FPGAs

Fundamentals, Advanced Features, and Applications in Industrial Electronics

Juan Jose Rodriguez Andina, Eduardo de la Torre Arnanz, Maria Dolores Valdes, Juan José Rodriguez Andina, Maria Dolores Valdés Peña

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781351667272
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are currently recognized as the most suitable platform for the implementation of complex digital systems targeting an increasing number of industrial electronics applications. They cover a huge variety of application areas, such as: aerospace, food industry, art, industrial automation, automotive, biomedicine, process control, military, logistics, power electronics, chemistry, sensor networks, robotics, ultrasound, security, and artificial vision. This book first presents the basic architectures of the devices to familiarize the reader with the fundamentals of FPGAs before identifying and discussing new resources that extend the ability of the devices to solve problems in new application domains. Design methodologies are discussed and application examples are included for some of these domains, e.g., mechatronics, robotics, and power systems.

Contents

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Preface

Acknowledgments

Authors

1. FPGAs and Their Role in the Design of Electronic Systems

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Embedded Control Systems: A Wide Concept

1.3 Implementation Options for Embedded Systems

1.3.1 Technological Improvements and Complexity Growth

1.3.2 Toward Energy-Efficient Improved Computing Performance

1.3.3 A Battle for the Target Technology?

1.3.4 Design Techniques and Tools for the Different Technologies

1.3.4.1 General-Purpose Processors and Microcontrollers

1.3.4.2 DSP Processors

1.3.4.3 Multicore Processors and GPGPUs

1.3.4.4 FPGAs

1.3.4.5 ASICs

1.4 How Does Configurable Logic Work?

1.5 Applications and Uses of FPGAs

References

2. Main Architectures and Hardware Resources of FPGAs

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Main FPGA Architectures

2.3 Basic Hardware Resources

2.3.1 Logic Blocks

2.3.2 I/O Blocks

2.3.2.1 SerDes Blocks

2.3.2.2 FIFO Memories

2.3.3 Interconnection Resources

2.4 Specialized Hardware Blocks

2.4.1 Clock Management Blocks

2.4.2 Memory Blocks

2.4.3 Hard Memory Controllers

2.4.4 Transceivers

2.4.4.1 PCIe Blocks

2.4.5 Serial Communication Interfaces

References

3. Embedded Processors in FPGA Architectures

3.1 Introduction

3.1.1 Multicore Processors

3.1.1.1 Main Hardware Issues

3.1.1.2 Main Software Issues

3.1.2 Many-Core Processors

3.1.3 FPSoCs

3.2 Soft Processors

3.2.1 Proprietary Cores

3.2.2 Open-Source Cores

3.3 Hard Processors

3.4 Other “Configurable” SoC Solutions

3.4.1 Sensor Hubs

3.4.2 Customizable Processors

3.5 On-Chip Buses

3.5.1 AMBA

3.5.1.1 AHB

3.5.1.2 Multilayer AHB

3.5.1.3 AXI

3.5.2 Avalon

3.5.3 CoreConnect

3.5.4 WishBone

References

4. Advanced Signal Processing Resources in FPGAs

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Embedded Multipliers

4.3 DSP Blocks

4.4 Floating-Point Hardware Operators

References

5. Mixed-Signal FPGAs

5.1 Introduction

5.2 ADC Blocks

5.3 Analog Sensors

5.4 Analog Data Acquisition and Processing Interfaces

5.5 Hybrid FPGA–FPAA Solutions

References

6. Tools and Methodologies for FPGA-Based Design

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Basic Design Flow Based on RTL Synthesis and Implementation Tools

6.2.1 Design Entry

6.2.2 Simulation Tools

6.2.2.1 Interactive Simulation

6.2.2.2 Mixed-Mode Simulation

6.2.2.3 HIL Verification

6.2.3 RTL Synthesis and Back-End Tools

6.2.3.1 RTL Synthesis

6.2.3.2 Translation

6.2.3.3 Placement and Routing

6.2.3.4 Bitstream Generation

6.3 Design of SoPC Systems

6.3.1 Hardware Design Tools for SoPCs

6.3.2 Software Design Tools for SoPCs

6.3.3 Core Libraries and Core Generation Tools

6.4 HLS Tools

6.5 Design of HPC Multithread Accelerators

6.6 Debugging and Other Auxiliary Tools

6.6.1 Hardware/Software Debugging for SoPC Systems

6.6.1.1 Software Debugging

6.6.1.2 Hardware Debugging

6.6.1.3 Hardware/Software Co-Debugging

6.6.2 Auxiliary Tools

6.6.2.1 Pin Planning Tools

6.6.2.2 FPGA Selection Advisory Tools

6.6.2.3 Power Estimation Tools

References

7. Off-Chip and In-Chip Communications for FPGA Systems

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Off-Chip Communications

7.2.1 Low-Speed Interfaces

7.2.2 High-Speed Interfaces

7.3 In-Chip Communications

7.3.1 Point-to-Point Connections

7.3.2 Bus-Based Connections

7.3.3 Networks on Chip

References

8. Building Reconfigurable Systems Using Commercial FPGAs

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Main Reconfiguration-Related Concepts

8.2.1 Reconfigurable Architectures

8.3 FPGAs as Reconfigurable Elements

8.3.1 Commercial FPGAs with Reconfiguration Support

8.3.2 Setting Up an Architecture for Partial Reconfiguration

8.3.3 Scalable Architectures

8.3.4 Tool Support for Partial Reconfiguration

8.3.5 On-Chip Communications for Reconfigurable System Support

8.4 RTR Support

8.4.1 Self-Managing Systems

8.4.2 Adaptive Multithread Execution with Reconfigurable Hardware Accelerators

8.4.3 Evolvable Hardware

References

9. Industrial Electronics Applications of FPGAs

9.1 Introduction

9.2 FPGA Application Domains in Industrial Electronics

9.2.1 Digital Real-Time Simulation of Power Systems

9.2.2 Advanced Control Techniques

9.2.2.1 Power Systems

9.2.2.2 Robotics and Automotive Electronics

9.2.2.3 Use of Floating-Point Operations

9.2.3 Electronic Instrumentation

9.3 Conclusion

References

Index

Preface

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This book intends to contribute to a wider use of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) in industry by presenting the concepts associated with this technology in a way accessible for nonspecialists in hardware design so that they can analyze if and when these devices are the best (or at least a possible) solution to efficiently address the needs of their target industrial applications. This is not a trivial issue because of the many different (but related) factors involved in the selection of the most suitable hardware platform to solve a specific digital design problem. The possibilities enabled by current FPGA devices are highlighted, with particular emphasis on the combination of traditional FPGA architectures and powerful embedded processors, resulting in the so-called field-programmable systems-on-chip (FPSoCs) or systems- on-programmable-chip (SoPCs). Discussions and analyses are focused on the context of embedded systems, but they are also valid and can be easily extrapolated to other areas.

The book is structured into nine chapters:

• Chapter 1 analyzes the different existing design approaches for embedded systems, putting FPGA-based design in perspective with its direct competitors in the field. In addition, the basic concept of FPGA “programmability” or “configurability” is discussed, and the main elements of FPGA architectures are introduced.
• From the brief presentation in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 describes in detail the main characteristics, structure, and generic hardware resources of modern FPGAs (logic blocks, I/O blocks, and interconnection resources). Some specialized hardware blocks (clock management blocks, memory blocks, hard memory controllers, transceivers, and serial communication interfaces) are also analyzed in this chapter.
• Embedded soft and hard processors are analyzed in Chapter 3, because of their special significance and the design paradigm shift they caused as they transformed FPGAs from hardware accelerators to FPSoC platforms. As shown in this chapter, devices have evolved from simple ones, including one general-purpose microcontroller, to the most recent ones, which integrate several (more than 10 in some cases) complex processor cores operating concurrently, opening the door for the implementation of homogeneous or heterogeneous multicore architectures. The efficient communication between processors and their peripherals is a key factor to successfully develop embedded systems. Because of this, the currently available on-chip buses and their historical evolution are also analyzed in detail in this chapter.
• Chapter 4 analyzes DSP blocks, which are very useful hardware resources in many industrial applications, enabling the efficient implementation of key functional elements, such as digital filters, encoders, decoders, or mathematical transforms. The advantages provided by the inherent parallelism of FPGAs and the ability of most current devices to implement floating-point operations in hardware are also highlighted in this chapter.
• Analog blocks, including embedded ADCs and DACs, are addressed in Chapter 5. They allow the functionality of the (mostly digital) FPGA devices to be extended to simplify interfacing with the analog world, which is a fundamental requirement for many industrial applications.
• The increasing complexity of FPGAs, which is clearly apparent from the analyses in Chapters 2 through 5, can only be efficiently handled with the help of suitable software tools, which allow complex design projects to be completed within reasonably short time frames. Tools and methodologies for FPGA design are presented in Chapter 6, including tools based on the traditional RTL design flow, tools for SoPC design, high-level synthesis tools, and tools targeting multithread accelerators for high-performance computing, as well as debugging and other auxiliary tools.
• There are many current applications where tremendous amounts of data have to be processed. In these cases, communication resources are key elements to obtain systems with the desired (increasingly high) performance. Because of the many functionalities that can be implemented in FPGAs, such efficient communications are required to interact not only with external elements but also with internal blocks to exchange data at the required rates. The issues related to both off-chip and in-chip communications are analyzed in detail in Chapter 7.
• The ability to be reconfigured is a very interesting asset of FPGAs, which resulted in a new paradigm in digital design, allowing the same dev...

Table of contents

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