BML FPGA Design Tutorial Part-11ofN

IO Banks
2024.07.07 : I’m Kevin Hubbard, Electrical Engineer. My EE specialty for 30+ years now has been designing digital logic circuits for ASICs and FPGAs. It has been a technically challenging and oftentimes fun (think LEGOs for grownups) career for me. In this series ( which starts here ) I hope to educate and inspire others to pursue a rewarding career in digital logic design.

In Part-10 I discussed FPGA floorplanning and explained how it differs so greatly from ASIC floorplanning. In Part-11, I will explain the wonders and mysteries of FPGA IO Banks. To fully understand why they are the...

Standard cells: Looking at individual gates in the Pentium processor

Intel released the powerful Pentium processor in 1993, a chip to "separate the really power-hungry folks from ordinary mortals." The original Pentium was followed by the Pentium Pro, the Pentium II, and others, spawning a long-running brand of high-performance processors, Intel's flagship line until the Core processors took over in 2006. The Pentium eventually became virtually synonymous with "PC" and even made it into pop culture.

Even though the Pentium is a complex chip with 3.3 million transistors, its transistors are visible under a microscope, unlike modern chips. By examining the chip, we can see the interesting circuits used for gates, flip-flops, and other circuits, including the use of an unusual...

Сувенирно-индикаторная лампа упрощённого типа своими руками

Лабораторно-практическая электровакуумная работа в домашней мастерской для наработки и совершенствования навыков. Выполнена на несложном, по большей части самодельном оборудовании и из подножных материалов, но повозиться пришлось. Лампа сделана по упрощённой технологии без наполнения её инертным газом. Тлеющий разряд светится в разреженных остатках атмосферного воздуха, львиная доля которого — азот. Читать дальше →

Визит-К. Домофон «Бубум» нового поколения

Приветствую всех!
Минувшей осенью я уже показывал такой девайс как замочно-переговорное устройство «Визит», первый массовый многоабонентский домофон, выпускавшийся в СССР. Но на той модели история этого устройства не закончилась, в ранних девяностых появилась более продвинутая система, лишённая большинства недостатков предыдущей. Что же там поменялось?
Итак, в сегодняшней статье поговорим про то, что случилось дальше с первой моделью отечественного домофона. Узнаем, как он устроен и как работает. Традиционно будет много интересного. Читать дальше →

Cynthion is at Mouser

Note: This is a crosspost of a Cynthion update on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/great-scott-gadgets/cynthion/updates/cynthion-is-at-mouser

An 885 lb / 401.43 kg shipment of thousands of Cynthions has been received by Mouser (who will fulfill Cynthion orders for Crowd Supply)! We expect the Cynthions to start shipping to backers around the 5th of July. You will receive a notice when your Cynthion has shipped.

While you wait for your shipping notice and for your device to arrive, take a moment to read the Cynthion documentation. Cynthion does not ship with USB cables, so take a look at the connection diagrams in this documentation for different...

BML FPGA Design Tutorial Part-10ofN

Placement and Floorplanning

2024.06.30 : I’m Kevin Hubbard, BSEE. I started my career 30+ years ago designing digital circuits on PCBs. I eventually moved into FPGAs in the mid-1990s and then onto designing digital ASICs for signal processing. I’m mostly back to FPGAs as they’ve become incredibly capable for signal processing and high speed interfacing. I’m writing this series ( which starts here ) to try and remove the shroud of secrecy surrounding FPGA development and hopefully encourage others to pursue a career in digital logic design. It’s been an incredibly challenging and rewarding career for me.

In Part-9 I introduced “Timing...

BML FPGA Design Tutorial Part-9ofN

Timing Closure

2024.06.29 : I’m Kevin Hubbard, Electrical Engineer for some 30+ years now.
At football tailgaters people will often ask me, “So what do you do for a living?”
My prepared answer is “I design digital computer chips.”
This generally shuts them up immediately.

Every so often though a smartass will reply “So you write RTL? You’re like a software engineer then?”
For which I reply, “No. I write RTL which infers digital CMOS logic gates that make timing across PVT – I’m an Electrical Engineer.” and then promptly throw my drink in their face. Now that REALLY shuts them up.

“Make Timing” aka “Timing Closure”...

Inside the tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets

To use the Montreal subway (the Métro), you tap a paper ticket against the turnstile and it opens. The ticket works through a system called NFC, but what's happening internally? How does the ticket work without a battery? How does it communicate with the turnstile? And how can it be so cheap that you can throw the ticket away after one use? To answer these questions, I opened up a ticket and examined the tiny chip inside.

The image below shows the chip inside the ticket, highly magnified. The four golden squares in the corner are the connections to the antenna. The tan-colored lines are the metal...

BML FPGA Design Tutorial Part-8ofN

Finite State Machines (FSMs)

2024.06.22 : I’m Kevin Hubbard, Electrical Engineer. For 30+ years now companies have asked me to design digital logic circuits for them. Which I have, and get this – they even pay me for it. Don’t tell my boss, but I would absolutely do it for free. I started doing digital design in the early 1980’s as a kid. I got hooked designing small interface logic circuits for my 6502 and Z80 8bit computers of the era.
40+ years later, I’m still loving the challenge of digital logic design. It’s a lot like LEGO building, but getting...

«Неоновые» лампы своими руками

Учебно-тренировочная работа для применения и закрепления навыков: освоенные стеклодувные операции, изготовление электродов из различных металлов гнутьём, резкой и контактной сваркой, печная термообработка стекла. Все работы выполнены в домашней лаборатории-мастерской с применением простого оборудования, инструментов и приборов. По большей части самодельных. Материалы тоже подножные. Читать дальше →