Today’s embedded system developers face unprecedented challenges in their efforts to rapidly deliver competitive products to market. Until recently, most system implementation options have been limited to software-intensive, power-hungry multichip systems or costly SoC ASICs. However, market forces and resource constraints are compounding to make these approaches less viable for many design teams. For ARM-based embedded systems, though, advances in FPGA technology, intellectual property (IP), and design tools have witnessed the emergence of user-customizable SoC FPGAs. These devices not only overcome the shortcomings of traditional approaches, but offer unique and significant advantages for embedded system implementation.
October 11, 2011