fpga4fun.com

Tell me if this reasonable for a first project, or should I plan something else. I have programmed FPGAs for bench models, but never built a self contained system.

I want to build an FPGA circuit board, to interface with a simple GPS receiver I will get from SParcfun.com (12 channel copernicus receiver).

I will be protoyping on an Altera Cyclone II dev kit, then building the board with the laser printer iron on, acid off method. Solder paste in the toaster oven to put a Cyclone II on the board, as seen on the Seattle Robotics tutorial.

That unit will have small laser that sends pulses to a second unit that senses the laser, flashes and makes noise (relay-car alarm siren) when hit. GPS unit will be used to check coordinates to estimate distance to a fixed point where the 'target' is, and restart the game when you go back a certain distance.

1. Can someone with no experience building PCBs do this from the instructions here?

2. Is it complicated getting the coordinates from that receiver?

Don't assume I will be building something more sophisticated just because I have a black Trans AM from the 80s.

You opinions would be much appreciated, thanks thanks thanks.

You forgot to mention why you are doing this. If it is to get experience with FPGAs then it might be fine. If not then this sort of thing is not what FPGAs are good at, a microcontroller would be much more suitable for the job.

Getting the coordinates off the serial link in ASCII format is relatively simple if you add code for a serial port, but doing any conversions and calculations is quite complex unless you have a CPU.

I am making a game for a hobby/fun and to build FPGA experience for other projects, the parts would probably cost too much to try and sell it.

I don't play paintball, but I know people that are addicted to it. The idea is using regular paintball rules these people have, can the first team cross a certain line in the woods while the second team tries to stop them.

If the team can cross that line, aim the device at the 'target' and trigger the target, they win, if the other team can stop them for a decided amount of time, they win.

Try to convert some numbers from ASCII to binary and do the required calculations on them. Remember that simulation is not the same as hardware so you need to compile it for hardware to make sure you are not fooling yourself.

If you find that easy then I would not think the hardware would be a big problem.