Opal Kelly Blog

Experts’ Logic Analyzers Available, free, on the Opal Kelly Website.

Portland, Oregon – June 10, 2010 – Opal Kelly, a leading producer of powerful USB-based FPGA modules that provide essential device-to-computer interconnect, today announced the first result of its “Logic Analyzer in a Day” Challenge. Opal Kelly Expert Rainer Malzbender designed, in less than 10 hours, a very capable graphical logic analyzer using the Opal Kelly XEM3005 and breakout board, with the included Opal Kelly FrontPanel Software Development Kit (SDK). Rainer’s entry is the first logic analyzer resulting from the challenge; additional designs will be announced over the next weeks.

The Opal Kelly Experts’ Design Challenge showcases both the capabilities of the Opal Kelly Experts and how quickly the Experts can design an exhibition-quality (not hardened commercial grade) project using Opal Kelly modules and software. Experts were given just one day to create a useful PC-based logic analyzer using their choice of Opal Kelly XEM3001, XEM3005, or XEM3010 modules and optional breakout boards. Beyond the time limit, the only constraint on the project design was that the results be made freely available, as open-source code, on the Opal Kelly website.

Opal Kelly Expert Rainer Malzbender, a seasoned HDL expert with extensive experience using Opal Kelly modules, used a modular approach to design his logic analyzer, leveraging his past Opal Kelly-based designs and tools he had on hand. Rainer created a very functional graphical logic analyzer using the Opal Kelly XEM3005 and BRK3005 with the Opal Kelly FrontPanel API along with the VHDL design language and C#. For more information, screen shots, or to download the logic analyzer code, please visit: www.opalkelly.com/experts/logic.

“The combination of the capabilities built into the Opal Kelly XEM3005 and breakout board and the FrontPanel SDK, plus my extensive experience using Opal Kelly’s FPGA modules, allowed me to develop and test an exhibition-quality logic analyzer in just 10 hours,” said Rainer Malzbender, Opal Kelly Expert. “Opal Kelly provides a great solution for connecting its FPGA module to a PC through USB. The easy-to-use PC interface and robust SDK enabled me to quickly complete the design work for this challenge, just as it has on an array of commercial design projects.”

“We are truly impressed with Rainer’s ‘Logic Analyzer in a Day’ project, which has both a user-friendly graphical interface and very capable logic analyzer functionality. It is comparable to many commercial, off-the-shelf, USB logic analyzers,” said Jake Janovetz, president of Opal Kelly. “Rainer’s results clearly demonstrate how quickly and efficiently development projects can be completed by leveraging Opal Kelly. We are happy to introduce talented experts like Rainer to our customers and to showcase their work on our website.”

For more information about the Opal Kelly Experts Program, please visit: https://opalkelly.com/experts/.

About Opal Kelly

Opal Kelly, founded in 2004, offers a range of powerful, off-the-shelf, USB-based FPGA modules, including the easy-to-use Opal Kelly FrontPanel software interface and robust API. Opal Kelly products provide the essential device-to-computer interconnect for efficient and fast product prototyping, testing, development, and OEM integration. Development engineers, researchers, teachers and serious hobbyists, worldwide, use Opal Kelly modules for an efficient and economical interconnect solution that shortens development time, fills expertise gaps, and dramatically accelerates time to market. For more information, or to purchase Opal Kelly products, please visit www.opalkelly.com.

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Frances Mann-Craik
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