Total newbie starting my Zynq 7020 journey - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Amish_Fighter_Pilot
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2025, 02:37:23 am
content: So I went down a rabbit hole and got interested in using neural networks to isolate signals and now I have ended up with a Zynq 7020 with 1GB DDR3 that I want to pair with this AD9248 65msps x2.So a year ago I didn't really know what FPGA even was or how antennas work, and a couple months ago I didn't know how neural networks work(oh boy are there a lot of different types), and I'm not in school or working for anyone so bear with me because there may be gaps in my knowledge.My intention is to take this equipment and apply an FIR filter first, followed by applying a non-flattening temporal convolutional network to the task of identifying specific signals in all the noise(the whole spectrum + quantization). I have several stages to my project that mostly involve developing building a test rig and then my data set and refining it through training and human input. I'm lacking math training so some of this is a real struggle, but my intuitive grasp of it is solidifying at least. I have features I would like to add to this, but I'm not sure how much fpga fabric what I already intend will consume. I know I will eventually need to move to an UltraScale platform or maybe something from nVidia if I want to push the capabilities further. Right now those are out of my budget and I think the Zynq will be a good learning platform for Xilinx in general.Anyway: here's my hardwareNow one big gap in my knowledge is how to safely connect these boards and start them up without anything bad happening. I am going to assume that the green terminal block on the AD9248 will run the card and the 4 pins they didn't connect are not needed. The StarLite 7020 board is 5V USB powered, and so I would also assume that there is no level shifting needed between them? Do I have the board connected correctly? Will I need to configure the Zynq board before I connect the ADC card to it? Or can they be powered on together and I just can figure it out in PetaLinux setup? I am so poor and I can't afford to fry any of these parts.I did get a NanoVNA H4 so I can make sure the impedance is matched as much as possible on the lines coming into the ADC. It has a steeper learning curve than I had hoped, but it's a very neat tool and I look forward to getting to understand it better. I'm just absorbing a lot of information on a lot of topics at the moment so I'll get to it.

author: dobsonr741
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2025, 03:14:13 am
content: It’s nice to have the final hardware early where your signal analysis is going to work. Should be fun to build and bring up. It’s also an awesome opportunity to do parts in isolation and in simulation. Just a thought, perhaps worth avoiding a big bang approach. I know simulation is extra work, but these day with GenAI it’s no longer that much of an effort.

author: Amish_Fighter_Pilot
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2025, 05:16:36 am
content: I got the Vitis suite and it seems to have some simulation capabilities, but I have only just begun. I'm in this weird state right now where I can look at Verilog and it usually makes sense to me, but Python feels way less intuitive to me. I will likely have to use an LLM or two for coding advice, but I don't want to just vibe code and then not understand it too.

author: dobsonr741
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2025, 06:08:26 am
content: You can ask to explain code or verilog. Even better you can ask to generate a custom made training course for you with examples to follow. I’d use Claude with Roo or Cursor for this.