Last week I was pleasantly surprised when I wandered into the kitchen at 7 AM to discover that, instead of waiting for me to make her breakfast, my 10-year-old daughter had gotten up early, fed herself, put the dishes in the sink, and put on the hot water for my tea. Looking at her all dressed and ready for camp without my nagging, it was not hard to imagine her in another few years when she’s all-growed-up and ready for college. And much like the shock a parent experiences when they suddenly find their kid has taken another big step towards adulthood, I’ve been surprised to find that FPGAs and other programmable logic technologies have also grown up behind my back.

 

Even a few years ago, FPGAs had a reputation as costly, slow, power-hungry devices of last resort. Most often they were tossed in at the tail end of the design cycle as quick-turn tools to get products to market ahead of ASIC production cycles or as glue, to patch together the gaps between chips. And while FPGAs and PLDs will always serve in these traditional roles, several important factors have converged to move programmable logic from the edge of the design process towards a much more central role. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen smaller process geometries and improvements in architecture dramatically reducing both the power and cost-per-LUT dramatically enough that we’re seeing FPGAs at the center of many applications which don’t have the high volumes to amortize the development costs associated with ASICs and ASSPs. In some cases we’re even seeing a new generation of smaller low-cost programmable devices replacing custom ICs in middle-to-high-volume consumer products.

 

We’ve also seen FPGAs begin to incorporate essential non-programmable functions such as multi-gigabit SerDes interfaces and hardwired IP such as Ethernet MACs or DSP slices which expand the device’s capabilities while conserving their programmable elements. This increased versatility has been complemented by a growing universe of mature development tools and IP cores that allow designers to maximize performance and element utilization. Thanks to improved device performance, lowered costs, and design tools that rival anything their ASIC counterparts enjoy programmable logic devices are becoming an increasingly-attractive alternative to the ever-rising costs of custom IC development.

 

To serve this growing community of designers either considering or actually using FPGAs, analogZONE is pleased to introduce the programmable-logicZONE. On these page, we’ll strive to keep you informed of the latest products, technologies, and design practices that you’ll need to stay on top of this fast-moving field. If you’re a designer using programmable-gate arrays, programmable logic, or even structured ASICs you can count on us for the reviews, news, and how-tos that will help make your job easier and more productive.

 

Since this is a young section, it’s even more important than usual for you to take the time to tell us about what we can do to make it more useful to you. Please write to let me know what you like, don’t like and about anything you want us to include in our coverage. And as always we welcome the chance to publish any insights about interesting products or useful design ideas you’d like to share with your fellow readers. After all, it’s really your ZONE.

 

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

 

Write me at: lhg at en-genius.net