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Blackfin Stamplet Board and TCP/IP Engine |
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Bolton Engineering was working on several Blackfin projects
and needed a miniature development board that could be used
to jump-start software development. Two of the projects
needed to run Linux, and also required significant
programmable logic content. Using the Analog Devices
Blackfin Stamp board as a starting point, Bolton Engineering
designed the Blackfin Stamplet. |
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System Overview
The Blackfin Stamplet is constructed around the
Analog Devices BF531/2 Blackfin processor. It stores
UBOOT, Linux, and simple application programs in its
on-board Flash memory, and connects to an external FTP
server to access larger application programs and
datasets. It executes its programs from on-board SDRAM
running at the maximum Blackfin bus speed of 125MHz.
It’s on-board 6000 Logic Equivalent (LE) sized
Programmable Logic Device (PLD) may be configured to
implement a variety of custom peripherals or interfaces.
With careful planning, Bolton Engineering was able to
fit the Blackfin Stamplet and Ethernet interface onto a
2.25” x 2.90” board of only 6-layers. An enhanced
version of this board with more Flash memory is in
development.TCP/IP Engine
One of the first applications for the Stamplet was a
configurable TCP/IP Engine to dump large amounts of data
from an experimental Software Radio System. The Stamplet
took in 16-bit data at high speed and dumped it out to
an FTP server. The PLD implemented a straightforward
16-bit interface into the Blackfin memory via the
Blackfin’s Programmable Parallel Interface (PPI). A
simple handshake protocol controlled data flow. All
software was written as an application-level program
under Linux. The system was able to sustain an over
30MBPS data rate through a dedicated Ethernet link to an
FTP server.
Project Scope
Bolton Engineering wrote the specification, designed the
schematics, designed the 6-layer circuit board, bought
up UBOOT and Linux, wrote driver application in ‘C’,
debugged the system, and delivered over fifty boards to
several clients. |
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Consumer and Computer
