Generally, FPGA development boards are designed to help you become a better digital circuit designer. However, some boards can make the job easier for you. One of those is the Spartan 3 Starter Board. as the name suggests, it is a starter board, designed for beginners to Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) designs.
In this article, we talk extensively about the technical features of the Spartan 3 Starter Board and why you should use it.
Who is it for?
The Spartan 3 Starter Board is ideal for beginners and amateurs in FPGA board configuration. This class of designers either don’t have the skill to work on an FPGA board or do not have all it takes to make a great design.
Besides, you can use the Spartan 3 Starter Board to learn how to make prototypes and get a concept of the board’s final design. Basically, it is a way to “mirror” the possible outcome of your next FPGA project.
Why Should I Buy the Spartan 3 Starter Board?
Several reasons suggest why you should purchase the Spartan 3 Starter Board. The most outstanding reason is that the board eases the process of making prototypes. Although this is one common feature with FPGA development boards, the Spartan 3 Starter Board offers much more.
With this board, you get to have access to a wide range of components that bolster the design. One of such is the integration of Spartan 3 FPGAs, which are the devices upon which the module of the Spartan 3 Starter Board is built.
The idea is simple: the prototypes made with the Spartan 3 Starter Board are targeted to the Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGAs. Thus, as soon as your prototypes are readied, you can easily integrate them to the Spartan 3 devices.
Advantages of Working with the Spartan 3 Starter Board
Making prototypes of Spartan 3 FPGAs is just one of the benefits of using the Spartan 3 Starter Board.
Here are some of the additional reasons why you would like your investment in the board:
Support for Multiple Designs and Applications
The Spartan 3 Starter Board is ideal for use in making prototypes of multiple applications or use cases.
Examples of the supported designs and applications are low-cost and low-power applications.
Several Configuration Options
The method of configuring Spartan 3 devices with the Spartan 3 Starter Board is not limited to making prototypes. You can do much more with the board.
For example, your Spartan 3 Starter Board can be used to experiment with multiple configuration techniques. You can also rely on the board to make low-cost FPGA designs and most importantly – make prototypes of these devices.
Dual Use Case
The Spartan 3 Starter Board is not limited to making FPGA prototypes. One of the additional use cases is that it can be used as a learning material, whereby you use it to practice and get better at FPGA configurations.
Your Spartan 3 Starter Board is also a willing tool for making Rapid Proof of Concepts for FPGAs.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, you can use the Spartan 3 Starter Board to evaluate your FPGA applications in real-time, while making FPGA debugging and JTAG programming with it.
