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FPGAs for DSP, Second Edition is a unique report that focuses on FPGAs as a solution for DSP applications. Since the publication of BDTI’s first FPGAs for DSP report in 2002, FPGAs have become increasingly popular for some DSP applications. In the latest generation of chips, major FPGA vendors have enhanced their products and provide more mature and sophisticated tools and software to support implementation of DSP applications.
BDTI examines recent DSP developments in FPGAs and explains why FPGAs are, increasingly, an attractive solution for implementing DSP. The report compares key offerings from FPGA vendors and discusses important differentiators. BDTI also compares FPGAs to mainstream DSPs to help answer the question of when to use an FPGA and when to use a DSP.
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- What is an FPGA
- Digital Signal Processors and Other Implementation Technologies
- FPGAs for DSP
- Design Flows
- Altera Stratix II and Xilinx Virtex-4
- Benchmark Results for Stratix II, Virtex-4, and DSPs
- Use an FPGA, a Processor, or Both?
- Conclusions, Trends
Excerpts from FPGAs for DSP, Second Edition:
On Altera and Xilinx tools:
Xilinx's AccelDSP and Altera's Nios II C2H Compiler both offer a means to generate hardware from high-level languages. Altera's C2H generates hardware that is called as a custom Nios II processor instruction, whereas hardware created with AccelDSP is integrated into a design in the same way as other custom-designed and off-the-shelf blocks. This could make C2H more desirable for designers who want to eliminate bottlenecks in their C applications with minimal design effort. AccelDSP, on the other hand, offers designers more flexibility in optimizing hardware implementations. A designer could, for instance, add pipeline stages to increase clock frequencies, or choose to unroll loops, changing the distribution of logic resources.
From the analysis of benchmark results:
The FPGA benchmark implementations in this report were produced by expert engineers at Altera and Xilinx with full access to all of the support infrastructure those organizations provide. Even so, we estimate that the effort involved was on the order of 6-12 man-months for each of the benchmark implementations. In contrast, the DSP processor implementations were produced by BDTI engineers with about 6-8 man-weeks of effort.
On trends in FPGAs for DSP:
Another interesting aspect of FPGA flexibility is that FPGAs can readily incorporate processors, but DSPs, GPPs, ASICs, and ASSPs cannot readily incorporate configurable logic. In BDTI's consulting practice we are often called upon to help system developers select chips for their next-generation products. In many cases the previous design incorporates a DSP and an FPGA. In some cases, this combination will continue to be appropriate for the next-generation design. But in other cases, there may be strong incentives to consolidate. In these cases, it is more likely that the FPGA will be able to subsume the functionality handled by the DSP than the reverse. This dynamic favors increased adoption of FPGAs.
To receive excerpts (34 pages) from FPGAs for DSP, Second Edition, send a request to BDTI.
Pricing, Shipping, and Ordering Information
First copy: $2,495
Additional copies: $650 each
Discounts are available on volume orders. Contact BDTI at info@bdti.com for details.
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