Design Trade-Offs; Configuration Methods Galore; Voltages For All Applications; Spartan-3A/3An Starter Kit Design Examples - Xilinx Spartan-3A User Manual

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Design Trade-Offs

A few system-level design trade-offs were required in order to provide the Spartan-
3A/3AN Starter Kit board with the most functionality.

Configuration Methods Galore!

A typical FPGA application uses a single, nonvolatile memory to store configuration
images. A typical Spartan-3AN nonvolatile FPGA application would not require any
external memory. To demonstrate new Spartan-3A and Spartan-3AN FPGA capabilities,
the starter kit board has four different configuration memory sources that all must function
well together. The extra configuration functions make the starter kit board more complex
than typical FPGA applications.
The starter kit board also includes an on-board USB-based JTAG programming interface.
The on-chip circuitry simplifies the device programming experience. In typical
applications, the JTAG programming hardware resides off-board or in a separate
programming module, such as the Xilinx Platform USB cable.

Voltages for all Applications

The Spartan-3A/3AN FPGA typically operates with two supply rails, 1.2V and 3.3V. The
Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit board showcases a quadruple-output regulator developed by
National Semiconductor specifically to power Spartan-3 Generation FPGAs. This regulator
is sufficient for most standalone FPGA applications.

Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit Design Examples

Visit the Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit Design Examples web page to download and use the
latest applications that specifically target the starter kit board:
•
The list of designs is ever growing and the applications are often updated to the latest
software releases. The following list provides a sample of design examples:
•
•
Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit Board User Guide
UG334 (v1.0) May 28, 2007
Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit Design Examples Web Page
www.xilinx.com/products/boards/s3astarter/reference_designs.htm
Spartan-3A/3AN Starter Kit Demo Design Overview
www.xilinx.com/products/boards/s3astarter/reference_designs.htm#demo
This describes the out-of-the box demo design shipped with the board. Includes how
to set up and operate the demonstration, evaluate MultiBoot and Suspend, and
provides demo technical details.
Restoring the "Out of the Box" Flash Programming
www.xilinx.com/products/boards/s3astarter/reference_designs.htm#out
Provides a short overview of what the starter kit board does "out of the box" and
includes instructions on how to restore the board to the original "out of the box" state.
The ZIP file includes the "golden" MCS files that are pre-programmed into Flash
memory before the board is shipped. The PDF file contains instructions for restoring
the board to its original settings using these MCS files in case any of the configuration
memories were overwritten during normal use.
www.xilinx.com
Design Trade-Offs
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