FPGA and its Industrial Usage – A Brief Insight

FPGA or Field Programmable Gate Arrays are nothing but types of semiconductor devices which are based around matrix of CLBs, or configurable logic blocks. They are connected through programmable interconnects. It is possible to reprogram FPGAs to the desired functionality or application; which is required post manufacturing.  This is one feature which differentiates FPGA from ASICs or Application Specific Integrated Circuits, which are custom designed meant to achieve specific tasks. When it comes to industrial FPGA, there are different varieties of them which are used. Every single one of them are designed to accomplish certain tasks. With the introduction of FPGA, the efficiency and productivity of the machines are believed to have increased many folds. All the advanced industrial devices which we see these days; capable of performing automated action; are nothing but types of FPGA.

What are the Different Applications of FPGA?

When it comes to application, FPGA s are used in a wide range of different domains, to achieve different types of objectives. Here is a brief insight into some of its applications.

• Defense and Aerospace: Here Radiation-tolerant FPGAs are used alongside intellectual property which are used for the purpose of generating waveforms, processing images and for reconfiguring SDRs.
• Audio: FPGA s are also used for targeted design platforms which allows flexibility of higher value. Besides, it also comes with other benefits like lower non-recurring overall engineering cost in the field of multimedia applications and communication.
• ASIC Prototyping: Supported by FPGAs, ASIC prototyping comes with the benefit of accurate and fast SoC system modeling and also verification of different embedded software and applications.
• Automotive: They are also used in different types of driver assistance mechanisms, convenience, comfort and other types of in-vehicle infotainment
• Pro AV and Broadcast: They are capable of adapting to different types of changing requirements in a much faster manner and can also lengthen the life cycle of products. They are also used in high end and advanced professional broadcast mechanisms.
• Consumer Electronics: FPGA has proven to be as a very cost effective and efficient solution for next generation consumer electronic applications; like digital displays, headsets, home networking and others.
• Data Storage and Performance Computing: It is commonly used when it comes to storage applications and servers. Besides, it is also used for SAN or Storage Area Network and NAS, or Network Attached Storage. FPGA is also used in different other types of IT applications and mechanisms.

The use of FPGA in the industrial sector is quite common these days. The fact that it has proven to be a cost effective solution which can be reprogrammed and customized in order to meet various requirements have made it one of the indispensible elements in some sectors; IT and aerospace are two of them.

More research is being carried out on FPGA in order to find more advanced and sophisticated versions of it; which can add more efficiency to different industrial sectors; while curtailing their cost of production by a great etent.