In 1995, Kate Libby exclaimed "RISC architecture is going to change everything". She was ahead of her time, but nearly 30 years later RISC-V is revolutionizing the semiconductor world. Join Red River Labs for the next iteration of computing.
It has been nearly 50 years since Gordon French’ Homebrew Computer Club began meeting in Silicon Valley on March 5, 1975. Over 40 years since Tron inspired a generation of budding engineers, and nearly as long since Kevin Cloutier, the Founder of Red River Laboratories, was introduced to the Apple ][ at Juniper Park Elementary School. So much has changed in the digital world, but the adoption of RISC-V is re-writing the landscape, reverting to an earlier time where the user is once again in control.
Red River Labs focusses on supporting the RISC-V universe through our research with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and associated projects. We hope you learn from our efforts regardless if you purchase our IP or utilize our consulting services. Please read our extremely detailed technical articles; examine our architectures; and improve your own implementations as you go. We want you to join Red River on this journey into the next frontier, pushing the envelope to learn what is possible when we work together building upon the original foundations of the computer revolution.
The work presented here is only a small selection of our ever-growing capabilities, many of which are ongoing efforts denoted by blue and white "in progress" banners seen below. The intent of publishing these incomplete efforts is to display our current research, allowing you, the user, to follow along as each item moves from nascent idea to reality. Some efforts are fairly quick and materialize in a matter of weeks. An example of this is when we were exploring using FPGAs in infrared television remote controls (see FPGA NEC Protocol). On the opposite end of the spectrum we have the "in progress" RISC-V FPGA core; the System-V FPGA-based-CPU minicomputer; and our RISC-V robotics effort known as the Rapid-V. These efforts will each take a year or more with frequent posts and updates in near real-time.
Come back frequently to join us as we head into the future.
As Kate Libby said nearly 30 years ago, "RISC architecture is going to change everything." The latest incarnation of RISC, known as RISC-V, is an open source instruction set taking the world by storm. This work creates a 5-stage pipelined core interfacing with block RAM for instruction and data memories targeting a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC.
The System-V leverages the Red River RISC-V soft processor to create a fully functioning minicomputer. The previously simulated memories (instruction and data) are replaced with physical EEPROM and RAM chips. Additionally, standard peripherals are added (e.g. USB, UART, SPI, etc.) moving the RISC-V IP from the test bench into the real world.
The Rapid-V is an omni-directional robot built upon the System-V platform. From custom PCBs to 3D printed mecanum wheels, this work is the culmination of years of intense effort covering multiple engineering disciplines. Rapid-V adds LiDAR, acoustic sensors, and extends the RISC-V instruction set to improve our edge computing capabilities.
Multi-Processor System-on-a-Chip FPGAs integrate powerful processors capable of running full general-purpose operating systems alongside the programmable logic fabric. Much attention has been paid to securing processes within software, but little research has been focused on the communication boundary between these devices.
What is SLAM? Simultaneous localization and mapping means exactly what you probably think it means. SLAM is a combination of multiple algorithms sourcing data from an array of sensors to create a map of an environment AND locate its host within said map. All in Realtime. Let's prototype this using Robot Operating System in my lab!
This project created a circuit to demodulate signals from an infrared remote control (NEC protocol) via the Cyclone V SoC 5CSEMA5F31C6N for outputs to a common-anode 7-segment display. My motivation was simple, I had little experience with FPGAs and their associated tool-chains and I wondered how a remote control functioned.
This work and the creation of its associated Application Programming Interface (API) was conducted with the goal of helping students, who are categorized as visual learners, better understand common algorithms within the field of Computer Science. The full text of this work can be found on ProQuest's Dissertation Express.
The goal of this project was to build a distributed computing cluster using four (4) standard off-the-shelf Raspberry Pi 4 Model Bs. To show the benefits of such a system I implemented Apache Hadoop, an open-source software utilities that facilitate using a computing cluster to solve problems involving massive amounts of data and computation.
In 2017 Villanova's undergraduate Computer Graphics course CSC 4300 hadn't been taught in years with a curriculum based on antiquated technologies. It desperately needed to be modernized to incorporate the latest changes in graphics development. This research resulted in a web-based portal to be used for hands-on learning.
The NASA Picture of the day is a straight-forward system that retrieves a single picture from NASA each day. The service interprets reformats the picture for standard resolutions, interprets meta data, and finally publishes the results. Originally designed to be displayed within electronic picture frames, the output can be consumed in several ways.
The JPL Open Source Rover (OSR) is a scaled down version of Curiosity, from its 6-wheel steering to its Rocker-Bogie suspension. I improved the open source design by adding LiDAR, ultrasonic sensors, 3D printed components, and more! I am working towards making my rover autonomous implementing SLAM and Robot Operating System.