Pre-Purchase Questions on Nexys Video Board

[Gary]

I am a longtime Actel user in VHDL and want to begin using Xilinx FPGAs.  The Nexys Video board looks attractive, but looking at the information on-line I cannot answer some fundamental questions.  Does this product include a target specific version of the development environment that allows for design in VHDL?  My application needs to use FFTs but I cannot figure out what the utilization per instantiation will be in this device and how much, if any, it will cost for the FFT IP that I can use with this board.  Apart from a host computer, what else must I buy to be able to develop VHDL and test VHDL in the Nexys Video?  Thank You Gary ggeissinger@digitalglobe.com

[Commanderfranz]

Hi Gary,

I'll try to get you as much information as I can to get you in the right direction, but once you know the Xilinx FPGA and your asking about Xilinx IP's this is more of a Xilinx question.

All you need to program the Nexys Video is Xilinx Vivado. There is a free version of Xilinx Vivado called the Webpack edition. Here is a chart that shows the different versions. 

I searched for a Xilinx FFT IP and found this page. It looks like they have a FFT IP that is compatible with the Artix 7, and it comes with the Vivado Design Edition, which is not free. 

I'm not sure how purchasing IP's works so you'll have to contact Xilinx about that.

Hope this helps you get in the right direction!

Kaitlyn 

[hamster]

Hi Gary,

I've got a Nexys Video, and can confirm that you only need Vivado WebPack to do most things.

One little problem is the lack of the Logic Analyser feature in the Webpack bundle, but that might not be an issue for you. I either capture blocks of data and squrt it out the RS232 port for offline analysis, or hook up a Logic Analyser to a PMOD port.

The quickest way to be sure that you will have the IP want might be to download and install Vivado, then look at the IP catalog (Wndow/IP catalogue) and have a play. But to avoid the multi-GB download, here is what is included in the DSP section:

Complex Multiplier

CORDIC

CIC Compiler

DUC/DDC Compiler

FIR Compiler

DDS Compiler

DFT

FFT

 

[Cristian.Fatu]

Hello Garry,

I paste here the information I wrote you through Digilent technical support channel. 

We consider that you took a good decision migrating towards Xilinx tools and Digilent boards in order to use Xilinx FPGAs. We are here to help you, so please write us your questions.
And here are the answers for the questions you already posted:

Does this product include a target specific version of the development environment that allows for design in VHDL?
You can use our boards with Xilinx tools: ISE tools and Vivado. We recommend Vivado as this seems to be the direction that Xilinx will follow in the future.
Both ISE tools and Vivado allow VHDL design and also offer a free version, called Webpack.

My application needs to use FFTs but I cannot figure out what the utilization per instantiation will be in this device and how much, if any, it will cost for the FFT IP that I can use with this board.

Vivado offers a FFT functionality (as FFT IP), to be used in your design. It is available even in the free Webpack version.

FFT Core is available in the Vivado IP Catalog.
Vivado also allows a lot of FFT Core customization:

You can find an example of how FFT is used in one of our projects presented here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Nexys-4-DDR-LED-strip-Audio-Spectrum/
There you can also find project sources and instructions about installing Vivado.
Apart from a host computer, what else must I buy to be able to develop VHDL and test VHDL in the Nexys Video?
You just need to install the Xilinx tools. As I mentioned above, the free (Webpack) versions of Xilinx tools are available, and quite powerful.

Best Regards,
Cristian Fatu

[D@n]

The webpack now includes an internal logic analyzer, and has for some time.  This thread is actually quite old.

That said, I capture blocks of data and send them over the UART interface to help me debug as well.

Dan