What fpga to choose for my project?

[Drew Locke]

Hey all!

I am working on my senior design project at the moment and i'm planning on using an FPGA rather than microprocessor because I wanted something more hardware based since my team does not have a computer engineer. This is a huge learning experience for me seeing as my school did not cover HDL.

I am trying to decide what FPGA would be able to handle everything that my project entails and was hoping for some help on that matter. My project is essentially a nutritional dispensing machine that will change the amount of each nutrient based on the users criteria. It will ask for at least three different criteria (sex,height,weight,amount of exercise, etc.) and use dietetics equations to output a personalized shake perfect for your body at that moment. It will have at least 5 ingredients that it will be controlling the amounts of. Multiple sensors will be handling ingredients levels and a pressure sensor will be used for the liquid, It will have to talk to a display to ask the user questions and then take in numerical inputs from the interface.Obviously it will be handling all of the equations and tables required in calculation.

That is a quick description of the large things it will be handling, I understand a microprocessor could handle all of this but I want this to be a learning experience and FPGA's are something I want experience with.

Both the zybo zynq, and the zedboard zynq have been suggested to me, however, even then there is a large price difference. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Alex]

The project you mentioned is like a software design. I agree that this can be done by MCU board completely. If you want to see what FPGA board is, you can still buy ZYBO. However you may end up to only use the ARM processor as the computing part in your project doesn't need any FPGA. 

If you want to learn what is hardware design, I suggest you buying Basys 3. However this board won't be fitted into the project you mentioned. 

 

[Commanderfranz]

Drew Locke,

Before you decide to use FPGA's I would recommend you check out the learn site modules, or XUP site on FPGA design. That way you can decide if FPGA design is right for you. 

Looking more into your design it looks like you'll have, 5 servos for ingredient control, A pressure sensor for each ingredient, so 5, a port for the display, and USB for the keyboard and mouse. The ZYBO would certainly be able to do the calculations but I'm not sure if it is right for the amount of peripherals you have, at least 13. 

I would highly recommend you decide what peripherals you need before deciding on a board, as often times that is the most important difference between FPGA boards. Sometimes a deciding factor is the power of the FPGA on the board, in a your design, I doubt the size of your design will be an issue.  

Kaitlyn