System-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions are hailed as one of the most important developments in the semiconductor industry, and are now available everywhere from consumer electronics such as digital handsets and digital TVs to high-end communications LAN/WAN devices. In the past, in order to create such an embedded system, design engineers had to choose between three hardwares: processor, logic, and memory, and these devices have now been combined into a single SoC solution.

SoC challenges

The embedded system SoC can be implemented using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Several key issues to address in developing new SoC devices include new design tools, advanced process technologies, and semiconductor IP. Despite being technically advanced, the ASIC-based SoC industry still faces challenges and may even be difficult to fully realize its potential. Here are some of the issues and challenges it faces:

1. The complexity of the system is increasing, so it is more likely to cause design errors and product delays, and re-projection will lead to increased costs.

2. The pressure on time to market is greater. There are many internal and external pressure requirements for shortening time to market, as current design methods are still implemented in accordance with traditional ASIC timelines.

3. The product life cycle is shorter, and the requirements for design reuse of products with a life cycle of six months to one year are stronger.

4. A variety of industry standards coexist. New and emerging industry standards are constantly being produced and updated, so products are difficult to keep pace with changes in industry standards.

5. Design flexibility for different products can be poor.

6. Reconfigurable and field upgrade performance is lacking.

Embedded SoC Digital Display System Based on FPGA

Today, FPGA-based SoCs can solve the tasks and challenges that previous ASIC-based SoCs could not accomplish, such as field upgrades, reduced time-to-market, and meeting evolving and updated standards. FPGA-based SoC designs can be used in a variety of applications, including those that benefit the most from ASIC to FPGA transitions:

1. Communication and network: network and wireless infrastructure.

2. Data processing: servers and storage devices.

3. Consumer electronics: digital set-top boxes, digital TVs and personal cameras.

ASICs have advantages in terms of device cost, size, and performance; FPGAs are slightly better at time to market, modeling time, and upgradeability. These are the basic basis for trade-offs between FPGAs and ASICs in design. The biggest difference between an FPGA and an ASIC is that it uses a large number of transistors and internal interconnects for programming. Because of the small number of transistors used in ASICs, the device cost of an ASIC is usually lower than that of an FPGA. However, according to Moore's Law, the gap between FPGA and ASIC in terms of density, performance and device cost is gradually narrowing. As shown in Figure 1, chip interconnect technology, such as the use of more metal layers and copper connections, helps to reduce the cost, density and performance gap between FPGA and ASIC. In addition, when calculating ASIC or FPGA-based SoC costs, in addition to production costs, the time and expense required for design development is also an important consideration.

The development of Xilinx's programmable logic devices. FPGAs initially offered only a simple combination of logic solutions and then evolved into Platforms FPGAs, providing great value to system architecture design engineers in terms of functionality and total cost. Now, from network equipment to high-end consumer devices, FPGAs are beginning to be mass-produced. The following takes the PlatformFPGA solution as an example to illustrate the characteristics of the FPGA-based SoC solution.

PlatformFPGA solution

PlatformFPGA is a high-performance SoC solution, and its features are outlined below.

A. Platform FPGA model The information age represented by the Internet, wireless, globalization and personal communication requires equipment manufacturers to increase the data rate and channel number in standard communication systems to support video streams, audio streams and data streams. Platform FPGAs provide manufacturers with the system flexibility, time to market, and support for high bandwidth requirements. In addition, PlatformFPGA provides system control for embedded processors, DSP cores for custom data filtering and parallel processing, and gigabit serial and source synchronous I/O ports for high-speed data communication.

Virtex-II systems range in density from 40,000 to 8 million and offer embedded system memory. This high-density on-chip memory increases overall system bandwidth because it provides fast and efficient FIFO buffers, shift registers, and CAM. Embedded RAM blocks and high-speed memory interfaces provide powerful, memory-based data channels for bandwidth-hungry systems.

The PlatformFPGA capabilities provided by Virtex-II devices and their expansion devices address signal integrity, complex system clock management, and on-board EMI management in system-level designs.

B.PlatformFPGA soft and hard core
PlatformFPGA is a flexible solution that integrates a range of soft and hard IP cores on a single chip, while hardware and firmware can be upgraded at any time. The programmability of the FPGA architecture reduces system development time, and a single PlatformFPGA can meet a variety of application needs. In addition, it provides the flexibility of software and hardware co-design, allowing design engineers to optimize the system during the development cycle.

PlatformFPGA uses IP insertion and active interconnect technology. IP insertion technology seamlessly plugs any size or shape of soft and hard IP cores into any part of the FPGA fabric and maintains excellent connectivity to the surrounding array. Active interconnect technology provides active routing channels that allow both soft and hard IP cores to maintain stable, efficient performance wherever they are located.

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