The JTAG connections on the FPGA are wired directly to an expansion connector on the XEM8370 to facilitate FPGA configuration and ChipScope usage using a JTAG cable. The JTAG interface presented is a 1.8-V interface corresponding to the FPGA JTAG I/O voltage. An appropriate connector (such as a 2mm connector compatible with the JTAG cable) would need to be wired on the peripheral attached to the XEM8370. Our BRK8370 has this connector and may be used as a reference.

See the pins sheet for details on the JTAG connections.

JTAG Cables

The USB interface on FrontPanel-enabled devices provides FrontPanel-based FPGA configuration and communication only. This interface is not available for JTAG access and is not compatible with the vendor tools for JTAG communication (e.g. the AMD Vivado Integrated Logic Analyzer or Intel’s Quartus SignalTap).

A vendor-supported JTAG cable is required to interface with the JTAG connector and provide tool access to JTAG.

The following JTAG adapters can be used with a common 2×7 2mm header on a breakout board.

MANUFACTURERCABLE P/N
AMDPlatform Cable USB II
DigilentJTAG-HS3