AMD Spartan UltraScale+ SU35P FPGA evaluation kit supports Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Mikrobus, and Pmod expansion

AMD’s SCU35 Evaluation Kit is an affordable ($229) development board powered by the AMD Spartan UltraScale+ SU35P FPGA device, which targets low-power industrial, medical, and data center applications requiring I/O expansion and board management capabilities.

Designed for headless applications, the board features a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port and a USB-C port for power, as well as plenty of headers and connectors compatible with off-the-shelf expansion boards or modules, including Arduino UNO headers, two 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO headers, two Mikrobus headers, four Pmod connectors, and an HSIO board-to-board connector.

AMD SCU35 evaluation kit specifications:

FPGA – AMD Spartan Ultrascale+ SU35P (XCSU35P-2SBVB625E)
- 36K Logic Cells
- 304 Max Total I/O• Board Management Controller
- Memory – 1.93 Mb on-chip memory
Memory – 64 Mbit HyperRAM
Storage
- 128 Mbit QSPI flash
- 64 Kbit EEPROM
Networking – 10/100Mbps Ethernet RJ45 port
Sensor – 3-axis linear accelerometer
Expansion
- Arduino UNO headers
- 2x 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO header for compatible HATs
- 2x Mikrobus headers working with 1000+ MikroE Click expansion modules
- 4x Pmod connectors
- HSIO board-to-board connector
Board management – SYSMON Header
Configuration – JTAG, SPI, and QSPI supported
Debugging – Micro USB JTAG/UART debug port; PC4 JTAG header
Misc
- 5x push-buttons, 3x operational switches, and headers
- 5x RGB LEDs, 5x operational status LEDs
- 8-position DIP switch
Power Supply/Management
- Up to 20V (65W) via USB-C port; note: a power supply is not included with the board.
- Power Telemetry
Dimensions – 140 x 140 mm
Temperature Range – Operating: 0°C to +45°C; storage: -25°C to +60°C

The SCU35 FPGA evaluation kit is supported by the AMD Vivado Design Suite and Vitis Unified Software Platform. The company also provides various example designs (e.g., MicroBlaze-based embedded system) and tutorials to get started quickly, even without FPGA experience. You’ll find links to the documentation, software, and hardware resources on the documentation website. Note that some of the documentation (e.g., User Guide) requires email registration and manual approval from AMD.

Specific applications include factory automation, robotics, IIoT gateway and edge applications, Smart City, and Smart Grid in the industrial sector, smart patient monitor and robot-assisted surgery in the medical field, as well as solutions for 4G & 5G wireless infrastructure. It could also be used in data centers as a board management controller or for hyperscale storage.

The SCU35 evaluation kit can be purchased/pre-ordered directly from AMD for $229 with an 8-week lead time. Note that it does not ship with a power supply, so you may want to add the SCU35 power supply available only from resellers, or just get a standard 20V/65W USB-C power adapter. The Platform Cable USB II ($270) is also recommended for debugging, but as I understand it from the public documentation, it may not be entirely necessary since the board can be programmed through the USB JTAG port too.

AMD SCU35 evaluation kit accessories JTAG debugger USB C power adapter — Optional accessories: Platform Cable USB II (left) and SCU35 power supply (right)

Thanks to TLS for the tip.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.