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What's Stopping You Building Your Next Project with an FPGA? (Please, Don't Blame the Cost!)

rscasny

The community does a ton of projects with MCUs. If they do the job for you, that's great. But the element14 community is about learning, experimenting and roadtesting. In this spirit, I am proposing that you should try building your next project with an FPGA (SoC), if it suits the application, of course. What's stopping you? Oh, some members have voiced the cost issue. Granted, some FPGAs do cost a lot. But chip manufacturers are rolling out economical chipsets that most makers, pro-makers or experienced hobbyists can afford. (If you can't, then apply to a RoadTest and if you win you can get a dev board for FREE.) I think FPGA / SoCs will move into a more important place for electronic designers, especially for IoT applications. Perhaps it's time to experiement with one. What's stopping you?

 

Here's a link to a current roadtest:Digilent ARTY S7 Dev Board (Xilinx Spartan 7)   Apply today!

 

Randall Scasny

RoadTest Program Manager

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  • in reply to mcb1

      wrote:

     

    While I can see they have great potential and are much more suited for some things, IMO they are one piece of hardware for a purpose ...like a regulator is to power.

    Whilst I agree FPGA's aren't for every project, they are certainly a lot more general purpose than a power regulator as you are free to configure them to do whatever you choose. They come in many different variants with low or high gate count, low power consumption or high performance, or anywhere in between, varying embedded peripheral cores, even analog cores. If you look at the Microsemi range, they have the Fusion devices which are mixed signal FPGA's which include ADC's with wide input range analog inputs, gate driver outputs, etc., and the SmartFusion devices which have embedded ARM cores, PCIe lanes, DDR controllers. The range of capabilities in the FPGA offerings across the various manufacturers is quite amazing.

     

    So with all the options available you CAN use FPGA's in almost any design, but whether you should is another matter. They will add some complexity to the design process and powering and clocking them add's additional regulators and clocking/reset requirements to your board. They do offer a lot of flexibility though, and if you have areas of a design which you are unsure of until you get something on a bench and are able to test in in a real working scenario, then they also offer a get out of jail free card as you can reconfigure them to cater for things you discover during testing which might otherwise have required a board re-spin. You could also simplify some parts of a board if you bring lots into an FPGA rather than having discrete components and it might mean you can get you board design done quicker and be getting on with your FPGA design while your PCB is out being built.

     

    Best Regards,

     

    Rachael