Xilinx’s plans to re-define a large chunk of its FPGA business as an application specific system-on-chip business will be on view at Embedded World 2009 next week.
Just five years ago, the FPGA was seen primarily as a general purpose hardware device, but now embedded software design groups, processor algorithm developers and system architects are using FPGAs to create innovative designs and quickly get them to market.
“Why?” asks Xilinx CEO Moshe Gavrielov.
“Many of those companies who could no longer afford to build Asics moved to buying ASSPs instead. But ASSPs offer limited programmability,” says Gavrielov.
“That is you can only differentiate your design in the software you program into the device. Your competitors likely have access to the same ASSP and can easily match or out-software your product," adds Gavrielov.
Xilinx has worked with distribution partner Avnet Silica on a Spartan-3A DSP FPGA and DaVinci DSP evaluation platform which provides real-time signal processing and accelerated DSP functionality in applications such as video surveillance, automotive, and machine vision
Other examples of an FPGA-based platform include a real-time video image decompression and filtering application implemented on a Virtex-5 FPGA.
Jointly developed with Impulse Accelerated Technologies, the reference design includes a Virtex-5 FXT device, with PowerPC 440 processors on the ML510 Evaluation Platform, a TFT display, and web-based filter control.
The multiple processor design using FPGA coprocessor accelerators, said Xilinx, can significantly increase software code performance.
An industrial Ethernet reference design uses the Spartan-3 FPGA for multiple Ethernet-based field-buses used in industrial and automation applications.
See more news at Embedded World 2009