Alchitry Au FPGA Kit

The Alchitry Au FPGA Kit from Sparkfun is the perfect starting point for those interested in exploring the world of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The kit includes the Alchitry Au, Alchitry Io Element, Alchitry Br Prototype, and a 4-pack of female headers, providing everything you need except for a USB-C cable for power and programming, and Qwiic cables for I²C accessory integration.

The Alchitry Au, which is the centerpiece of the kit, is a powerful FPGA board that features a Xilinx Artix 7 XC7A35T-1C FPGA with over 33,000 logic cells and 256MB of DDR3 RAM. It offers 102 3.3V logic level IO pins, 20 of which can be switched to 1.8V. It also includes nine differential analog inputs, eight general purpose LEDs, a 100MHz on-board clock that can be manipulated internally by the FPGA, a USB-C connector for power and programming, and a USB to serial interface for data transfer. All Alchitry boards, including the Au, are fully supported by Lucid, a built-in library of useful components, and also come with a debugger.

With the addition of the Io and Br Element boards included in the kit, you gain access to 7-segment LEDs, five momentary push buttons, 24 basic LEDs, 24 DIP switches, broken out header pins, and a large prototyping area. This vast array of components allows for a wide variety of applications and projects, making the Alchitry Au FPGA Kit a versatile tool for both beginners and experienced users.

The Alchitry Au FPGA Kit includes:

• Alchitry Au FPGA Development Board
• Alchitry Io Element Board
• Alchitry Br Prototype Element Board
• Alchitry Br Female Header Set

For more information and guidance, refer to the following resources:

• Alchitry Au Schematic (PDF)
• How Does an FPGA Work?
• Programming an FPGA
• Getting Started Guide
• Alchitry Labs
• Lucid FPGA Tutorial
• So You Want to Learn FPGAs...
• FPGA Resource Page
• Alchitry Tutorials
• Alchitry Forums

Example projects:

• First FPGA Project - Getting Fancy with PWM
• External IO and Metastability