The OneKiwi KIWI 1P5 is a low-cost FPGA board built around the GOWIN GW1N-UV1P5 device. Priced at $14, it is designed for prototyping, digital logic design, and educational applications.
The FPGA offers 1.5K LUT4 logic elements, 72Kbit of block SRAM, 96Kbit of on-chip flash, and a single PLL. The board comes with 40 user I/O pins via dual-row 2.54 mm headers, along with an onboard USB-C port for power. Debug and communication are handled by an onboard GOWIN USB-JTAG debugger and USB-to-UART bridge, while user interaction is done through two buttons and two LEDs. Additionally, a DIP switch enables external FPGA programming.
OneKiwi KIWI 1P5 specifications:
- SoC – Gowin GW1N-UV1P5
- 1,584 Logic Units
- 96Kbit Block SRAM
- 256Kbit User Flash
- 2x PLL
- 6x I/O Banks
- Up to 125 user I/Os
- No embedded hard processor
- USB
- USB Type-C port for power and USB to UART
- USB Type-C port for debugging (USB to JTAG converter)
- Debugging
- Gowin U2X USB-JTAG debugger via USB-C
- JTAG switch for external FPGA programming
- Expansion – 40-pin 2.54mm header; pin remapping support for SPI, I²C, MSPI; 3.3V compatible
- Misc
- 2x User buttons (active low, 3.3V logic)
- 2x User LEDs + 1x PWR LED (3.3V)
- Power
- 5V via USB-C port
- Onboard 3.3V buck regulator
- 5V, 3.3V and GND pins via I/O header
- Dimensions – 70.00 mm x 22.86 mm
- Operating temperature – -40°C to 75°C (industrial range)
- Humidity – 10%–90%, non-condensing
In terms of software support, the KIWI 1P5 can be programmed with the GOWIN EDA toolchain. It can also be used for simulation and waveform analysis through the Modelsim HDL simulation tool, with additional tutorials available from OneKiwi that cover practical examples such as LED control, PWM generation, UART communication, and key debounce using state machines. Documentation includes a reference schematic and a datasheet.
Other compact FPGA development boards include the Mercury 2, which features a Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA with up to 101K logic cells, Ethernet, and ADC/DAC, the Icepi Zero, a Lattice ECP5 board in a Raspberry Pi Zero form factor designed for retro computing and FPGA co-processing with 24K LUTs and 32MB SDRAM, and the Lattice FeatherWing, a Lattice iCE40-powered board in Adafruit Feather form factor with 3.5K logic cells and 47 GPIOs. In comparison, the OneKiwi KIWI 1P5 is an industrial low-cost FPGA board with a GOWIN FPGA, onboard USB-JTAG/UART, and DIP-switch for prototyping and cost-optimized applications.
The OneKiwi KIWI 1P5 FPGA board can be purchased from Amazon for $14. In the box, it comes with the FPGA board itself, a USB Type-C cable, two 24-pin headers, and a simple cardboard enclosure. More information is available on Gowinsemi’s products page and GOWIN’s official X (Twitter) announcement.
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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