hardware.txt

Hardware Notes
==============
Steven K. Baum
v1.7, 2015-03-02
:doctype: book
:toc:
:icons:

:numbered!:

[preface]

Articles
--------

*The Latest in Microcontrollers: 11 Cutting-Edge Boards That Are Driving
Diversity* (4/24/15) -
http://makezine.com/magazine/make-43/a-smorgas-board-for-your-computing-pleasure/[+http://makezine.com/magazine/make-43/a-smorgas-board-for-your-computing-pleasure/+]

*Amateur Clockmaking, Machine Shop..and Other Stuff* -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA/featured[+https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsKCR-Sx6R6-BnIjS2MA/featured+]

*Multiple Marble Machine Mayhem* -
http://hackaday.com/2012/04/18/multiple-marble-machine-mayhem/[+http://hackaday.com/2012/04/18/multiple-marble-machine-mayhem/+]

*Scratch-built bar top MAME cabinet* -
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/07/scratch-built-bar-top-mame-cabinet/[+http://hackaday.com/2015/04/07/scratch-built-bar-top-mame-cabinet/+]

* *Flying off the screen: Observations from the golden age of the American
video game arcade* - Ernest Hilbert -
http://www.everseradio.com/flying-off-the-screen-observations-from-the-golden-age-of-the-american-video-game-arcade/[+http://www.everseradio.com/flying-off-the-screen-observations-from-the-golden-age-of-the-american-video-game-arcade/+]

*Remote controlled wildlife camera with Raspberry Pi* -
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/08/remote-controlled-wildlife-camera-with-raspberry-pi/[+http://hackaday.com/2015/04/08/remote-controlled-wildlife-camera-with-raspberry-pi/+]

*****
If you are interested in local wildlife, you may want to consider this
wildlife camera project. [Arnis] has been using his to film
foxes and mice. The core components of this build are a Raspberry Pi and an
infrared camera module specifically made for the Pi. The system runs on a
20,000 mAh battery, which [Arnis] claims results in around 18 hours of battery
life.
*****

*Building super small Linux computers from scratch* (online) -
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/10/building-super-small-linux-computers-from-scratch/[+http://hackaday.com/2015/04/10/building-super-small-linux-computers-from-scratch/+]

*****
Conventional wisdom says small, powerful embedded Linux like the Raspberry Pi,
Beaglebone, or the Intel Edison are inherently manufactured devices, and
certainly not something the homebrew tinkerer can produce at home. [hak8or] is
doing just that, producing not one, but two
https://github.com/hak8or/Embedded-Linux-System[completely different tiny Linux
computers at home].
*****

*Mycodo* -
http://kylegabriel.com/projects/2015/04/mushroom-cultivation-revisited.html[+http://kylegabriel.com/projects/2015/04/mushroom-cultivation-revisited.html+]

*****
In 2009 I created my first automated mushroom cultivator using an ATMega328
and networked Linux computer. It monitored and regulated the temperature and
humidity of a growth chamber with the use of a humidifier and heater attached
to individually-controlled 120-VAC relays, with a simple web control
interface. In 2012 I redesigned the software to run entirely on the Raspberry
Pi (RPi) and documented the build shortly after. Although the system worked,
it was still very basic and lacked some crucial features I desired. Over the
past couple months I’ve been redesigning both the hardware and the software.
I’m writing to present the third milestone in development.
*****

* Cultivating the Fungus Amongus -
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/11/cultivating-the-fungus-amongus/[+http://hackaday.com/2015/04/11/cultivating-the-fungus-amongus/+]

Hardware
--------

Macro
~~~~~

Apexx 5 -
http://www.boxxtech.com/products/apexx-5[+http://www.boxxtech.com/products/apexx-5+]

*****
Configurable with up to two Intel XEON processors for a total of 36 cores (72
threads) and up to 5 GPUs, the APEXX 5 is the most powerful workstation that
can tear through rendering and simulation tasks with ease.  Starting from
$10,430.
*****

Basement Supercomputing Hardware -
http://www.basement-supercomputing.com/index.php/products/hikashop-menu-for-products-listing[+http://www.basement-supercomputing.com/index.php/products/hikashop-menu-for-products-listing+]

Raspberry Pi
~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.raspberrypi.org/[+http://www.raspberrypi.org/+]

* *RPiTX Turns Raspberry Pi Into Versatile Radio Transmitter* - http://hackaday.com/2015/11/04/rpitx-turns-rasberry-pi-into-versatile-radio-transmitter/[+http://hackaday.com/2015/11/04/rpitx-turns-rasberry-pi-into-versatile-radio-transmitter/+]

* *Monitor your local network with Raspberry Pi* - http://rigaspapas.com/blog/monitor-your-local-network-with-raspberry-pi/[+http://rigaspapas.com/blog/monitor-your-local-network-with-raspberry-pi/+]

* *Taking the Raspberry Pi 2 for a Test Drive with GNU Radio* -
http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/eng/blog/taking-the-raspberry-pi-2-for-a-test-drive-with-gnu-radio-2[+http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/eng/blog/taking-the-raspberry-pi-2-for-a-test-drive-with-gnu-radio-2+]

* *Transmitting FM, AM, SSB, SSTV and FSQ with Just a Raspberry Pi* - https://github.com/matt-desmarais/SentryTurret/[+https://github.com/matt-desmarais/SentryTurret/+]

* SentryTurrent - https://github.com/matt-desmarais/SentryTurret/[+https://github.com/matt-desmarais/SentryTurret/+]

Raspberry Pi Compute Module Development Kit
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The compute module contains the guts of a Raspberry Pi (the BCM2835 processor
and 512Mbyte of RAM) as well as a 4Gbyte eMMC Flash device (which is the
equivalent of the SD card in the Pi). This is all integrated on to a small
67.6x30mm board which fits into a standard DDR2 SODIMM connector (the same
type of connector as used for laptop memory*). The Flash memory is connected
directly to the processor on the board, but the remaining processor interfaces
are available to the user via the connector pins. You get the full flexibility
of the BCM2835 SoC, which means that many more GPIOs and interfaces are
available as compared to the Raspberry Pi, and designing the module into a
custom system should be relatively straightforward as we’ve put all the tricky
bits onto the module itself.

The Compute Module IO Board is a simple, open-source breakout board that you
can plug a Compute Module into. It provides the necessary power to the module,
and gives you the ability to program the module’s Flash memory, access the
processor interfaces in a slightly more friendly fashion (pin headers and
flexi connectors, much like the Pi) and provides the necessary HDMI and USB
connectors so that you have an entire system that can boot Raspbian (or the OS
of your choice). This board provides both a starting template for those who
want to design with the Compute Module, and a quick way to start experimenting
with the hardware and building and testing a system before going to the
expense of fabricating a custom board.
 
The Compute Module IO Board has a 22-way 0.5mm FFC for two camera ports, with
CAM0 being a 2-lane interface and CAM1 being the full 4-lane interface. To
attach a standard Raspberry Pi Camera to the Compute module IO Board a small
camera adaptor board is used to adapt the 22W FFC to the Pi 15W FFC. The
Compute Module also has 2 MIPI serial display interfaces (DSI); a small camera
adaptor board included in the kit is used to adapt the 22W FFC to the Pi 15W
FFC.

http://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-compute-module[+http://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-compute-module+]

STAK
^^^^

Each STAK OS image is custom compiled for your device and only includes the
libraries and modules YOU need. This means STAK OS is fast.

http://nextthing.co/stak.html[+http://nextthing.co/stak.html+]

https://github.com/NextThingCo/rpi-buildroot[+https://github.com/NextThingCo/rpi-buildroot+]

Arduino
~~~~~~~

Projects
^^^^^^^^

*Turning The Arduino Uno Into An Apple ][* - Damian Peckett -
http://dpeckett.com/turning-the-arduino-uno-into-an-apple[+http://dpeckett.com/turning-the-arduino-uno-into-an-apple+]

*How To: Control circuits and homebuilt servos using an Arduino* - http://electronicsforu.com/newelectronics/video/detailvideo.asp?id=2684[+http://electronicsforu.com/newelectronics/video/detailvideo.asp?id=2684+]

Software
^^^^^^^^

* Arduino-Makefile - https://github.com/sudar/Arduino-Makefile[+https://github.com/sudar/Arduino-Makefile+]

*****
Makefile for Arduino sketches. It defines the workflows for compiling code, flashing it to Arduino and even communicating through Serial.
*****

* Arduino Studio - http://labs.arduino.org/Arduino+Studio[+http://labs.arduino.org/Arduino+Studio+]

*****
Arduino Studio is a new open source development environment for the Arduino Programming Language. Instead of a monolithic architecture and a centralized development model, Arduino Studio take advantage of Adobe Brackets Editor's pluggable system. We are working hard to allow users to exploit Arduino Studio as stand-alone, web/cloud-based and on-board embedded editor. Just one editor for all the environments.
Arduino Studio is now available as an alpha release, in-bundle distribution for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows or as a easy-to-install Brackets Extension. 
*****

* Low Power Library - http://www.rocketscream.com/blog/2011/07/04/lightweight-low-power-arduino-library/[+http://www.rocketscream.com/blog/2011/07/04/lightweight-low-power-arduino-library/+]

*****
We have just release the 1st revision of our low power library for Arduino.
Please bear in mind that, most of the Arduino boards (official and also compatible) that is currently available in market (except some brilliant design from JeeLabs and Wiblocks, but there might be more out there that we are not aware of) are not low power by design. Low power design requires both hardware and software implementation. Our Mini Ultra 8 MHz (Arduino compatible) board is designed to be low power and is basically the testing platform for this library. Using the library on any Arduino boards (official or compatible) may and may not yield the best result.
*****

Instantiations
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* Zero -
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardZero[+http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardZero+]


*****
Arduino Zero is a simple and powerful 32-bit extension of the
platform established by Arduino UNO. The Zero board aims to provide creative
individuals with the potential to realize truly innovative ideas for smart
IoT devices, wearable technology, high-tech automation, crazy robotics, and
projects not yet imagined. The board is powered by Atmel’s SAMD21 MCU, which
features a 32-bit ARM Cortex® M0+ core.
*****

* JeeNode - http://www.digitalsmarties.net/products/jeenode[+http://www.digitalsmarties.net/products/jeenode+]

*****
The JeeNode is a compact wireless board with an Atmel 8-bit RISC microprocessor. JeeNodes are compatible with the Arduino platform and can be programmed under Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux using sketches created with the Arduino IDE.
*****

* Microview - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12923[+https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12923+]

*****
The MicroView is the first chip-sized Arduino compatible module that lets you
see what your Arduino is thinking using a built-in OLED display. With the
on-board 64x48 pixel OLED, you can use the MicroView to display sensor data,
emails, pin status, and more. It also fits nicely into a breadboard to make
prototyping easy. The MicroView also has a full-featured Arduino library to
make programming the module easy.
*****

* ZB2 - http://wiblocks.luciani.org/ZB2/ZB2-index.html[+http://wiblocks.luciani.org/ZB2/ZB2-index.html+]

*****
The ZB2 is the second generation Wiblocks board that integrates an Arduino compatible design and a MaxStream XBee radio module. The ZB2 updates include addition of a real-time clock (DS1337) with battery backup, an optional 5V 100mA boost converter (SMD-KIT) and an extended I/O connector. The new I/O connector is backwards compatible with all the ZB1/NB1x boards and peripherals. 
*****

* PICOBEE - http://wiblocks.luciani.org/PICO/PICOBEE-index.html[+http://wiblocks.luciani.org/PICO/PICOBEE-index.html+]

*****
The PICOBEE is an Arduino compatible design that integrates a real-time clock and an XBee. The board size is 2.1" x 2.2".
*****

* Tessel - https://tessel.io/[+https://tessel.io/+]

* Light Blue Bean -
https://punchthrough.com/bean/[+https://punchthrough.com/bean/+]

*****
The LightBlue Bean is a low energy Bluetooth Arduino microcontroller. Using
Bluetooth 4.0, it is programmed wirelessly, runs on a coin cell battery, and
is perfect for smartphone controlled projects.
*****

* Espruino - http://www.espruino.com/[+http://www.espruino.com/+]

*****
Unlike other boards that run JavaScript, Espruino fits everything it needs
into single chip. This makes it affordable, reliable, and power efficient -
allowing it to run for years on a battery.

Espruino plugs in to your computer by USB and appears as a serial device. No
drivers, and no special software. Just run a terminal application and start
writing code right away.
*****

* Flutter Wireless -
http://www.flutterwireless.com/[+http://www.flutterwireless.com/+]

*****
Flutter is a programmable processor core for electronics projects, designed
for hobbyists, students, and engineers.
Featuring a fast ARM processor, powerful long-range wireless communication,
built-in battery charging, and an onboard security chip, Flutter is an ideal
choice for robotics, wireless sensor networks, consumer electronics, and
educational platforms.
*****

* Moteino MEGA -
https://lowpowerlab.com/shop/index.php?\_route_=moteinomega[+https://lowpowerlab.com/shop/index.php?_route_=moteinomega+]

*****
MoteinoMEGA is a low cost wireless Arduino based on the Atmel ATMega1284P
microcontroller.
*****

* RFduino - http://www.rfduino.com/[+http://www.rfduino.com/+]

* TRE -
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardTre[+http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardTre+]

*****
The first Arduino board manufactured in the U.S. 
Thanks to the 1-GHz Sitara AM335x processor, Arduino developers get up to 100
times more performance with the Sitara-processor-based TRE than they do on the
Arduino Leonardo or Uno. This performance opens the doors to more advanced
Linux-powered applications. The Sitara-processor-based Linux Arduino can run
high-performance desktop applications, processing-intensive algorithms or
high-speed communications. 
*****

Misc
~~~~

Electric Imp
^^^^^^^^^^^^

For manufacturers seeking to bring products and services online, Electric Imp provides a complete end-to-end solution that makes it simple to connect nearly any device to the Internet quickly, securely and seamlessly. The Electric Imp connectivity platform, featuring fully integrated hardware, software, OS, APIs, cloud services and security, can effectively enhance your devices with greater functionality, efficiency and performance.

https://www.electricimp.com/product/[+https://www.electricimp.com/product/+]

GreenArrays
^^^^^^^^^^^

Multi-computer chips from GreenArrays offer an unrivaled combination of great
computing power, small size, low energy consumption, and high value. They are
simple, practical, versatile, and affordable. These chips change the game,
enabling new embedded applications in a massively parallel world.

http://www.greenarraychips.com/[+http://www.greenarraychips.com/+]

MIPS Creator CI20
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A high-performance, fully-featured Linux and Android development platform.
It incorporates an Ingenic JZ4780 SoC which includes a 1.2GHz dual core MIPS32
processor and Imagination PowerVR SGX540 GPU. The CI20 board provides
comprehensive connectivity, multimedia capabilities and substantial RAM and
flash. CI20 is preloaded with Debian7, and other distros are being packaged to
be available for download soon.

http://store.imgtec.com/us/product/mips-creator-ci20/[+http://store.imgtec.com/us/product/mips-creator-ci20/+]

http://www.elinux.org/MIPS_Creator_CI20[+http://www.elinux.org/MIPS_Creator_CI20+]

http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20150315065922453/MIPSCI20-Software.html[+http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20150315065922453/MIPSCI20-Software.html+]

Red Pitaya
^^^^^^^^^^

Red Pitaya is an open source measurement and control tool replacing many expensive laboratory instruments at a surprising price tag.
This powerful exotic tool is at the heart of a revolutionary Red Pitaya Ecosystem, which facilitates discovering, experiencing, learning, developing and sharing a variety of applications. 

https://store.open-electronics.org/index.php?route=product%2Fproduct&product_id=460&utm_content=buffercabc7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer[+https://store.open-electronics.org/index.php?route=product%2Fproduct&product_id=460&utm_content=buffercabc7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer+]

Wunder Bar
^^^^^^^^^^

The WunderBar by relayr is a revolutionary IoT (Internet of Things) starter
kit that includes six different sensors and a master module. This kit enables
hardware and software developers to quickly and easily prototype their ideas
and create apps to interact with the physical world. The kit works right out
of the box and is energy efficient, fast, and secure.

https://relayr.io/wunderbar[+https://relayr.io/wunderbar+]

https://shop.localmotors.com/products/wunderbar-by-relayr[+https://shop.localmotors.com/products/wunderbar-by-relayr+]

BeagleBone Black -
http://beagleboard.org/BLACK[+http://beagleboard.org/BLACK+]

*****
BeagleBone Black is a low-cost, community-supported development platform for
developers and hobbyists. Boot Linux in under 10 seconds and get started on
development in less than 5 minutes with just a single USB cable.
*****

Element14 -
http://www.element14.com/community/welcome[+http://www.element14.com/community/welcome+]

FUNcube Dongle -
http://www.funcubedongle.com/[+http://www.funcubedongle.com/+]

* WSPR using a FUNCube Dongle PRO+ -
http://nerdsville.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/wspr-using-funcube-dongle-pro.html[+http://nerdsville.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/wspr-using-funcube-dongle-pro.html+]

* TV Broadcasts from Outer Space -
http://hackaday.com/2015/04/09/tv-broadcasts-from-outer-space/[+http://hackaday.com/2015/04/09/tv-broadcasts-from-outer-space/+]

Intel Edison -
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-it-yourself/edison.html[+http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-it-yourself/edison.html+]

IQaudIO - http://iqaudio.com/[+http://iqaudio.com/+]

*****
A range of audio accessories for the Raspberry Pi and other single board
devices. Developed by audio enthusiasts for audio enthusiasts.
*****

Konekt - http://konekt.io/[+http://konekt.io/+]

littleBits
^^^^^^^^^^

The easiest way to prototype and learn with
electronics.  It's an ever-growing library of electronic
modules that snap together with magnets so you
can invent anything.

http://littlebits.cc/[+http://littlebits.cc/+]

bitLab
++++++

The bitLab truly makes our electronics platform infinite. Think of it as an
app store for hardware.

http://littlebits.cc/bitlab[+http://littlebits.cc/bitlab+]

cloudBit
++++++++

The cloudBit is the easiest way to create internet­-connected devices. You can
now snap the internet to anything! Retrofit your thermostat to control it
remotely, or set up a sound-triggered alarm system that texts you alerts--the
possibilities are endless. No programming, soldering or wiring required.

http://littlebits.cc/bits/cloudbit[+http://littlebits.cc/bits/cloudbit+]


Little Machine Shop -
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/default.php[+http://www.littlemachineshop.com/default.php+]

LowPowerLab - http://lowpowerlab.com/[+http://lowpowerlab.com/+]

Nordic nRF24L01+ -
https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/2.4GHz-RF/nRF24L01-Evaluation-Kit[+https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/2.4GHz-RF/nRF24L01-Evaluation-Kit+]

* Nordic nRF24L01+ with Arduino -
https://medium.com/@nowir3s/nordic-nrf24l01-with-arduino-b822dbac7e74[+https://medium.com/@nowir3s/nordic-nrf24l01-with-arduino-b822dbac7e74+]

NVIDIA Jetson -
http://www.nvidia.com/object/jetson-tk1-embedded-dev-kit.html[+http://www.nvidia.com/object/jetson-tk1-embedded-dev-kit.html+]

*****
The NVIDIA Jetson TK1 development kit gives you everything you need to unlock
the power of the GPU for embedded applications. It's built around the
revolutionary NVIDIA® Tegra® K1 SOC and uses the same NVIDIA Kepler™ computing
core designed into supercomputers around the world. This gives you a fully
functional NVIDIA CUDA® platform that will let you quickly develop and deploy
compute-intensive systems for computer vision, robotics, medicine, and more.
*****

* http://elinux.org/Jetson_TK1[+http://elinux.org/Jetson_TK1+]

* http://devblogs.nvidia.com/parallelforall/embedded-machine-learning-cudnn-deep-neural-network-library-jetson-tk1/[+http://devblogs.nvidia.com/parallelforall/embedded-machine-learning-cudnn-deep-neural-network-library-jetson-tk1/+]

* http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=search&q=Jetson+TK1[+http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=search&q=Jetson+TK1+]

Odroid -
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php[+http://www.hardkernel.com/main/main.php+]

Othermill -
https://othermachine.co/othermill/features/[+https://othermachine.co/othermill/features/+]

*****
The Othermill is a portable, precise milling machine that allows you to create
2D and 3D objects out of durable materials, such as wood, metal, and plastic,
using digital designs. We believe that everyone should be able to use
professional tools, so we’ve designed easy-to-use software and provided the
tools and materials you need to get started. 
*****

RTL-SDR Dongles -
http://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/[+http://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/+]

Seeed - http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/[+http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/+]

Shapeoko - http://www.shapeoko.com/[+http://www.shapeoko.com/+]

Spark - http://www.spark.io/[+http://www.spark.io/+]

* Photon - A $19 Wi-Fi development kit for creating connected products with
improved capability and reliability.

Tindie - https://www.tindie.com/[+https://www.tindie.com/+]

* Raspberry Pi -
https://www.tindie.com/browse/raspberry-pi/[+https://www.tindie.com/browse/raspberry-pi/+]

* Arduino -
https://www.tindie.com/browse/arduino/[+https://www.tindie.com/browse/arduino/+]

* IoT -
https://www.tindie.com/browse/iot-home/[+https://www.tindie.com/browse/iot-home/+]

* Audio -
https://www.tindie.com/browse/sound/[+https://www.tindie.com/browse/sound/+]

* Robots and Drones -
https://www.tindie.com/browse/robots-drones/[+https://www.tindie.com/browse/robots-drones/+]

WeMo -
http://www.belkin.com/us/Products/home-automation/c/wemo-home-automation/[+http://www.belkin.com/us/Products/home-automation/c/wemo-home-automation/+]

XBee - http://www.digi.com/xbee/[+http://www.digi.com/xbee/+]

* Projects - http://gallery.digi.com/[+http://gallery.digi.com/+]

Yosemite -
https://code.facebook.com/posts/1616052405274961/introducing-yosemite-the-first-open-source-modular-chassis-for-high-powered-microservers-/[+https://code.facebook.com/posts/1616052405274961/introducing-yosemite-the-first-open-source-modular-chassis-for-high-powered-microservers-/+]

*****
The first open source modular chassis for high-powered microservers.
*****

FPGA
----

Articles
~~~~~~~~

*How FPGAs work, and why you'll buy one* -
http://yosefk.com/blog/how-fpgas-work-and-why-youll-buy-one.html[+http://yosefk.com/blog/how-fpgas-work-and-why-youll-buy-one.html+]

*Open Tooling for FPGAs* -
http://curtis.io/others-work/open-tooling-for-fpgas[+http://curtis.io/others-work/open-tooling-for-fpgas+]

*Designing Hardware/Software Systems for Embedded High-Performance Computing* - http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.06832[+http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.06832+]

*****
In this work, we propose an architecture and methodology to design hardware/software systems for high-performance embedded computing on FPGA. The hardware side is based on a many-core architecture whose design is generated automatically given a set of architectural parameters. Both the architecture and the methodology were evaluated running dense matrix multiplication and sparse matrix-vector multiplication on a ZYNQ-7020 FPGA platform. The results show that using a system-level design of the system avoids complex hardware design and still provides good performance results.
*****

*ThreadPoolComposer - An Open-Source FPGA Toolchain for Software Developers* - http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.06821[+http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.06821+]

*****
This extended abstract presents ThreadPoolComposer, a high-level synthesis-based development framework and meta-toolchain that provides a uniform programming interface for FPGAs portable across multiple platforms.
*****

*Using System Hyper Pipelining (SHP) to Improve the Performance of a Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architecture (CGRA) Mapped on an FPGA* - http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.07139[+http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.07139+]

*****
The well known method C-Slow Retiming (CSR) can be used to automatically convert a given CPU into a multithreaded CPU with independent threads. These CPUs are then called streaming or barrel processors. System Hyper Pipelining (SHP) adds a new flexibility on top of CSR by allowing a dynamic number of threads to be executed and by enabling the threads to be stalled, bypassed and reordered. SHP is now applied on the programming elements (PE) of a coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture (CGRA). By using SHP, more performance can be achieved per PE. Fork-Join operations can be implemented on a PE using the flexibility provided by SHP to dynamically adjust the number of threads per PE. Multiple threads can share the same data locally, which greatly reduces the data traffic load on the CGRA's routing structure. The paper shows the results of a CGRA using SHP-ed RISC-V cores as PEs implemented on a FPGA.
*****

*SparkCL: A Unified Programming Framework for Accelerators on Heterogeneous Clusters* - http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.01120[+http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.01120+]

*****
We introduce SparkCL, an open source unified programming framework based on Java, OpenCL and the Apache Spark framework. The motivation behind this work is to bring unconventional compute cores such as FPGAs/GPUs/APUs/DSPs and future core types into mainstream programming use. The framework allows equal treatment of different computing devices under the Spark framework and introduces the ability to offload computations to acceleration devices. The new framework is seamlessly integrated into the standard Spark framework via a Java-OpenCL device programming layer which is based on Aparapi and a Spark programming layer that includes new kernel function types and modified Spark transformations and actions. The framework allows a single code base to target any type of compute core that supports OpenCL and easy integration of new core types into a Spark cluster.
*****

*FPGA-Based Design of Numerical Algorithms for Kernel Density Estimation Using High Level Synthesis Approach* - http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.02100[+http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.02100+]

*****
FPGA technology can offer significantly higher performance at much lower power than is available from CPUs and GPUs in many computational problems. Unfortunately, programming for FPGA (using hardware description languages, HDL) is a difficult and not-trivial task and is not intuitive for C/C++/Java programmers. To bring the gap between programming effectiveness and difficulty the High Level Synthesis (HLS) approach is promoting by many FPGA vendors. Nowadays, time-intensive calculations are mainly performed on GPU/CPU architectures, but can also be successfully performed using HLS approach. In the paper we implement a selected numerical algorithm (bandwidth selection for kernel density estimators, KDE) using HLS and show techniques which were used to optimise the final FPGA implementation.
*****

Products
~~~~~~~~

Atlys Spartan-6 FPGA Development Board -
http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,836&Prod=ATLYS[+http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,836&Prod=ATLYS+]

DE0-Nano -
http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?No=593[+http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?No=593+]

Mojo -
https://embeddedmicro.com/products/mojo-v3.html[+https://embeddedmicro.com/products/mojo-v3.html+]

Papilio FPGAs -
http://store.gadgetfactory.net/fpga/[+http://store.gadgetfactory.net/fpga/+]

Pipistrello -
http://pipistrello.saanlima.com/index.php[+http://pipistrello.saanlima.com/index.php+]

*****
Pipistrello is a FPGA development board for Xilinx Spartan-6 parts in 324 BGA
package, desiged by Saanlima Electronics.
*****

Scarab miniSpartan -
http://www.scarabhardware.com/shop/[+http://www.scarabhardware.com/shop/+]

* DIY FPGA-based HDMI ambient lighting -
* http://zerocharactersleft.blogspot.com/2015/04/diy-fpga-based-hdmi-ambient-lighting.html[+http://zerocharactersleft.blogspot.com/2015/04/diy-fpga-based-hdmi-ambient-lighting.html+]

Software
~~~~~~~~

FloPoCo
^^^^^^^

FloPoCo is a generator of arithmetic cores (Floating-Point Cores, but not
only) for FPGAs (but not only). 

http://flopoco.gforge.inria.fr/[+http://flopoco.gforge.inria.fr/+]

FPGALink
^^^^^^^^

The aim of the FPGALink project is to provide a hardware abstraction layer for
hardware involving an FPGA connected to a computer over USB, to abstract core
functionality like FPGA-programming and subsequent host-FPGA communication. It
doesn't matter whether the hardware uses an AVR, an FX2LP or an ARM-based
micro for its USB interface. It doesn't matter whether the FPGA is from Xilinx
or Altera or Lattice or whomever. It doesn't matter whether the interface
between them is a fast 43MiB/s parallel synchronous interface, a much slower
EPP interface or some sort of USART connection. The cross-platform,
cross-language host-side API is the same, and the FPGA-side (VHDL or Verilog)
FIFO interface is the same, so you can easily port your design to a new FPGA
devkit or to your own custom PCB.

https://github.com/makestuff/libfpgalink/wiki/FPGALink[+https://github.com/makestuff/libfpgalink/wiki/FPGALink+]

migen
^^^^^

Despite being faster than schematics entry, hardware design with Verilog and
VHDL remains tedious and inefficient for several reasons. The event-driven
model introduces issues and manual coding that are unnecessary for synchronous
circuits, which represent the lion's share of today's logic designs. Counter-
intuitive arithmetic rules result in steeper learning curves and provide a
fertile ground for subtle bugs in designs. Finally, support for procedural
generation of logic (metaprogramming) through "generate" statements is very
limited and restricts the ways code can be made generic, reused and organized.

To address those issues, we have developed the Migen FHDL library that
replaces the event-driven paradigm with the notions of combinatorial and
synchronous statements, has arithmetic rules that make integers always behave
like mathematical integers, and most importantly allows the design's logic to
be constructed by a Python program. This last point enables hardware designers
to take advantage of the richness of the Python language - object oriented
programming, function parameters, generators, operator overloading, libraries,
etc. - to build well organized, reusable and elegant designs.

Other Migen libraries are built on FHDL and provide various tools such as a
system-on-chip interconnect infrastructure, a dataflow programming system, a
more traditional high-level synthesizer that compiles Python routines into
state machines with datapaths, and a simulator that allows test benches to be
written in Python.

https://github.com/m-labs/migen[+https://github.com/m-labs/migen+]

MyHDL
^^^^^

MyHDL turns Python into a hardware description and verification language,
providing hardware engineers with unprecedented power.

http://www.myhdl.org/[+http://www.myhdl.org/+]

UrJTAG
^^^^^^

UrJTAG aims to create an enhanced, modern tool for communicating over JTAG
with flash chips, CPUs, and many more. It takes on the well proven openwince
jtag tools code. Future plans include conversion of the code base into a
library that can be used with other applications. A flexible remote
communication protocol that can be used over almost any type of serial link
(including TCP/IP) is in the works. 

http://urjtag.org/[+http://urjtag.org/+]

xc3sprog
^^^^^^^^

A suite of utilities for programming Xilinx FPGAs, CPLDs, and EEPROMs with the
Xilinx Parallel Cable and other JTAG adapters under Linux. 

http://xc3sprog.sourceforge.net/[+http://xc3sprog.sourceforge.net/+]

Chips
-----

CC3000 Series
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.ti.com/ww/en/simplelink_embedded_wi-fi/home.html?DCMP=PPC_Google_TI&k_clickid=541da8ad-e297-2529-ba43-000058c8015d[+http://www.ti.com/ww/en/simplelink_embedded_wi-fi/home.html?DCMP=PPC_Google_TI&k_clickid=541da8ad-e297-2529-ba43-000058c8015d+]


* CC3000 -
http://www.ti.com/product/cc3000[+http://www.ti.com/product/cc3000+]

*****
The TI CC3000 module is a self-contained wireless network processor that
simplifies the implementation of Internet connectivity. TI’s SimpleLink Wi-Fi
solution minimizes the software requirements of the host microcontroller (MCU)
and is thus the ideal solution for embedded applications using any low-cost
and low-power MCU.
*****