Summary of ICEBREAKER FPGA – OPEN SOURCE ICE40 FPGA DEVELOPMENT BOARD
The iCEBreaker is an open-source FPGA development board tailored for educators and students, featuring the iCE40UP5k chip. It supports out-of-the-box operation with various open-source design tools like Yosys and icestudio. The board includes PMOD connectors for extensive module compatibility, 128 MBit QSPI-DDR flash for high-speed access, and built-in hardware IP for PWM and oscillators.
Parts used in the iCEBreaker FPGA Board:
- iCE40UP5k FPGA
- 128 KBit Dual-Port Block RAM
- 1 MBit (128 KB) Single-Port RAM
- PLL, Two SPI and two I2C hard IPs
- Two internal oscillators (10 kHz and 48 MHz)
- 8 DSPs (16×16 multiply + 32-bit accumulate)
- 3x 24 mA drive and 3x hard IP PWM
- QSPI-DDR-capable flash 128 MBit (16 MB)
- PMOD connectors
The first open source iCE40 FPGA development board designed for teachers and students. It’s comming soon on CrowdSupply.
Are you ready to venture into the brave new world of digital logic design? The iCEBreaker FPGA board is specifically designed for you. It’s designed to work out of the box with the newest open source FPGA development tools and next generation open CPU architectures.
The iCEBreaker FPGA board is designed to accept the widely popular PMOD connectors. This gives you access to a massive library of modules that can be used no matter your project. You can find a large collection of PMOD modules in the Digilent online store. For several use cases, we have also developed our own PMOD modules and we keep adding more as they are developed.
The iCEBreaker is a great teaching and learning platform. We already have a list of educators developing their workshops and classes using the iCEBreaker as their target platform.
The iCEBreaker FPGA prototypes are already supported by the following FPGA design tools:
Feature List:
- iCE40UP5k FPGA
- 5280 Logic Cells (4-LUT + Carry + FF)
- 128 KBit Dual-Port Block RAM
- 1 MBit (128 KB) Single-Port RAM
- PLL, Two SPI and two I2C hard IPs
- Two internal oscillators (10 kHz and 48 MHz) (for simple designs)
- 8 DSPs (16×16 multiply + 32-bit accumulate) (for digital signal processing)
- 3x 24 mA drive and 3x hard IP PWM (for driving RGB LEDs or other high current devices)
- QSPI-DDR-capable flash 128 MBit (16 MB)
- Enables hardware designs that access the flash; by choosing a Quad SPI Double Data Rate flash lets designs to run at very high speeds.
Read more: ICEBREAKER FPGA – OPEN SOURCE ICE40 FPGA DEVELOPMENT BOARD
- What is the iCEBreaker FPGA board designed for?
It is specifically designed for teachers and students to venture into digital logic design. - Can the iCEBreaker board work out of the box with open source tools?
Yes, it is designed to work out of the box with the newest open source FPGA development tools. - Does the iCEBreaker support PMOD connectors?
Yes, the board is designed to accept the widely popular PMOD connectors. - Which FPGA design tools are supported by the iCEBreaker prototypes?
Supported tools include Yosys, Arachne-pnr, nextpnr, IceStorm, icestudio, and Migen. - How much Flash memory does the iCEBreaker board have?
The board features a QSPI-DDR-capable flash with 128 MBit (16 MB) capacity. - What internal oscillators are included on the iCEBreaker?
It has two internal oscillators operating at 10 kHz and 48 MHz for simple designs. - Does the board support digital signal processing?
Yes, it includes 8 DSPs capable of 16×16 multiply plus 32-bit accumulate. - Can the iCEBreaker be used for driving RGB LEDs?
Yes, it provides 3x 24 mA drive and 3x hard IP PWM for driving RGB LEDs or other high current devices.
