How it is Made Efficient FPGA Verification Significance

FPGA is the abbreviation used for Field Programmable Gate Array which is essentially an integrated circuit specifically designed in such a way that it can be easily configured or programmed by a user be they a customer or a designer after it has been manufactured, hence why they are named as ‘field programmable’. The configuration of an FPGA is dependent on the hardware description language or HDL used. In the early times of FPGA design, circuit diagrams are used to identify its configuration but since then as technology has evolved, this has become very rare but not obsolete. As technology has come a long way, FPGAs have become faster, and much more efficient in size and power and are now capable of a number of tasks such as field update and multi-functionality devices to name a few. Today’s advanced FPGAs are much more complex than their predecessors which are evident in the fact that unlike the older models, latest FPGA design verification has become a complex and in-depth process.

FPGA design verification in its earlier form revolved around entering a schematic design that was gate-level, downloading on a test board of a device and then substantiate the entire system through test data. As the design technologies for FPGAs evolved, new and more advanced methods came into existence such as hardware description languages (HDL) that combined with the conversion from simple gates to register transfer level (RTL) code allowed precise simulations to be used in the verification of the design before it was finalized. IC fabrications along with ASIC fabrications are the rigorous process that are not only time consuming but also quite costly. FPGS design verification, on the other hand, is far more feasible post-synthesis for they can easily be updated with advanced and newer design codes a number of times before the can be finalized. The ability of an FPGA to instantly enable prototyping designs is indispensable for instant verifications. It must be kept in mind however that, FPGA designs can plague by bugs that can either be introduced by human error which is easy to detect or systematic issues which can be avoided by the high-end potency and reliability of the toolchain. FPGA advancements are also responsible for creating a new and more vigorous form of Equivalence Checking (EC) which has become and almost necessary part of effectively removing systematic bugs from designs. EC has a number of pros such as the confirmation that no bugs or errors will be present in the final design and has a direct implication on the quality and reliability including the efficiency of the final design.

The evolution and advancements in FPGA designs have also brought significant improvements in the implementations verification methods and have pushed EC to become an important and necessary part of theFPGA design and development process.

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Posted by Whizz Systems