what is FPGA and what are its application??

[buts101]

hello guys...
i've learn basic knowledge about vhdl. I also made 16 bit cpu which i want to implement on FPGA. So i should request my college to buy FPGA development kit. So i should make them understand "what is FPGA and its various applications".
Plz help me...in what sort of project i can use FPGA...and how can it help elx students as i am...in my college.

Thank you.

 

[papyaki]

Hi,

Try this vrey good site :

h**p://www.fpga4fun.com/WhatAreFPGAs.html

You will find a lot of basic information and some projects. Search the full site.

Replace * by t

 

[mobile-it]

hello guys...
i've learn basic knowledge about vhdl. I also made 16 bit cpu which i want to implement on FPGA. So i should request my college to buy FPGA development kit. So i should make them understand "what is FPGA and its various applications".
Plz help me...in what sort of project i can use FPGA...and how can it help elx students as i am...in my college.

Thank you.

In wich country and college are you studying?

 

[cmos babe]

FPGA is an advanced programmable logic technlogy that can be programmed using Hardware Description Languages HDLs such as VHDL and Verilog.FPGAs usually offer a large number of programmable resources which allow the designer to implement any digital system. Okay here are two sentences I could come up with now go to google and see the endless list of applications

 

[Dark Angel]

I have the same question and also want to know:
Why or when do you use a FPGA and not an ARM or other microcontroller?
Is it for the I/O, speed??
Is a micro for some projects not fast enough?

 

[samcheetah]

I have the same question and also want to know:
Why or when do you use a FPGA and not an ARM or other microcontroller?
Is it for the I/O, speed??
Is a micro for some projects not fast enough?

although this has been discussed a number of times at edaboard (a quick search might help) and this question has been answered, but i will try to tell you what i know

why or when depends on the application. if for instance at the block diagram level your design needs to solve a compute extensive algorithm and lots of glue logic, then you can implement the whole design in one FPGA. all you need to do is implement a processor core in the FPGA and the glue logic blocks.

if you are using only one microprocessor then thats all you have - one microprocessor. it has to do all the intensive calculations and push data from one part of the system to the other. but if you have an FPGA, you can implement muliple processors in one FPGA and divide tasks between them.

as for speed and I/O, yes FPGAs are far more superior. there are lots and lots of I/O. one thing you should keep in mind is that with an FPGA you can think of things happening in parallel. this massive parallelism is what gives FPGAs the edge over other options. you must have heard about the pentium 4 HT which is basically just that - it executes two (or more) threads simultaneously. so the more things you can do at the same time, the better.

the thing is that when you are thinking about FPGAs, you have to think differently.

i hope that helps

 

[alex_fn]

when you design you "realtime"processing, FPGA's parallel native characters will be very helpful,

and the point is tradional serial MP or MCU for instance ARMxx,only support serial processing ,rather FPGA could providing real multi - simulantous -process.

 

[evehits]

Hi
check this book it is very useful
The Design Warrior's Guide to FPGAs
download from here
**broken link removed**
have fun

 

[SFactor]

FPGA means Field programmable logic array .... this devices is used as a replacement for using different digital chips and it can be programmed to achieve any digital function ...

 

[Resistance]

hi friend,

See its simple refer my reply on wat is asic in the forum ASIC's ..

Plus tell them university level only a FPGA is cheap .. try to get reconfigurable one as it might help ur juniors too..

regards

 

[elecs_gene]

hi
being cheap, once u have written a code,u can easily verify and check ur code if it works under practical conditions before implementing the same in some other field.the only disadvantage is that it doesn't support very high clock speeds.but,it allows reasonable testing of ur design at a lower frequency.thus,it saves enormous amount of time.but,implementing the same in microcontroller,takes huge time.in FPGA,just fuse ur synthesized design(after writing hdl code) and the matter is over there..

regards