Mercury 2: A Breadboard-Friendly FPGA

Mercury 2 joins the limited line up of breadboard ready FPGA development platforms while packing a bit more of a punch with the same Xilinx Artix FPGA chip as on the Arty A7 board. Squeezed into a 3" x 1" 64-pin DIP package, the Mercury 2 is the ideal FPGA board for tighter spaces in projects that need more processing power and/or programmable logic space than the TinyFPGA or Fipsy FPGA.

The Mercury 2 is the latest in its series of FPGA development boards developed by a Michigan-based embedded systems company, MicoNova. They have been used in research projects by agencies such as NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) according to MicoNova's website.

The Mercury 2 also stands out for its features like it 40 IO pins of 5V-tolerant digital I/O, so that it can safely interface TTL-level devices with the 3.3V Artix FPGA. It is DSP project ready with its onboard SPI ADC and DAC as well as its dedicated input for the XADC included on the Artix with the ability to expand into 16 available auxiliary inputs (12 bit, 20 Msps).

The Mercury 2 is ideal for rapid prototyping as it is a complete FPGA solution with its onboard power management, I/O circuitry, SRAM, and ADC/DAC. The necessary 5V input can be provided via the +5V power pin (DIP pin 64) or the micro-USB connector.

For additional peripheral support, MicroNova also offers a breakout board that is compatible for both the Mercury 2 and its predecessor Spartan-based Mercury. Offering the following common peripherals for many projects:

• 4-digit seven-segment display
• 4 pushbuttons & 8 toggle switches
• PS/2 port for keyboard or mouse
• VGA port supporting 8-bit color
• 1 double Pmod-compatible connector
• 3.5mm stereo audio-out port & support circuitry for 1-bit delta-sigma DAC
• 3.5mm stereo audio-in port & support circuitry for use with Mercury's ADC
• Analog temperature sensor, light sensor and potentiometer for use with Mercury's ADC
• Socket for additional crystal oscillator
• JTAG pin header

One of the key elements that I judge any FPGA development board on is the availability of getting started sources. MicroNova provides a fully resources library on their site including a detailed getting started guide outlining how to bring up a new HDL design in Vivado on the Mercury 2. The full constraints XDC file of the Mercury 2's pinout is also available on the resources page for the board.

You can pick up a Mercury 2 on Tindie or the MicroNova store for $129 and the baseboard for $29.