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LED Cube

A tightly integrated embedded system consisting of a host processor, FPGA-based LED driving core, structured power domains, and external memory architecture to enable scalable and dynamic display experimentation for a cube consisting of matrix LED panels.

Basic Components

  • STM32 Host processor
  • FPGA LED driver core
  • External OSPI (XIP capable)
  • Partitioned power domains
  • Structured firmware boot flow
  • Clean and methodical PCB architecture
  • 6 HUB75 64x64 LED panels, 24,576 LEDs total

System Overview Diagram

System Overview System Overview

Design Philosophy

  • Separate components for frame generation and LED driving reduces the load on each component and allows for faster frame generation and pixel refresh.
  • A FPGA was chosen over individual components to maximize parallelism and reduce desync between neighboring panels.

System Layers

  • Hardware

    PCB architecture, STM32 host, FPGA interface, peripheral routing.

    Go to Hardware

  • Firmware

    Boot flow, memory map, system state control, hardware abstraction.

    Go to Firmware

  • FPGA

    LED scan engine, timing core, host communication interface.

    Go to FPGA

  • Power

    Multi-rail distribution, sequencing, regulation and protection.

    Go to Power

  • Mechanical

    Structural support, thermals, mechanical integration.

    Go to Enclosure

  • Manufacturing

    Fabrication outputs, assembly workflow, bring-up validation.

    Go to Manufacturing

Documentation Architecture

LEDCube_Docs/ 
├── docs/
│  ├── overview/
│  ├── research/
│  │  ├── component/
│  │  ├── software/
│  ├── architecture/
│  │  ├── subsystems.md
│  │  ├── dataflow.md
│  │  ├── power_flow.md
│  ├── firmware/ 
│  │  ├── bootloader/
│  │  ├── memory_mapping/
│  │  ├── rtos/
│  │  ├── display_engine/
│  ├── fpga/ 
│  │  ├── core/
│  │  ├── timing/
│  │  ├── constraints/
│  ├── hardware/
│  │  ├── block_diagram/
│  │  ├── stm32/
│  │  ├── fpga/
│  │  ├── imu/
│  │  ├── flash/
│  │  ├── pcb/ 
│  ├── power/
│  │  ├── overview.md
│  │  ├── protection.md
│  │  ├── leds/
│  │  ├── stm32/
│  │  ├── peripheral_ctrls/
│  │  ├── fpga_domains/
│  │  ├── sources/
│  ├── mechanical/
│  │  ├── overview.md
│  │  ├── enclosure.md
│  │  ├── mounting.md
│  │  ├── thermals.md
│  ├── manufacturing/
│  │  ├── enclosure/
│  │  ├── bring_up/
│  │  ├── pcb/
│  ├── revisions/
│  │  ├── hardware/
│  │  ├── firmware/
│  │  ├── fpga/
│  │  ├── pcb/
│  │  ├── enclosure/
└── index.md