m4-la Logic Analyzer for Xilinx ML403
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m4-la Logic Analyzer Home Page
Description
The m4-la is a Logic Analyzer written in VLSI Hardware Description
Language (VHDL). Although the Logic Analyzer core module is not platform
specific and could be adapted to other platforms, this project
instantiates it in a specific target - the Xilinx
ML403
Development board featuring a Xilinx
Virtex4
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
device with embedded PowerPC Processor. The Logic Analyzer core is
instantiated as an Intellectual Property (IP) core using Xilinx Embedded
Development Kit
(
EDK)
and Platform Studio
(XPS)
which require Xilinx
Integrated Software Environment
(
ISE)
or
ISE WebPACK
Tools. The Base System Project
(BSP) also instantiates the Power PC (PPC) processor, a 10/100 Ethernet
MAC, a 16550 RS232 block, and memory units for instruction and data.
Also instantiated are button and LED interfaces. The Logic Analyzer core
supports 32 individual sample channels connected to the ML403 Expansion
Header1. The sample rate is variable from 100 MHz to 1 MHz. Sample data
storage is implemented using 128 Kilo-bytes of SyncSRAM for a maximum
storage depth of 32768 samples of 32 channels. Hardware interface
control is provided by an embedded application running in the target on
the PPC processor and is written in C and compiled by EDK. Control and
data interface is provided over the 10/100 Ethernet interface using
TCP/IP socket protocols. Sample data is aquired and stored to SRAM in
the target ML403 using user configurable trigger conditions, and
transferred to the
Logic2.exe
application running on the Windows32 host
for display which serves as the Graphic User Interface (GUI). The
Logic2.exe application was originally developed for an Altera FPGA based
custom board attached to a MZ104 single board computer running a linux
kernel. This application with minor modifications is used to control the
m4-la Logic Analyzer. Logic2.exe is written in C for Windows32 hosts and
compiled using MS Visual Studio 6.0 and above.
The Xilinx ML403 Development Board
The Logic2.exe GUI Application
