FPGA PCB Using ICE40 to Drive 64×64 LED Matrix

by arshmah in Circuits > Electronics

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FPGA PCB Using ICE40 to Drive 64×64 LED Matrix

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The ICE40 chip is designed for ultra-low power mobile applications. An FPGA has a lot of onboard memory that helps in displaying the image without any delay. 

Supplies

Hardware Components:
  1. Capacitor 1uF x4
  2. Capacitor 100nF x16
  3. Capacitor 18pF x2
  4. LED SMD x2
  5. Schottky Diode x1
  6. USB C Cable connector x1
  7. Connector header x1
  8. Connector 10 pins JTAG x1
  9. Inductor 22R x1
  10. Resistor 0805 5.1k x1
  11. Resistor 0805 2.2k x1
  12. Resistor 0805 12k x1
  13. Resistor 10k x1
  14. Resistor 0805 680 x1
  15. Test point x4
  16. FPGA ICE40 x1
  17. IC 93LC56B/P x1
  18. Level Shifter 74AHCT541DGVR x2
  19. IC FT232HL-REEL x1
  20. IC Flash SPI x1
  21. IC Linear Voltage x2
  22. Crystal 12MHz x1


Software Tools:


Introduction to ICE40 FPGA

The ICE40 chip is an ultra-low-power FPGA and sensor manager designed for ultra-low power mobile applications, such as smartphones, tablets, and hand-held devices. It provides controls for driving the 24 mA LED Sink driver, including color controls, LED ON/OFF time, and breathing rate. It also provides flexible, reliable, and secure configuration from on-chip NVCM (Non-Volatile Configuration Memory). It has two On-Chip Oscillators one is a low-frequency oscillator of 10 kHz and the other is a high-frequency oscillator of 48 MHz. It is useful in different applications;

  • Voice Recognition Application
  • In Smartphones, Tablets, and Consumer Handheld Devices
  • For Multi-Sensor Management Applications

Major Circuitry Parts

This FPGA PCB module consists of the following major components to drive an LED matrix:


Schematic

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For the design implementation, I have decided to work on Altium which is very useful and efficient for complex designs. After creating my schematic I have uploaded my schematic file online on Inventhub for the users. Anyone who wants to implement my design can visually view or download the file from Inventhub and can implement my design.


PCB Design

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Once I have done designing my board I have uploaded the PCB design file online on Inventhub. The manufacturer can view or download my PCB design file to fabricate my board without any error. I have implemented the PCB design of this FPGA board on Altium. After completing the routing I can view the board in 2D or 3D to get an idea of how it will look after fabrication.

LED Matrix Driving Framework

The framework to drive LED matrix works in three steps:

1- Fetches the data in the form of frame buffer memory

2- Transmit this data through the data transmitter to read it and clock it

3- Wait for the correct timing before the next row of data can be sent

Bill of Material

For hardware components, I have created a BOM file online on Inventhub where I have mentioned each and every detail of my components like names, footprint, library, and quantity. To embed components on my PCB board I can send this file in CSV format to the component provider. He can download the file and can deliver my components as per my design requirements. 

Complete Project

To get complete how-to and detailed information on the project design and implementation visit this link:

Complete Project link