FireAnt: An Efinix-Based FPGA Dev Board That’s Breadboard Friendly

A new FPGA board has been spotted on Crowd Supply that’s touted as being the first Efinix authorized third-party development board for makers and hardware designers. The FireAnt is thumb-sized, breadboard-friendly, and packs Efinix’s Trion T8 FPGA, which is built on SMIC’s 40LL process, giving it a logic density range of 7384 LEs (Logic Elements).

“The breadboard-friendly design allows for fast application deployment with sensors, peripherals, or other interfaces. It’s the perfect solution for manufacturers to create their projects or digital design students to learn FPGA development using the new Efinix platform quickly. The power/performance/size advantages of the Trion T8 FPGA also make it ideal for embedded AI.”

As mentioned earlier, the FireAnt is loaded with Efinix’s T8 FPGA with 7384 Les, eight embedded multipliers, a PLL, 128Kb of RAM, and a 33.333MHz crystal oscillator. There’s also an FTDI FT232HQ UART/FIFO IC chip, Winbond W25Q80DV Serial NOR Flash, a 3.3V LDO Regulator, 35 GPIOs, six LEDs (four user configurable), JTAG, USB 2.0 port, and three buttons.

On the software side, the FireAnt can be programmed via the Efinity IDE, which can be used with Efinix Trion series of FPGAs. The platform offers a complete tool package for the entire RTL development process — including synthesis, PNR (Place-and-Route), timing analysis, and bitstream generation. It also comes packed with a command-line interface and Tcl command console.

UPDATE: The FireAnt is now live on Crowd Supply, with a price tag of $32 for a single board, $58 for a pair and $130 for a five-pack. However, early birds can snag theirs for $29, $52 and $115, respectively. Delivery is slated for mid-September.