Zynq for Makers- Introducing the Arty Z7

If you have been paying close attention to our Website, or our GitHub, you may have noticed that there have been rumblings of a new Zynq-based board.

 For the first time in over three years, we’re going to be bringing new Zynq boards into the marketplace and we couldn’t be more excited! Since our introduction of the Zedboard in 2011 and the introduction of the Zybo after that, the market for Zynq-based technology has only gotten stronger.

To  understand this phenomenon, we have to first understand the appeal of the Zynq APSoC technology.

Why Zynq?

Zynq is an All Programmable System on a Chip, or APSoC. Xilinx usually uses the term “All Programmable” to describe their FPGA technology. One can read the APSoC part of the name as, ‘an FPGA technology system in a single chip.’ So what does the “System” actually mean since FPGA chips are generally used to create custom system chips (or ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuits)?

In the case of Zynq It means that there are dedicated processors (two Dual-ARM Cortex A9 processors) inside of the chip as well as FPGA technology. This combination allows users to leverage the best of the Processor world and the FPGA world. 

Programmable Hardware High Speed Reusable Flexible	Accessibility Operating System Common memory and peripherals Ready to use
Examples: Artix 7, Kintex 7 etc.	Examples: Raspberry Pi, Arduino
Allows FPGA Hardware Programmers access to resources that Software programmers usually have e.g. UI, operating systems, drivers and other programming languages (such as Python). Allows Software programmers to modify and extend the functionality to their hardware without needing to re-architect their programs. The FPGA is available to extend the built in peripherals on the ARM A9 Processor, or to create custom extensions that the processor can interface with. This means that you can use the same design (hardware) repeatedly, but just tweak what you need to be different in each iteration.

Why Zynq for Makers?

Over the past several years, processors have gotten more and more accessible to new audiences. Raspberry Pi’s, Beagle Bone Blacks, Arduinos, chipKITs, LaunchPads, and more have given makers increasing options. Digilent has been a player in the maker market for several years, using our chipKIT processor boards, and last year we released our first Maker-FPGA board called Arty. With both products in the channel, we watched and saw a variety of projects begin to emerge, and this made us think… “could Zynq be a better solution?”

A Zynq board would be perfect for applications that need the signal processing found in high end processor boards, but could use optimized hardware peripherals and accelerators. This would make it more reasonable to implement things like flight path recognition for drones (where the FPGA could be running accelerators for image processing) or internet security hubs (using the Ethernet peripherals with custom protocol additions in the hardware).

Since this board would be targeted at makers and hobbyists, we wanted to follow in the steps of the Arty. This meant that we needed to include Arduino dual row headers and Pmod Connectors to make accessible I/O.

We went through several design iterations and deep consideration of what would truly show off the Zynq chip onboard, such as HDMI in and out (replaced two of the Pmod Ports), adding USB Host (to make it easy to do a keyboard or a mouse), and decreasing the number of switches to make the room for a headphone jack, before the Arty Z7 was finalized!

The Arty Z7 will come in two versions, a Zynq 7010 and a Zynq 7020.

The addition of both Arty Z7 boards to the portfolio means that finally the Zybo and the Zedboard will have company!

	Arty Z7-10	Zybo	Arty Z7-20	ZedBoard
IC	XC7Z010-1CLG400C	XC7Z010-1CLG400C	XC7Z020-1CLG400C	XC7Z020-1CSG484CES
FPGA Device	XC7Z010	XC7Z010	XC7Z020	XC7Z020
Processor	650 MHz Dual Arm Cortex™-A9	650 MHz Dual Arm Cortex™-A9	650 MHz Dual Arm Cortex™-A9	667 MHz Dual Arm Cortex™-A9
Logic Slices	4400	4400	13300	13300
DSP Slices	80	80	220	220
Block RAM***	270 KB	270 KB	630 KB	630 KB
Clock Tiles	2	2	4	4
Programming Options	JTAG/Quad-SPI Flash/microSD	JTAG/Quad-SPI Flash/microSD	JTAG/Quad-SPI Flash/SD Card	JTAG/Quad-SPI Flash/SD Card
XADC	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Memory
SRAM***	–	–	–	–
DDR Capacity***	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB
DDR Type	DDR3	DDR3	DDR3	DDR3
DDR Speed	1050 MT/s	1050 MT/s	1050 MT/s	1066 MT/s
DDR Bus Width	16 bit	32 bit	16 bit	32 bit
Quad-SPI Flash***	16 MB	16 MB	16 MB	16 MB
Storage Expansion	microSD	microSD	microSD	SD
Power
USB Power	Yes	Yes	Yes	–
Barrel Jack	7V-15V	5V	7V-15V	12V
Header Pins	7V-15V	5V	7V-15V	–
Power Monitoring	No	No	No	Yes
USB
USB-UART	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB JTAG	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB-HID	No	No	No	No
USB-OTG	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Adept SDK Support	No	No	No	No
Ethernet	1 (1000 Mbps)	1 (1000 Mbps)	1 (1000 Mbps)	1 (1000 Mbps)
HDMI	1 Source, 1 Sink	1 Bidirectional	1 Source, 1 Sink	1 Source
VGA	–	16 bit	–	12 bit
Audio	Audio Out	Mic In, Audio Out, Line In	Audio Out	Mic In, Audio Out, Line In
Codec	–	SSM2603	–	ADAU1761
Other	PWM Audio Output	–	PWM Audio Output	–
Interfaces
7 Segment Digits	–	–	–	–
Switches	2	4	2	8
Buttons	4	6	4	7
LEDs	4 + 2 RGB	5	4 + 2 RGB	9
OLED screen	–	–	–	128×32 Monochrome
Other Interfaces	–	–	–	–
Expansion
Pmod Connectors	2	6	2	5
Pmod Total I/O	16 I/O	40 I/O	16 I/O	32 I/O
FMC Connectors	–	–	–	1 Low Pin Count
FMC Total I/O****	–	–	–	72 I/O
FMC Voltages	–	–	–	1.8V, 2.5V, 3.3V
Other Expansion	Arduino/chipKIT Shield Connector	–	Arduino/chipKIT Shield Connector	AMS Connector
Other Expansion Total I/O	26 I/O (6 analog)*****	–	49 I/O (6 analog)*****	8 I/O
Other Expansion Voltages	3.3V	–	3.3V	1.8V, 2.5V, 3.3V

To find out more details, or to get to know when the Arty Z7 becomes available for sale, keep following us on Social Media!

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