FPGA/SoC program produces first graduates

The training program enrolled five community members and trained them on FPGA/SoC technology to speed up their understanding of the technology, development tools, and design flow process.

The engineers received mentoring from experts at the element14 Community and the engineering team at Xilinx and Avnet.

Support included element14 Essentials learning modules on Programmable Logic and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).

The engineers were also given an Avnet Minized, a single-core Zynq 7Z007S development board designed for entry-level Zynq SoC developers. The program wrapped up with the engineer-trainees building a project of their choice using the skills they acquired during the training.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community said: “The growth in the use of programmable logic devices such as FPGAs in drones, wireless networks, data centres, IoT and ADAS vehicles makes this training both timely and critical for the development of the next generation of engineers. This new program from the element14 Community provided our members with a great opportunity for professional development and helped them accelerate their technology adoption of designing hardware controlled by FPGAs/SoCs."

She added, “We are already planning for a further intake of engineers into the program, with the intention of helping more and more engineers understand how simple FPGAs can be.”

“It’s been really exciting following the progress of the participants, and exciting to see a new group of users learn Xilinx technology,” says Jayson Bethurem, product line manager, Xilinx. “Interest in FPGAs has been increasing at an exponential rate and we’re proud to partner with a community like element14 to bring educational content on programmable logic devices, like the Zynq-7000 SoCs, to more people than ever.”