Arty Z7

The Digilent Arty Z7 is built around the Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC, combining a dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor with programmable FPGA logic on a single chip. This hardware/software co-design platform runs full Linux (PetaLinux or Ubuntu) on the Arm cores while the FPGA fabric handles custom hardware accelerators, real-time I/O processing, and high-speed signal processing, making it ideal for projects that need both software flexibility and hardware-level performance.

Zynq SoC Features

Feature	Specification
Processor	Dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 @ 650 MHz
FPGA Fabric	Zynq-7020 (85K logic cells, 220 DSP slices)
Memory	512 MB DDR3
Video	HDMI input + HDMI output
Audio	3.5 mm audio output jack
Expansion	Arduino headers + Pmod connectors
Storage	microSD slot
Network	USB OTG, USB-JTAG/UART
OS Support	PetaLinux, Ubuntu, bare-metal
Toolchain	Vivado, Vitis, PetaLinux

HDMI input and output, a 3.5 mm audio output jack, 512 MB DDR3 memory, and Arduino/Pmod expansion connectors make the Arty Z7 a complete platform for embedded vision, audio processing, software-defined radio, and IoT gateway applications. Xilinx Vivado and Vitis provide the design flow for both the FPGA fabric and the embedded Linux environment, with DMA engines and AXI interconnect enabling high-bandwidth data paths between the processor and custom logic.

Watch the Arty Z7 introduction

The Arty Z7 excels in applications that require simultaneous software complexity and hardware-speed I/O: real-time video processing pipelines where Linux handles the user interface while FPGA logic performs pixel-level operations at line rate, motor control systems where Linux runs the high-level motion planner while FPGA fabric implements microsecond-precision PWM and encoder interfaces, and IoT gateways where Linux manages cloud connectivity while custom FPGA blocks handle protocol conversion and sensor aggregation. GSAS Micro Systems provides the Arty Z7 with technical guidance on Zynq SoC development workflows, PetaLinux bring-up, and hardware/software partitioning strategies for embedded system teams across India.