BANGALORE, INDIA: The embedded systems have undergone a tremendous change over a period of time. This transformation has also resulted in the evolution of the role of FPGAs in the embedded industry. The Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a general-purpose device with digital logic building blocks.

Today, there are various development tools provided by FPGAs that meet the needs of a wider user base, enabling designers to select the optimal approach for performing tasks that are more complex in nature.

As opposed to the predefined hardware in off-the-shelf processors, FPGAs have the ability to create flexible embedded systems platforms. Additionally, given the expectations to deliver within tightly managed cost, schedule and power budgets, FPGAs allow engineers to build complex applications that require tremendous levels of system performance.

Xilinx announced the Extensible Processor Platform architecture - Dual CortexA9 cores with embedded peripherals, FPGA and DSP slices, redefining a new platform of SoC. It is a new concept of processor-centric FPGA where ARM processor will boot up before the FPGA fabric. Higher bandwidth of data transfer between the processor core and FPGA fabric saves IO pins and eases PCB design. The high integration also enables system power reduction.

There are many advantages to using an FPGA embedded processor system as compared to typical microprocessors:

Customization: A designer of an FPGA embedded processor system has the freedom to choose any desired combination of peripherals and controllers, thereby enabling him to conceive new, unique peripherals that can be connected directly to the processor bus. Different package options and pin compatibility will enable cost reduction and scalability

Obsolescence mitigation: It is essential for various applications - eg. in Automotive and Aerospace & Defense - to ensure a longer product lifespan than a standard electronics product. FPGA soft-processors are an excellent solution since the soft processor and the code base can be easily migrated to various FPGA families. The soft processor becomes the customer’s own obsolescence-proof custom processor with flexible set of peripherals to suit many different variants of the same product.

Component and cost reduction: FPGAs’ flexible attributes allow previous systems requiring multiple components to be replaced with a single FPGA. Reduction of component count in a design translates to reduced board size and inventory management, both of which result in saving design time and cost.

Hardware acceleration: Perhaps the most compelling reason to choose an FPGA embedded processor over a microprocessor is the ability to make a switch between hardware and software to maximize efficiency and performance. With modern FPGA hardware design tools, this transition from software to hardware has become easier. The new ISE embedded design flow will allow both software and hardware engineers to develop the system at the same time and cross-check between C code and FPGA functions on the development board. In the past, software engineers had to start the design and hand over to hardware engineers for implementation. If issues were found, hardware engineers mostly needed to send the designs back to software engineering for revision.

Device cost is another aspect to consider. If a standard processor can do the job, that processor may be less expensive in comparison to low-end simple applications. However, if an FPGA is already in the system, consuming unused gates or a hard processor in the FPGA essentially makes the embedded processor system cost inconsequential.

Xilinx has a robust embedded roadmap to expand the market reach of FPGAs both in terms of silicon as well as design tools. Xilinx earlier announced licensing of the ARM Cortex A9 processor. It also contributed to the development of the open source AMBA-4 or AXI-4 specification which is a bus interface standard optimized for FPGAs. Xilinx is moving towards standardization of all its IPs for both processor peripherals as well as standard IPs to provide AXI-4 interface enabling ease-of-use and re-use of IP blocks across multiple applications and platforms for the customers.

(The author is country manager sales, India, ANZ)