Need advice on Proceeding with a FPGA project.

[linercapr]

I am a Junior and a professor pitched me a project on a Myrio 1900 board to implement a hardware based implementation of exponential functions for a Fuzzy Logic controller in Labview.

I am new to FPGAs and I was looking for a nice HDL project on my resume. I would probably be using Vivado for the implementation of the exponential function IP in Vivado in Verilog.

Now my question is, is this something worth doing if a big aim for me is to get some experience with FPGAs, or would I be spending too much time figuring out the labview workflow and won't end up learning alot in the field I am looking toward.

This is my first post,Thanks in advance if you reply!!

[GerdW]

Why do you need to crosspost from Reddit?

[ZYOng · Accepted solution]

NI myRIO and LVFPGA are great tools for those who want to learn FPGA functionality without spending time on HDL codes.

If your goal is to learn Vivado and HDL, you are better off with Digilent FPGA Boards.

[Bob_Schor]

As (almost) always, I totally agree with @ZYOng.  A colleague, hearing I was "an experienced LabVIEW user", roped me into a project designing a 15-channel stimulator using the myRIO (and its FPGA) to deliver the timing signals to control the 16 "Channel Boards" that produced synchronous "stimulus pulses" where the FPGA essentially "gated" the A/D and D/A chips on the Channel Boards.  Having LabVIEW running the myRIO meant that we could easily build "visualization" and "debugging" tools to test our ability to actually produce the waveforms we were trying to program (and having a good digital oscilloscope which my EE colleagues set up for me was also a big help).  

A strong suggestion -- try to write "clean" LabVIEW code.  Each sub-VI should have a specific purpose -- don't try to write a Monster Program that "does it all" (try to keep the Block Diagram to the size of a Laptop Screen, and keep the number of Controls and Indicators on each sub-VI "as small as possible" (strive for no more than 3 inputs + Error In and 3 outputs + Error Out).  Most important of all, write a "Description" of every VI (and TypeDef) that says what the code does and lists the Inputs and Outputs.  And use some form of Version Control!  (I use SVN, myself, and try to save at least daily, though I sometimes don't, and cause myself to lose days of "running around in circles" ...).

Bob Schor