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Nov 03, 2023

Sipeed Launches Its Tang Nano 20K FPGA Dev Board with a Linux Demo and NES Emulator Bundle

Sipeed has announced a new entry in the growing Tang Nano low-cost FPGA

Sipeed has announced a new entry in the growing Tang Nano low-cost FPGA development board family, the Sipeed Tang Nano 20K — offering, as the name suggests, over 20,000 four-input look-up tables (LUTs) for projects too bulky to fit in the Tang Nano 4K.

The new Tang Nano 20K breadboard-friendly FPGA development board is built around the Gowin GW2A-LV18QN88C8I7, which includes 20,736 LUT4 logic elements along with 15,552 fli-flops, 48 18×18 multipliers, two phase-locked loops (PLLs), and 41,472 bits of shadow static RAM (S-SRAM), 828kb of block SRAM (B-SRAM), and 64Mb of single data-rate (SDR) RAM.

Alongside this, Sipeed has added a Bouffalo Labs BL616 microcontroller as a debugging processor, running a 32-bit RISC-V core at up to 320MHz and with its own 480kB of SRAM. This, according to documents brought to our attention by CNX Software, offers JTAG debugging for the FPGA along with USB to UART and USB to SPI connectivity. There's 64Mb of quad-SPI flash with microSD expansion, a 40-pin connector for an RGB LCD panel, and an HDMI port for a monitor.

This is far from the first compact FPGA development board to come out of Sipeed's labs. Two years ago the company launched the Tang Nano 4K, a $12 board based on the Gowin GW1NSR-LV4C LittleBee FPGA — a big upgrade from the GW1N-1 powering the original Tang Nano, with 4,608 four-input LUTs to the GW1N-1's 1,152, and a precursor to the bigger-still Tang Nano 9K. The move did, however, see the board price double — a trend which is continued by the Tang Nano 20K, which is also missing its predecessor's dedicated camera port.

The new board brings out the FPGA's general-purpose input/output (GPIO) to two 20-pin headers, designed to be breadboard-friendly, along with six LEDs and a single WS2812-based RGB LED on the board itself. There are also two user-definable buttons, opposite the HDMI connector, with a USB Type-C connector for data and power.

The new FPGA is five times the size of the Tang Nano 4K, and supports more complex creations. Sipeed has demonstrated the device booting a VexRiscv soft RISC-V core capable of running Linux, and offers a retro-gaming bundle designed to emulate the eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

The boards are now up for sale on Sipeed's official AliExpress store at $25.64 plus shipping, with the retro gaming bundle priced at $47.49 — both marginally discounted from $26.99 and $49.99 proposed retail prices.