There are two levels of DSP design. First, there’s the conceptual level, where hard-core algorithm development rules the day. Your big concern here is the numerical correctness of your algorithm, but there’s no timing information or data typing to fret about. This is the comfort zone for the traditional DSP designer. You’re dealing with a problem from a purely mathematical point of view, using a procedural language like “M” in the MathWorks’ MATLAB, which is suited for un-timed algorithms with mathematically friendly data types to fine-tune your formula.

… Read More → "Assemble All Ye IP"

Because development boards are readily available, many FPGA designers make the mistake of relying on them as their primary embedded processor debug and verification environment. Can you get the job done that way? Well, yes you can, but then you can also dig a trench with a teaspoon – if you have enough time.

Large devices allow you to stuff a whole system into the FPGA, but debugging these complex systems with limited visibility – and a one-day turnaround for synthesis plus place and route – can consume weeks of your precious time.

Hardware/software … Read More → "The Case for Hardware/Software Co-Verification"

Soft sourceless music flows through the dim-lit scene. The faint smell of incense lingers. The embedded system designer sitting back on the recliner is a relaxed subject, miles from the high-stress world of project schedules and power budgets. The white-robed researcher speaks softly through the microphone, pausing just long enough for the subject’s responses to her word-associations to be heard. “Fire”… “hot”, “Pillow”… “soft”, “Schedule”… “late”, “Water”… “clear”, “Budget”… “over”, “FPGA& … Read More → "Chillin’ with QuickLogic"

Conventional wisdom says that Charles Dickens’s novels are so long because he was paid by the word. This is not strictly true, as his novels were published in serial form, and Dickens was paid by the installment. The net result is the same, however, as the volume of reading required to mine the gold from his classic works is legendary. Plot lines that could reasonably be summarized in a few succinct paragraphs drag on through chapter after chapter of flowery, flowing, profitable prose.

It appears sometimes that the PR professionals in FPGA and … Read More → "Thinking Like Xilinx"

Sometimes, even the experts get fooled. Anybody who is intimately familiar with the FPGA industry would probably have predicted the same thing. With the epic Godzilla versus Mothra game of marketing and product one-upsmanship raging between rivals Xilinx and Altera for the past decade, the next move is often simple to anticipate. In the most recent rounds of action: Xilinx packs a hard punch introducing low-cost Spartan-3 as the first 90nm FPGA. Altera strikes back with Stratix-II as the first 90nm high-speed, high-density flagship offering. Each side then counters with the piece they’re missing, Altera with Cyclone … Read More → "SerDes Sweet Spot"