FGPA some questions about memory and stand alone working

[Agent006]

Hi,

I am a newbee in FPGAs. I have a few doubts. Hope that someone can clear them.

1-Are all FPGAs have volatile memory i.e. they lose program on power down.

2-How can I make my FPGA board so that it can operate as stand alone without the interference of downloading PC everytime I wish to use it. Can anyone site a practical example.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Programmable logic comes two flavors. EEPROM based CPLD which is non-volatile and SRAM based which is volatile. For the SRAM based FPGA, you can have the part configured by flash memory via the SPI pins, JTAG, or uP. It is usually set up such that it is automatically configured upon power up.

 

[ZmGor]

Look here. Especially XAPP090 and XAPP151 h*tp://support.xilinx.com/apps/config.htm

 

[Ace-X]

Check this FAQ. It contains answers for your questions:
**broken link removed**

 

[prisnow]

Quite useful!
Thanks

 

[sandeep_sggs]

Re: FGPA Doubts

ans 1: yes, FPGAs (SRAM based) are volatile. There are other FPGAs which are nonvolatile but they are not flexible and hence we dont use them often (less market share)...


ans 2: Yes u can make a board which will make u r system stand alone:

i) u can have a prom connected with fpga and store u r configuraion in it. when power goes off and comes back then fpga will automatically read configuration from prom*.

ii) u can have external embedded processor on board which will take care of programming the fpga*



*note: Read about the fpga programming modes from user guide of fpga.

 

[ljxpjpjljx]

Re: FGPA Doubts

you use Xlinx board or other board?