectivity and industrial IoT applications such as motor control and embedded vision. The $89 starter kit is now available for ordering, with shipments starting in early July.
This compact design features on-board connectivity through USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Peripherals can be plugged into dual Pmod-compatible connectors, the Arduino-compatible shield interface or the USB 2.0 host interface. JTAG circuitry is incorporated onto the MiniZed base board, so with a single micro- USB cable to your laptop you are already up and running. User LED’s, a button and a switch allow for a physical board interface.
Micron memory solutions are presented for QSPI flash, DDR3L memory and on-board eMMC instead of an external SD card. The Murata Type 1DX wireless solution incorporates 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth 4.1, which provides both Bluetooth Classic and Low Energy (BLE). The integrated power supply from Dialog generates all on-board voltages, while an auxiliary supply input can be used to power designs that require additional current. From ST Micro there is an on-board motion and temperature sensor, as well as a digital microphone.
MiniZed provides for an efficient hardware reference design, while it is also an inexpensive board that can be used to run workshops and tutorials. The board aims to showcase the power of Zynq, where the Cortex A9 processor core integrates seamlessly with the programmable fabric to provide signal processing and control solutions. The on-board digital microphone serves as an input for a variety of illustrations of how to implement FIR filters, FFT’s and direct memory access.
Showcasing the power of the Zynq-7000S SoC device family, which features a single-core ARM® Cortex™-A9 processor paired with 28nm Artix-7 based programmable logic, MiniZed represents the lowest cost entry point to the scalable Xilinx Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC development platform. MiniZed’s compact design – small enough to fit into a shirt pocket – features on-board connectivity through USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Peripherals can be plugged into dual Pmod-compatible connectors, the Arduino-compatible shield interface or the USB 2.0 host interface. User LEDs, a button and a switch allow for a physical board interface, while JTAG circuitry is incorporated onto the MiniZed base board.
Tutorials, which will be available for download, use the on-board microphone as an example input to demonstrate how to easily implement filters and FFTs in the fabric. The on-board eMMC (8GB) provides convenient storage for the OS, files and logs.
“Whether customers are developing a Linux-based system or have a simple bare metal implementation, with MiniZed, Zynq-7000 development has never been easier,” said Stefan Rousseau, senior technical marketing engineer for Avnet. “Designers need only connect to their laptops with a single micro-USB cable and they are up and running. And with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, users can also connect wirelessly, transforming a mobile phone or tablet into an on-the-go GUI.”
“Avnet’s new MiniZed offers customers a low-cost entry point to high performance Zynq-7000 single-core ARM Cortex-A9 based SoC devices,” said Evan Leal, director of product marketing at Xilinx. “The kit is designed for ease of use with tutorials that accelerate customer prototyping for embedded designs. MiniZed also features Xilinx’s SDSoC Development Environment, which enables software engineers to quickly migrate compute-intensive C/C++ functions to hardware, effectively accelerating the functions and offloading the processor.”
The MiniZed platform is supported by the minized.org community website, where users can collaborate with other engineers also working on Zynq designs.
