Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices

The development of devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) requires the rapid prototyping of different hardware configurations. In this paper, a modular hardware platform allowing to prototype, test and even implement IoT appliances on low-cost reconfigurable devices is presented. The proposed plat...

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Main Authors: Parrilla, Luis, García, Antonio, Castillo-Morales, Encarnacion, Álvarez Bermejo, José Antonio, López-Villanueva, Juan Antonio, Meyer-Baese, Uwe
Format: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10835/13913
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author Parrilla, Luis
García, Antonio
Castillo-Morales, Encarnacion
Álvarez Bermejo, José Antonio
López-Villanueva, Juan Antonio
Meyer-Baese, Uwe
author_facet Parrilla, Luis
García, Antonio
Castillo-Morales, Encarnacion
Álvarez Bermejo, José Antonio
López-Villanueva, Juan Antonio
Meyer-Baese, Uwe
author_sort Parrilla, Luis
collection DSpace
description The development of devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) requires the rapid prototyping of different hardware configurations. In this paper, a modular hardware platform allowing to prototype, test and even implement IoT appliances on low-cost reconfigurable devices is presented. The proposed platform, named Dracon, includes a Z80-clone microprocessor, up to 64 KB of RAM, and 256 inputs/outputs (I/Os). These I/Os can be used to connect additional co-processors within the same FPGA, external co-processors, communications modules, sensors and actuators. Dracon also includes as default peripherals a UART for programming and accessing the microprocessor, a Real Time Clock, and an Interrupt Timer. The use of an 8-bit microprocessor allows the use of the internal memory of the reconfigurable device as program memory, thereby, enabling the implementation of a complete IoT device within a single low-cost chip. Indeed, results using a Spartan 7 FPGA show that it is possible to implement Dracon with only 1515 6-input LUTs while operating at a maximum frequency of 80 MHz, which results in a better trade-off in terms of area and performance than other less powerful and less versatile alternatives in the literature. Moreover, the presented platform allows the development of embedded software applications independently of the selected FPGA device, enabling rapid prototyping and implementations on devices from different manufacturers.
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spelling oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-139132023-04-12T19:26:08Z Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices Parrilla, Luis García, Antonio Castillo-Morales, Encarnacion Álvarez Bermejo, José Antonio López-Villanueva, Juan Antonio Meyer-Baese, Uwe IoT FPGA hardware prototyping microprocessor edge computing The development of devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) requires the rapid prototyping of different hardware configurations. In this paper, a modular hardware platform allowing to prototype, test and even implement IoT appliances on low-cost reconfigurable devices is presented. The proposed platform, named Dracon, includes a Z80-clone microprocessor, up to 64 KB of RAM, and 256 inputs/outputs (I/Os). These I/Os can be used to connect additional co-processors within the same FPGA, external co-processors, communications modules, sensors and actuators. Dracon also includes as default peripherals a UART for programming and accessing the microprocessor, a Real Time Clock, and an Interrupt Timer. The use of an 8-bit microprocessor allows the use of the internal memory of the reconfigurable device as program memory, thereby, enabling the implementation of a complete IoT device within a single low-cost chip. Indeed, results using a Spartan 7 FPGA show that it is possible to implement Dracon with only 1515 6-input LUTs while operating at a maximum frequency of 80 MHz, which results in a better trade-off in terms of area and performance than other less powerful and less versatile alternatives in the literature. Moreover, the presented platform allows the development of embedded software applications independently of the selected FPGA device, enabling rapid prototyping and implementations on devices from different manufacturers. 2022-07-25T09:57:55Z 2022-07-25T09:57:55Z 2022-07-02 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2079-9292 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/13913 10.3390/electronics11132080 en Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
spellingShingle IoT
FPGA
hardware prototyping
microprocessor
edge computing
Parrilla, Luis
García, Antonio
Castillo-Morales, Encarnacion
Álvarez Bermejo, José Antonio
López-Villanueva, Juan Antonio
Meyer-Baese, Uwe
Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices
title Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices
title_full Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices
title_fullStr Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices
title_full_unstemmed Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices
title_short Dracon: An open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable IoT Devices
title_sort dracon: an open-hardware based platform for single-chip low-cost reconfigurable iot devices
topic IoT
FPGA
hardware prototyping
microprocessor
edge computing
url http://hdl.handle.net/10835/13913
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