Shrike – A Low-cost FPGA board with RP2040 MCU, Renesas ForgeFPGA and open-source tools

The Shrike is a compact, low-cost, open-source FPGA development board designed by an Indian company, Vicharak, for educational, experimental, and embedded development. It combines a Renesas ForgeFPGA SLG47910V with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller, thanks to a six-bit high-speed bridge.

The development board is breadboard-friendly and gets powered/programmed via USB Type-C. The board also offers 23 GPIOs from the RP2040, 14 GPIOs, and a PMOD connector from the FPGA, and includes user-programmable LEDs for status indication. Additionally, there is a quad-SPI flash for the MCU, which can be programmed with MicroPython. These features make this device suitable for students, hobbyists, and embedded developers.

Shrike FPGA development board specifications:

• FPGA : Renesas ForgeFPGA SLG47910V
  • 1,120 LUTs
  • Non-volatile, low-power architecture
  • Supports Verilog designs
• Microcontroller : Raspberry Pi RP2040
  • Dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 133 MHz
  • 264 KB SRAM
  • USB 1.1 device and host support
• MCU-FPGA Interface: 
  • 6-bit high-speed parallel bridge between RP2040 and FPGA
• Memory & Storage:
  • On-chip SRAM (RP2040)
  • External flash (size not specified)
• USB:
  • USB Type-C port for power and programming (via RP2040)
• I/Os:
  • Breadboard-friendly pin headers
  • FPGA and MCU GPIOs exposed for prototyping
• Supported Protocols:
  • Custom Verilog implementations for UART, SPI, I2C
  • Support for RISC-V soft cores
  • USB-HID (e.g., MIDI controllers, gamepads) via RP2040
  • Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) for hardware authentication
• Misc:
  • Fully open-source hardware and software stack
  • Ideal for embedded learning, retro computing, and creative hardware projects
• Power:
  • 5V input via USB Type-C
• Dimensions:
  • 60 x 25 mm
• Weight:
  • 30 grams

The board can be programmed with a MicroPython-based utility that allows users to program the Renesas ForgeFPGA directly from the RP2040, eliminating the need for complex toolchains. The board is fully open-source, with publicly available Verilog examples for UART, I2C, RISC-V cores, and more. Additionally, Shrike is compatible with Renesas’ free and user-friendly FPGA development tools, making it easy to synthesize and load custom bitstreams.

Previously, we have written about other breadboard-compatible FPGA development boards, including the ICE-V wireless mini development board, the Muse Lab iCESugar-nano, the TEP-MXO2 FPGA development board and others feel free to check thos out if you are intresed in FPGA based prototyping baords.

More details are available on the Shrike campaign page on Crowd Supply, where you can sign up for launch updates. The team plans to release the board’s design and firmware, including the MicroPython programming tool, as open source after the campaign ends.