Rapid System Prototyping with FPGAs: Accelerating the Design Process (Embedded Technology)

The push to move products to market as quickly and cheaply as possible is fiercer than ever, and accordingly, engineers are always looking for new ways to provide their companies with the edge over the competition. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which are faster, denser, and more cost-effective than traditional programmable logic devices (PLDs), are quickly becoming one of the most widespread tools that embedded engineers can utilize in order to gain that needed edge. FPGAs are especially popular for prototyping designs, due to their superior speed and efficiency. This book hones in on that rapid prototyping aspect of FPGA use, showing designers exactly how they can cut time off production cycles and save their companies money drained by costly mistakes, via prototyping designs with FPGAs first. Reading it will take a designer with a basic knowledge of implementing FPGAs to the "next-level" of FPGA use because unlike broad beginner books on FPGAs, this book presents the required design skills in a focused, practical, example-oriented manner. *In-the-trenches expert authors assure the most applicable advice to practicing engineers *Dual focus on successfully making critical decisions and avoiding common pitfalls appeals to engineers pressured for speed and perfection *Hardware and software are both covered, in order to address the growing trend toward "cross-pollination" of engineering expertise The push to move products to market as quickly and cheaply as possible is fiercer than ever, and accordingly, engineers are always looking for new ways to provide their companies with the edge over the competition. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which are faster, denser, and more cost-effective than traditional programmable logic devices (PLDs), are quickly becoming one of the most widespread tools that embedded engineers can utilize in order to gain that needed edge. FPGAs are especially popular for prototyping designs, due to their superior speed and efficiency.

This book hones in on that rapid prototyping aspect of FPGA use, showing designers exactly how they can cut time off production cycles and save their companies money drained by costly mistakes, via prototyping designs with FPGAs first. Reading it will take a designer with a basic knowledge of implementing FPGAs to the “next-level” of FPGA use because unlike broad beginner books on FPGAs, this book presents the required design skills in a focused, practical, example-oriented manner.

*In-the-trenches expert authors assure the most applicable advice to practicing engineers

*Dual focus on successfully making critical decisions and avoiding common pitfalls appeals to engineers pressured for speed and perfection

*Hardware and software are both covered, in order to address the growing trend toward "cross-pollination" of engineering expertise Rapid System Prototyping with FPGAs ......Page 2 Contents ......Page 8 Acknowledgements ......Page 14 About the Authors ......Page 16 1 Introduction ......Page 18 2 FPGA Fundamentals ......Page 30 3 Optimizing the Development Cycle ......Page 52 4 System Engineering ......Page 68 5 FPGA Device-Level Design Decisions ......Page 88 6 Board-Level Design Decisions and Allocation ......Page 104 7 Design Implementation......Page 120 8 Design Simulation ......Page 144 9 Design Constraints and Optimization ......Page 154 10 Configuration ......Page 172 11 Board-Level Testing ......Page 180 12 Advanced Topics Introduction ......Page 184 13 Cores and Intellectual Property ......Page 188 14 Embedded Processing Cores ......Page 202 15 Digital Signal Processing ......Page 228 16 Advanced Interconnect ......Page 244 17 Bringing It All Together ......Page 254 A Rapid System Prototyping Technical References ......Page 266 B Design Phases ......Page 288 Abbreviations and Acronyms ......Page 304 Index ......Page 312 "This book will help engineers navigate the complex FPGA universe by providing them with a practical guide to using FPGAs for rapid prototyping, based on the authors' years of successful real-world design experience. More than a theoretical overview, this book is grounded in the day-to-day realities of engineering design. It teaches engineers everything they need to know in order to take full advantage of the benefits available through the use of FPGAs. Crucial skills are presented in a focused, example-oriented manner, helping the reader to make informed decisions involving critical factors such as pin assignment and clock considerations. The authors thoroughly explain how to optimize design flow while avoiding common mistakes and pitfalls throughout the design process FPGA fundamentals Optimizing the development cycle System engineering FPGA device Board-level design decisions & allocation Design implementation Design simulation Design optimization and constraints Configuration Debug & verify Cores and intellectual property Embedded processing cores Fixed point digital signal processing Advanced IO Bringing it all together/tech trends.