SPECIFICATIONS

General specifications

Morph-IC combines the flexibility of FTDI's FT2232 USB interface IC together with an Altera ACEX 1K series FPGA (EP1K10TC100-3) in a compact ready to use module.  The power and IO pins of the module are brought out onto 2 x 20-pin, 0.1in pitch headers on the underside of the PCB, allowing easy connection to the pins on a 0.1in grid.  The module can also be plugged into a PCB using readily available mating PCB connectors (two included).  Included on the module are the 3.3V and 2.5V voltage regulators required by the FPGA as well as a 50MHz CMOS oscillator hard wired to one of its two clock pins.  Power control to meet USB suspend current requirements is provided by the FT2232 and an on board MOSFET power switch.  To view a simplified block diagram click here.  To download the complete specification in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, click here.

Morph-IC uses the Multi Protocol Synchronous Serial Engine (MPSSE) interface of the FT2232 to program/reprogram the FPGA over USB in a fraction of a second.  Not only can the contents of the FPGA be defined over USB on initialising the application software by loading them from an Altera format configuration file, but the contents of the FPGA can be reloaded/redefined "almost" in real time (under 0.2 seconds).  This effectively allows a single product to morph between different hardware configurations under software control (via USB) from a single application.  The second channel of the FT2232 is hard wired to the IO pins of the FPGA.  These can be used by the FPGA to communicate with the application software over USB at transfer rates of up to 1M Byte/second.

These features make Morph-IC ideal for instrumentation, communications and other demanding application areas where flexibility and in-circuit hardware upgradeability are of paramount importance.

Morph-IC comes complete with USB drivers for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, VHDL code examples, FPGA loader program (including Delphi source code) and a Windows DLL interface which can be used to interface it to most common Windows programming languages.  Examples of DLL interfacing in Visual C++, Visual Basic and Borland Delphi are provided.  Linux Drivers and a Linux version of the FPGA loader written in Kylix are also provided.  An example project demonstrating IO over USB is included complete with VHDL and Delphi source code.

To complete the package, a second CD containing the Quartus II Software Starter Suite is included.  This contains the free Altera Quartus II Web Edition software which provides a complete environment for programmable logic device (PLD) design, including schematic and text-based design entry, HDL synthesis, place-and-route, verification and simulation.  This package runs under Windows NT/2000/XP and can be used to develop code for the on-board FPGA.  Registration with Altera is required in order to run this package.

Morph-IC's competitive pricing and quantity discount structure make it ideal for incorporating into low-medium volume designs.  As it comes complete with all FPGA development software required and example code, it is also ideal as a classroom training tool for colleges and universities as well as engineers wanting to learn more about hardware development using FPGAs.

A range of optional training kits is under development which will allow students/engineers to study various areas of electronic engineering including A/D and D/A converters, video controllers and TV interfacing.  Training kits consist of an assembled PCB with all the components required for the projects into which you plug a Morph-IC module (extra).  Training kits also come with a CD containing VHDL code and software source code for the projects in the kit.  3rd party contributions are also welcome - if you have a Morph-IC project you would like to share with others please contact us.


Features

  • FT2232 Dual USB UART/FIFO IC
  • Altera Acex EP1K10TC100-3 FPGA
  • Ultra fast FPGA configuration/reconfiguration over USB (under 0.2 sec)
  • 576 Embedded FPGA Logic Elements (== 10,000 gates typical)
  • 3 Embedded Logic RAM/ROM Elements (== 1. 5k bytes memory)
  • FPGA-PC USB Data Transfer at up to 1M Byte/sec
  • Onboard 93C56 configuration EEPROM
  • MOSFET switched 5V and 3.3V power outputs for powering external logic
  • Onboard 6MHz crystal and essential support components for FT2232
  • Onboard 50MHz oscillator as FPGA primary clock
  • Onboard LEDs indicate USB driver enumeration and successful FPGA device programming
  • 36 dedicated external IO pins
  • 8 shared external IO pins
  • 4 dedicated external input pins
  • 1 dedicated external clock input
  • Powered from USB bus or external PSU
  • Standard 0.1in pitch format connector pins, ideal for rapid prototyping and small-medium size production runs
  • FTDI's VCP and D2XX USB Windows and Linux USB drivers (provided) eliminate the need for driver development in most cases
  • Windows FPGA loader interface DLL supplied including interface examples in VB, VC++ and Delphi
  • Stand-alone FPGA loader programs provided for Windows and Linux
  • VHDL programming examples (I/O over USB) provided
  • Delphi application software examples including source code provided
  • Morph-IC schematics provided
  • Free Altera Quartus II Software Starter Suite development software included
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