The main difference between FPGA and controllers (8051 or PIC)

Hi to Everyone,

What is the major difference b/w FPGA and controllers(8051,pic)
what are their applications.
I m feeling little tough platform in Verilog coding( Quartus II), I have done projects on 8051,C language.
Does FPGA is only storage device(gate array) or it has processor inside.

Re: FPGA and Controllers

FPGA is the targeted device to which u download the architecture which you have designed.
Various fields employ FPGAs namely image processing,DSP,Neural networks etc....

Re: FPGA and Controllers

You can see an fpga as a free programmable logic block. you just put inside what you want. The functionality depends on what you describe in your verilog.

A microcontroller is a dedicated logic block that is capable of loading instructions and react on each instruction in a predefined way. The functionality depends on the order of the instructions.

A simple fpga does not contain a processor by default. However, since a processor is just a (more or less) complex logic function, you can describe in verilog and put in the fpga (possibly together with some other functionalities). You can also download a lot of code for small processors from Home :: OpenCores

As already stated by RAMESH, an fpga is well suited for dedicated algorithms. You can make a certain functionality faster by implementing the algorithm with parallel or pipelined operations instead of with serial instructions for a microcontroller. But this is only defined by how you create the logic. The big thing is that microprocessors are dedicated logic, fpga is fully custom logic to your design.