How To Use External Sensors/ Components With A Basys3 Board

[ulvarg]

Hi all,

 

I am a newbie into the world of FPGAs and HDLs. I am currently taking a logic design course where I am required to present a project by the end of this year. I would like to buy either a Basys3 or a Nexys4 board, but I am unsure as to how I could interface any of these boards with other external components, such as sound sensors, servos, (another development board perhaps?), and so on. Please, try not to consider Pmods, as they are somewhat expensive to my budget for now.

 

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[JColvin]

Hi ulvarg,

 

I am personally not very familiar with FPGAs, but I will do my best to respond to your question. Naturally, I do not know you your current familiarity with FPGA's, so it is somewhat difficult for me to appropriately address your question within a single response.

 

However, I do have two recommendations to help you get started.  

 

My first recommendation, which I strongly suggest, is checking out Digilent's learn site. Digilent offers free Learn Modules to help users, such as you and I, get started with projects using Digilent products, such as the Nexys 4.  These are available at learn.digilentinc.com with a full list of projects that are currently available here. Within that list, you can click on the "Digital/FPGA" tab to view all the projects related to FPGA's ranging from just getting started with FPGAs to creating your own state machine. 

 

Also, one of our forum members has shown another user how they might get a DC motor started using a Basys 2 board. Granted, this is not a Basys 3 or a Nexys 4 board, but the implementation concepts for an FPGA will be similar. You can view the post

[ulvarg]

Bump*