RE: FPGAs and Xilinx

genebren — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 20:22:48 GMT

I have been involved in several instances where a chip that a company had engineered into a product went obsolete. Given this problem there are a couple of solutions:

1) re-design the product, removing the obsolete part.

2) engineer a replacement part, using a programmable logic device.

3) attempt to find available parts from surplus inventories and/or other gray market places.

Depending on the complexity of the component being replaced will help guide you to what type programmable part to use. Simple logical devices can be 'cloned' using a CPLD, while more complex devices might require a FPGA. For the cloning process to be successful you need to completely understand to the logic of the device. This can be the most difficult part of the task. In one instance we were attempting to replace an IEEE 488 controller chip. While the device was described in quite a bit of detail in the specification and use manuals, there were huge areas of the behavior that were not specified. Here we had to use a logic analyzer to capture 'normal' operational timing and responses to routine sequences of operations. Using specified and observed behavior we were eventually able to 'clone' the part (through several iterations, finding and fixing errors, until we were successful) and continue to product the product.

Good luck with your learning experience.

Gene

RE: FPGAs and Xilinx

gecoz — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 23:41:00 GMT

Hi Aron,

you can find many useful posts about FPGAs here on Element14 you can start from to get an idea on what could be more suitable for you.

Try having a look at Not-as-expensive FPGA Boards for example, which contains many useful suggestions for boards you can start experimenting with.

Also, you can check the FPGA Group for many more interesting articles on the subject.

I hope this helps.

Fabio.