This section of FAQs has questions related to VLSI design approaches & IP cores related issues
What are IP cores?
IP Stands for Intellectual Property. Today many of the hardware related and signal processor related algorithms and circuits are developed by some companies which are basically IP core development companies and they are useful in implementing a complex system/product. These IP cores generally portable and reusable. Today for any complex digital system implementation, majority of the times people prefer to use an existing IP cores and develop the system in a short time.
FPGA manufacturers offer IP cores suitable for their FPGAs (may be sometimes suitable for ASICs also). Read more about Xilinx IP cores from http://www.xilinx.com/ipcenter
Few basic IP cores are available from UTS suitable for education projects and Academic research; read more from http://unistring.com//pages/vlsi-eh-design/vlsi-ip-cores.php
Is FPGA solution is cheaper than ASIC?
In ASIC design NRE cost is high , but unit cost is less. Where as in FPGA based design the NRE cost is less but unit cost is high (compared to ASIC).
FPGAs are costlier when we compare with ASIC for a bulk production. It means if we produce the chips in a large quantity then the ASIC would be cheaper, but where as if we produce the chips for small quantity then the FPGA will be cheaper. That is the reason most of the commercial Hardware like Mobile Phone, Cameras come with ASIC. Because they are made in a bulk so that cost per piece is small.
What is Software Define Radio?
Software defined radio is a communication system related technology where a radio functions are implemented in software, especially for modulation and demodulation and all.
The main purpose of software define radio is to use a single peace of hardware running different software on it for various types of communication applications. Software Define Radio concept is used in Mobile applications, Military communication applications and so many. Read more from the following web pages.
These are different architecture for implementing and Microprocessor or Microcontroller RISC stands for
Reduced Instruction Set Computer. CISC Stands for Complex Instruction Set Computer.
Out of RISC and CISC which is useful for Embedded applications ?
Out of RISC and CISC architecture, the RISC is more suitable for embedded applications
What is ARM architecture?
Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) is a popular RISC architecture today used in many of the embedded applications. Ex: Mobile phones and Data acquisition systems etc.
What is A digital signal processor?
A digital Signal Processor can be understood as a processor whose architecture is tuned more for digital signal processor applications i.e., the ALU the register set, and the instruction set is specially designed for catering for digital signal processing applications. This digital Signal Processor can give a high speed signal processing solutions in comparison with a general purpose processor..
What is PDSP?
PDSP stands for Programmable Digital Signal Processor. Conventionally in the literature people refer the word DSP as Digital Signal Processing. Hence where ever the processor has to be referred they refer it as PDSP.
What is DSP?
Digital Signal Processing(DSP) is a special signal processing technique which involves mainly mathematical computation for processing digital signals. Today digital signal processing occupies a major portion of signal processing applications due to a several advantages over conventional signal processing.
Can we use a General purpose Computer for Digital signal processing?
Conceptually the answer is yes. Since the General purpose computer like a desktop computer which runs with P4 processor can be used for doing computations, It is useful even for DSP applications. The performance like the speed or throughput is not high when we compare with the PDSP solution.
What are EDA tools?
The Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools provide a set of automated computer based mechanism for electronic circuit design. There are a variety of EDA tools for ASIC development and also for FPGA development. The tool which has SPICE, VHDL simulator, Verilog simulator, FPGA synthesizer, ASIC synthesizer and Timing analysis etc are part of EDA tools
What is Software Hardware co-design?
Software Hardware co design in the context of FPGA is a design technique where the required hardware and the software for an application in development together to gave maximum performance on a given FPGA.
.