FPGA Configuration

To programme the FPGA both for YARR and BDAQ system, Vivado is required and can be downloaded for free (registration needed) as either Vivado Webpack or Vivado Lab.

YARR

Instructions on how to flash the firmware can be found here. A brief firmware guide and modification of the Ohio card can be found here

BDAQ

For the travelling module a frozen firmware version 0.13 is used and can be found at the end of this list or downloaded here: v0.13.0_travelling_module_BDAQ53_1LANE_RX640.tar.gz. For detailed instructions on FPGA configuration follow this link.

Quick guide

Connect the BDAQ board to the PC via USB (USB 2.0 is enough). Next, download the frozen travelling module firmware. The firmware can flashed using a simple command:

$ bdaq53 --firmware [PATH-TO-BITFILE]

Alternatively, use Xilinx Vivado to flash (the preferred method is to flash the FPGA persistently using the .mcs file) to the FPGA using the USB interface of the BDAQ base board.

Testing the connection

Configure the network interface on your computer, that the BDAQ board is connected to as follows:

IP Address: 192.168.10.10  
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0  
Gateway: 0.0.0.0

by using

$ sudo ifconfig <your ethernet interface> 192.168.10.10 netmask 255.255.255.0

Make sure, no jumper is set on the “PMOD” header on the BDAQ board. See if the communication between the PC and the board works by running

    ping 192.168.10.12