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What is FPGA?

Short for Field-Programmable Gate Array, a type of logic chip that can be programmed. An FPGA is similar to a PLD, but whereas PLDs are generally limited to hundreds of gates, FPGAs support thousands of gates. They are especially popular for prototyping integrated circuit designs. Once the design is set, hardwired chips are produced for faster performance.

Source: Webopedia
Technical Archives related to FPGA:
The basics of constructing FPGA 2008-01-01
A sound knowledge of the FPGA development process enables technical leads, supervisors, managers, or systems engineers interface with FPGA designers more efficiently
Tools, techniques, and methodology to a FPGA aid design 2008-08-07
Providing the ability to quickly understand the timing state of a design is crucial to the effectiveness of any FPGA design environment
Speeding FPGA debugging with measurement cores 2006-07-28
When debugging an FPGA-based system, it can be very helpful to look at key signals inside the FPGA correlated with those in the rest of a system
Exploring FPGA selection and system design architecture 2008-08-06
Here's how to create optimised FPGA specifications that achieves performance, reliability and cost goals for use in production
Custom FPGA-based emulators accelerate IC design 2001-11-16
The regular, hierarchical structure that can be created in a custom FPGA means you can compile designs on a single workstation 5 to 20 times faster than traditional emulators
Using graph-based synthesis for FPGA timing closure 2007-07-11
The increased effects of routing on FPGA path timing requires EDA tools to understand physical properties of the target device and analyze designs during the placement process in order to achieve timing closure
Power-Sensitive Design Techniques On FPGA Devices 2001-07-03
This paper focuses on the design techniques that need to be considered for power saving when considering FPGA devices
A practical approach to reusing HDL code in FPGA designs 2005-12-28
Smart FPGA designers have realised that it is more practical to recycle existing HDL code. This paper discusses how to reuse existing code that was not initially designed for reuse
Control a three-phase full-wave rectifier with an FPGA 2006-11-02
If your project has big-time power, you might want to consider using an FPGA to control your three-phase full-wave bridge rectifiers
How to Choose the Right FPGA 2007-01-18
This article highlights some of the latest FPGAs and analyzes their specific features and tradeoffs to aid engineers in selecting the most appropriate FPGA for their application needs
Increase visibility in FPGA prototypes and emulators 2006-03-07
The article suggests visibility enhancement techniques for FPGA prototypes and emulators that help locate, isolate and understand the causes of error symptoms
EDA platform benchmark: The desktop FPGA design flow 2001-01-01
This article evaluates the system requirements of your desktop against typical FPGA designs you would encounter
How to use register retiming to optimise your FPGA designs 2005-12-14
This article outlines recommended practices that show how to qualify an FPGA-based design for register retiming, along with specific examples for optimal performance results
FPGA co-processors optimize car infotainment, telematics 2004-11-01
As entertainment electronics becomes a primary source of differentiation among luxury vehicles, carmakers can rev up their designs with FPGA co-processing
Building reliable FPGA memory interface controllers 2006-04-19
This how-to article discusses various memory interface controller design challenges and the use of MIG to build a complete memory interface solution for your own application on a Virtex-4 FPGA
New Products related to FPGA:
FPGA-based module eases embedded system design 2007-07-09
Advanced Knowledge Associates' new logic module combines a 32bit ARM9-based MCU and high-density Xilinx Spartan 3E Series FPGA fabric, as well as all associated interfaces and power circuitry to facilitate accelerated advanced embedded system design
ESL starter kit assists in FPGA design 2006-03-17
Celoxica has announced availability of its ESL starter kit, which combines the DK Design Suite of C-based design and synthesis tools, with an RC10 Xilinx FPGA development board
Altera ships 65nm Stratix III FPGA family 2007-08-30
Altera has announced the shipment of its 65-nm Stratix III FPGA family that claims to deliver the lowest power consumption of any high-density, high-performance programmable logic device
Actel offers new starter kit for A3P250 FPGA 2005-08-24
Actel announced the availability of the ProASIC3 starter kit and the sampling of its 250K-gate A3P250 FPGA
FPGA-based acceleration solution interfaces with Intel FSB 2007-11-21
The Xilinx ACP M1 licensing package is enabled by the high-performance 65nm Virtex-5 platform FPGA and Intel QuickAssist Tech and supports implementations capable of full 1066MHz FSB performance
ARM7-based MCU includes FPGA interface 2008-06-23
Atmel Corp. has announced the industry's first ARM7-based MCU with a direct FPGA interface
FPGA in ref design targets car infotainment 2008-05-27
Xilinx Inc. has announced its integrated FPGA and IP solution that is included in the low-power Intel in-vehicle infotainment reference design targeting automotive head units
FPGAView software simplifies FPGA design debugging 2007-08-31
Tektronix and First Silicon Solutions have introduced the FPGAView software that eases signal measurement inside FPGA design and selection of internal signals to probe without having to recompile the design
FPGA dvlpt card supports sophisticated designs 2007-09-04
Domain Technologies has announced the availability of its FPGA development card for Actel ProASIC3 FPGAs that includes 512Kbytes of 35ns non-volatile MRAM and an on-board device programmer
Altera announces low-cost FPGA starter kit 2006-10-27
Altera Corp. promises easier FPGA design with its new low-cost Cyclone II FPGA Starter Kit priced to attract a wide range of FPGA users, including designers with no previous FPGA experience
POL modules deliver up to 40W for FPGA apps 2006-09-25
The regulated, fast-responding POL modules from Murata deliver 22-40W in four versions for FPGA and microprocessor applications
FPGA programming tool promises high data throughput 2006-08-28
Actel Corp. has introduced Silicon Sculptor 3, an FPGA programming tool that promises high data throughput and ease of use while reducing overall ownership cost. This tool includes a USB 2.0 interface that allows up to 12 programmers to connect to a single PC
Pentek beefs up GateFlow FPGA IP Library 2005-09-01
Pentek announced an addition to its GateFlow FPGA IP Library that implements a 256-channel narrowband digital downconverter
Single-FPGA solution optimised for 100GbE apps 2008-09-26
The Virtex-5 TXT Platform delivers first single FPGA solution for 40Gb and 100Gb telecommunications equipment
Altera intros Cyclone II FPGA with fast-on feature 2006-07-12
Altera Corp. has introduced its EP2C15A FPGA, designed with "fast-on" capability, shortening the power-on time of the device at start up
News & Trends related to FPGA:
Power issues charge up FPGA 2006 symposium 2006-04-06
Power issues charged up the recent FPGA 2006 symposium. Many observers see high power consumption as perhaps the biggest factor limiting wider usage of the devices
FPGA use in HPCs faces bottleneck problems 2007-04-02
Current FPGA synthesis, placement and routing tools are written for hardware designers, not software programmers. A new generation of ESL C-language compilers is attempting to bridge the gap
Enhanced FPGA targets compute-intensive apps 2006-11-06
Capitalizing on expiring FPGA patents and an accelerating shift of FPGAs into data-path processing, Velogix is developing a high-performance programmable-logic platform to run the billions of operations each second needed by applications like video and imaging, test and measurement, and communications
New system designer eases FPGA-based designs 2008-04-21
Synplicity has introduced System Designer, a device-independent IP configuration and system-level assembly environment that has been added to Synplicity s Synplify Pro and Synplify Premier FPGA design implementation tools
Firms address 65nm FPGA design verification 2007-09-24
Xilinx has partnered with Cadence, Mentor and Synopsys to define and implement new verification flows for ultrahigh-density designs of 65nm FPGAs and new emerging FPGA architectures
Two FPGA vendors announce layoffs 2008-06-09
Two FPGA vendors Xilinx and QuickLogic separately reported layoffs
Xilinx, IP supplier partner on single-FPGA H.264 video encoder 2005-09-09
Claiming an industry first, programmable logic supplier Xilinx Inc. and intellectual property (IP) core supplier 4i2i Communications Wednesday (Sept. 7) launched a high-definition H.264 video encoder in a single field-programmable gate array (FPGA
FPGA, CPLD vendors eye automotive sector 2008-09-01
One of the promising markets that FPGA and CPLD vendors have been looking into is the automotive sector
FPGA, other PLD market to grow by 14% in '06 2006-05-30
The FPGAs and other PLD market is expected to grow from Rs.14,435.25 crore ($3.2 billion) in 2005 to Rs.30,223.70 crore ($6.7 billion) in 2010, according to Gartner Dataquest.
RFEL, RDE offer complex high-speed FPGA 2005-09-19
U.K.-based signal-processing specialist RF Engines Ltd (RFEL) and Germany's leading defense technology company Rheinmetall Defence Electronics (RDE) GmbH have released details of a recently signed contract.
FPGA system for next-gen multicore processors 2008-03-18
University of California along with Microsoft Research has designed the latest version of BEE3 that helps researchers quickly prototype processors with hundreds or thousands of cores and try out new ways of programming them.
Xilinx, EDA giants address 65nm FPGA verification 2007-08-17
Xilinx has collaborated with three major EDA companies to define and implement new verification flows to maximise productivity for ultrahigh-density designs targeting today's 65nm FPGAs.
Embedded FPGA targets 65nm 2006-11-07
Claiming to be already delivering the densest embedded FPGA (eFPGA) at the 90nm manufacturing node, M2000 SA is in the process of preparing FPGA IP targeting 65nm designs
Implement an FPGA ASIC prototype 2008-06-16
ASIC designers think they can best meet their requirements by prototyping the functional equivalents of their designs as FPGAs.
HP claims FPGA breakthrough 2007-01-18
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP)_claimed a breakthrough that could lead to the creation of FPGAs up to eight times denser¡ªwhile using less energy for a given computation¡ªthan those currently being produced today.
Application Notes related to FPGA:
The role of distributed arithmetic in FPGA-based signal processing 2001-04-12
This application note derives the distributed arithmetic (DA) algorithm in embedding DSP functions in FPGA devices, and provides examples that illustrate its effectiveness in producing gate-efficient designs
Building Xtensa-based emulation system on Xilinx FPGA 2008-09-29
This application note describes how to map an Xtensa or Diamond core to an FPGA with a minimal on-chip system
Targeting Cypress PLDs from the Synopsys FPGA Express environment 2001-03-29
This application note demonstrates how to target Cypress Semiconductor's FLASH370i and Ultra37000 families of CPLDs using the synthesis and netlist capability of the Synopsys FPGA Express environment
Interfacing the QDR to the Xilinx Spartan-II FPGA 2001-03-27
This application note introduces the enhanced Quad Data Rate (QDR) SRAM architecture, and describes the interface between this high-speed SRAM and the Xilinx Spartan-II FPGA
ORCA series 3 to series 4 FPGA design conversion 2002-12-06
This application note outlines the caveats and steps for the successful migration of ORCA series 3 FPGA designs to ORCA series 4
C code for interfacing AVR to AT17LVXXX FPGA configuration memories 2004-12-02
C code for interfacing AVR to AT17LVXXX FPGA configuration memories
UTOPIA Level 3 in ORCA Series 3 FPGA 2002-12-11
This application note describes the functions and features of the Utopia Level 3 in ORCA Series 3 FPGAs
FPGA interface to the TMSC6000 DSP platform using EMIF 2004-12-10
This app note presents the connection of Xilinx FPGAs to a Texas Instruments TMSC6000 DSP platform using the available external memory interface (EMIF).
644MHz SDR LVDS transmitter/receiver 2002-06-28
This application note describes single data rate transmitter and receiver interfaces operating up to 644MHz, using 17 LVDS pairs, implemented in a Virtex-II FPGA
Using SelectI/O interfaces in Spartan-II FPGAs 2001-04-12
This application note describes how to take full advantage of the flexibility of the Spartan-II FPGA family's SelectI/O features and the design considerations to improve and simplify system-level design
Reading user data from configuration PROMs 2004-12-10
This app note describes how to retrieve user-defined data from Xilinx configuration PROMs after the same PROM has configured the FPGA
Tips for successful power-up of today's high-performance FPGAs 2005-06-10
This app note explains FPGA power requirements and the causes of their power-up problems
Four- and six-layer, high-speed PCB design for the Spartan-3E FT256 BGA package 2007-04-27
This application note focuses on a low-cost, four- to six-layer, high-volume PCB layout for a Spartan-3E FPGA in the FT256 1mm BGA package. Useful for design engineers, managers and PCB layout staff familiar with SI related design issues, this note also reviews the impact of high-speed signals and signal integrity (SI) considerations for low layer count PCB layouts. The information is also applicable to the equivalent FG256 package and can be used to optimise board layout for other devices and packages
Memory interface appnotes overview 2007-04-27
This document describes briefly about the data capture technique, clocking scheme, FPGA resources used, and supported memory technology for each Xilinx memory interface application note that supports Virtex series and Spartan series FPGAs. Some key features of the memory technologies are also explained
Making designs 50% smaller 2008-11-12
Here's a design technique that can make a difference in the size and the performance of your FPGA design
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