FPGAs have been widely implemented in various industries.
5 key application of FPGAS
1. Applications for communications
FPGA exists in the complex environment of SDN(software-defined networks) and FFT, and it needs to achieve work that cannot be done by network hardware. Simulator pieces are usually limited to antennas, ADCs and DAC converters.
2. Applications for Energy
As renewable energy sources such as solar and wind grow in popularity, automation requires technologies to continuously monitor, regulate, and protect the grid for more efficient peak demand load management. FPGAs can improve the performance and scalability of smart grids while maintaining low power consumption.
3. Designing application specific integrated circuits using FPGAs
In circuit architecture, using FPGAs to build and test prototypes, errors can be corrected.
The advantage of using FPGAs to design integrated circuits is that you can save time and money.
4. Applications for Automotive
Solutions for in-vehicle infotainment, comfort, and convenience using automotive silicon and IP.
It can help improve the automotive experiences，such as cruise control, blind spot warning, and collision avoidance.
FPGA-based storage can provide information assurance, tamper-proof and hardware security, as well as error-correcting memory and low static power consumption.
5. Applications for big data and cloud
The cloud computing and big data are generating an exponential growth of the data acquired and processed. This, combined with computational analysis of the same through deep learning techniques of multiple operations parallelly, is leading to high demand for low-latency, flexible, and secure computational capacity. It cannot be resolved by adding more servers due to the increasing space costs.
FPGAs’ ability to accelerate processing, flexibility in design, and security that the hardware provides against software, This is very important for data centers.
The key working principles and functions of FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array)
1. Configurable logic blocks
FPGA’s fundamental building block is a CLB. CLB is the abbreviation for configurable logic block, It’s a logic cell that can be set up or programmed to carry out particular tasks. The connection block is joined to these building blocks to perform the logical operations required by the design. Its components include carry and control logic, transistor pairs, and look-up tables (LUTs).
2. Programmable interconnects
All of the unique connections between logic cells located in different logic blocks are present in this area of the field programmable gate arrays. Switch boxes that contain several basic semiconductor switches are commonly used to implement the interconnect.
3. Programmable routing
There are two basic types of FPGA routing architecture. It’s density and performance are impacted by the routing design. Programmable routing is crucial because it usually accounts for more than fifty percent of the fabric surface and the critical route latency of applications. Programmable routing consists of prefabricated wire segments and pre-configured switches. By configuring the right combination of switches, any output of a function block may be linked to any input. Hierarchical field programmable gate arrays can construct these connections using short wires that link discrete portions of a chip because communication happens more often between modules that are near together in the design hierarchy.
4. Programmable I/O blocks
Between the package pins and the underlying circuitry of the device, input/output blocks provide programmable unidirectional or bidirectional connections. The interface between the field programmable gate array and external circuits is the IOB (Input Output Block), a programmable input and output device utilized to fulfill the driving and matching needs for input/output signals under various electrical characteristics. Interfacing pins are used to link logic blocks with external components.
5. On-chip memory
FFS is a form of on-chip memory element in FPGA system. As the logic capacity of field programmable gate arrays increases, these systems almost always require memory to buffer and reuse on-chip data. Therefore, it needs to have more intensive on-chip storage.
6. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) blocks
Due to the considerable market share of high-multiplier-density signal processing and communication applications for field programmable gate arrays, designers developed novel implementations to address the inefficiency of soft logic multiplier implementations. This is known as digital signal processing or DSP.
7. System-level interconnect
This system-level link was established in the past by setting specific FPGA logic and routing elements to form soft buses that accomplish pipelining, multiplexing, and wiring between the necessary endpoints.
