How FPGAs work, and why you'll buy one
Yossi Kreinin argues that FPGAs are no longer just programmable gate arrays, they are becoming a mainstream programmable acceleration and I/O platform. The article explains how modern FPGAs pair a sea of LUTs and switch boxes with DSP slices, RAMs, and hard CPUs to deliver massive parallelism, deterministic timing, and surprising energy efficiency, and it includes a readable Verilog convolution example to show how this works in practice.
ANSI-C to VHDL compiler
Ylichron has released an "ANSI-C to VHDL" compiler, and the company says it is the first of its kind. The brief announcement flags a potentially important vendor claim for embedded and FPGA engineers who track C-to-hardware tools. Kunal Singh reports the availability and the marketing claim, and readers should seek technical details and independent verification before drawing conclusions.
Designing Embedded Systems with FPGA-2
Turning an FPGA hardware design into a running embedded system is mostly tool work. This post walks through using Xilinx EDK to compile a base design into a .bit bitstream, generate libraries and board support packages from .mhs and .mss files, and build MicroBlaze applications with GCC. It highlights the default boot placement at 0x0 and why some apps need an explicit execution transfer.
Designing Embedded System with FPGA - 1
Getting an embedded system running on an FPGA is much simpler than it sounds when you use Xilinx EDK and a soft processor. Pragnesh Patel walks through a beginner-friendly approach using the MicroBlaze CPU, drag-and-drop IP cores, and a Spartan-3E starter kit so you can assemble peripherals without deep VHDL knowledge. The post focuses on the EDK base system builder and first setup steps to generate a working design.
My first entry to embeddedrelated.com
Pragnesh Patel introduces his first EmbeddedRelated post with a hands-on look at embedded systems work on FPGA platforms. He describes using Xilinx Spartan-3E and EDK 9.1, and explains why FPGA logic can offload processor tasks in R&D and complex products. The post sets up a future series on implementing embedded systems with Xilinx devices.
Use Microprogramming to Save Resources and Increase Functionality
Microprogramming can rescue an overfull FPGA, Michael Morris shows, by compressing control logic and time-multiplexing FIFO storage. He replaces an ABEL state machine with a small microprogram ROM that uses block RAM for deep Rx/Tx FIFOs and LUT RAM for pointers and counters, freeing about 25 percent of the device. The article includes Verilog comparisons, resource tables, and a microassembler link to reproduce the approach.
Designing Embedded Systems with FPGA-2
Turning an FPGA hardware design into a running embedded system is mostly tool work. This post walks through using Xilinx EDK to compile a base design into a .bit bitstream, generate libraries and board support packages from .mhs and .mss files, and build MicroBlaze applications with GCC. It highlights the default boot placement at 0x0 and why some apps need an explicit execution transfer.
Designing Embedded System with FPGA - 1
Getting an embedded system running on an FPGA is much simpler than it sounds when you use Xilinx EDK and a soft processor. Pragnesh Patel walks through a beginner-friendly approach using the MicroBlaze CPU, drag-and-drop IP cores, and a Spartan-3E starter kit so you can assemble peripherals without deep VHDL knowledge. The post focuses on the EDK base system builder and first setup steps to generate a working design.
My first entry to embeddedrelated.com
Pragnesh Patel introduces his first EmbeddedRelated post with a hands-on look at embedded systems work on FPGA platforms. He describes using Xilinx Spartan-3E and EDK 9.1, and explains why FPGA logic can offload processor tasks in R&D and complex products. The post sets up a future series on implementing embedded systems with Xilinx devices.
ANSI-C to VHDL compiler
Ylichron has released an "ANSI-C to VHDL" compiler, and the company says it is the first of its kind. The brief announcement flags a potentially important vendor claim for embedded and FPGA engineers who track C-to-hardware tools. Kunal Singh reports the availability and the marketing claim, and readers should seek technical details and independent verification before drawing conclusions.
What does it mean to be 'Turing complete'?
The term "Turing complete" describes all computers and even some things we don't expect to be as powerful as a typical computer. In this article, I describe what it means and discuss the implications of Turing completeness on projects that need just a little more power, on alternative processor designs, and even security.
Three more things you need to know when transitioning from MCUs to FPGAs
Take a look at three more important difference between FPGAs and MCUs: "code reuse" vs templating, metastability and blocking vs. non-blocking operations.
Designing Embedded Systems with FPGA-2
Turning an FPGA hardware design into a running embedded system is mostly tool work. This post walks through using Xilinx EDK to compile a base design into a .bit bitstream, generate libraries and board support packages from .mhs and .mss files, and build MicroBlaze applications with GCC. It highlights the default boot placement at 0x0 and why some apps need an explicit execution transfer.
ANSI-C to VHDL compiler
Ylichron has released an "ANSI-C to VHDL" compiler, and the company says it is the first of its kind. The brief announcement flags a potentially important vendor claim for embedded and FPGA engineers who track C-to-hardware tools. Kunal Singh reports the availability and the marketing claim, and readers should seek technical details and independent verification before drawing conclusions.
My first entry to embeddedrelated.com
Pragnesh Patel introduces his first EmbeddedRelated post with a hands-on look at embedded systems work on FPGA platforms. He describes using Xilinx Spartan-3E and EDK 9.1, and explains why FPGA logic can offload processor tasks in R&D and complex products. The post sets up a future series on implementing embedded systems with Xilinx devices.
