Summary

This chapter began with a discussion on the effective use of FPGAs in real-time embedded system architectures and continued with a description of standard FPGA devices and the low-level components they contain. The range of FPGA design languages, including HDLs, block diagram methods, and popular software programming languages such as C/C++, was introduced. An outline of the FPGA development process was presented. The chapter concluded with a complete example of an FPGA development cycle, starting with a statement of requirements and ending with a functional system implemented on a low-cost FPGA development board.

Having completed this chapter, you should know how FPGAs can be applied effectively in real-time embedded system architectures and understand the components inside an FPGA integrated circuit. You have learned about the programming languages used in the design of FPGA algorithms, the steps in the FPGA development cycle, and understand the sequence of steps in the...