FPGA and processors working

[sushl]

Hi All,
I was hoping to get some insight as to why FPGA's and Microprocessors are both used together on the same board.
I would like to start from referring to some already existing FPGA-Processor designs(Eg Artix with an SOC ) , can anyone point me towards that direction by providing links? It would be of immense help.

Thanks and Regards
sushl

 

[KlausST]

Hi,

use the microcontroller with user software.
use the FPGA
* to replace glue logic (example: address decoder)
* as fast parallel processing device
* as fast state machine (controlling sampling of an ADC and write the results into SRAM, without microcontroller processing power)
* and many other digital solutions

Klaus

 

[TrickyDicky]

The Processor will be the "brains" and decision maker. The FPGA will be the data processor.
FPGAs can easily handle and process 10s of GBits of data. The Processor will decide how the processor should handle it all.

 

[sushl]

Hi,

use the microcontroller with user software.
use the FPGA
* to replace glue logic (example: address decoder)
* as fast parallel processing device
* as fast state machine (controlling sampling of an ADC and write the results into SRAM, without microcontroller processing power)
* and many other digital solutions

Klaus

Thanks
Are there any designs where i can find and understand the usage of both FPGA and Processor together, on a peripheral level.

 

[asdf44]

Look up the Xilinx Zynq and its various demo boards etc. Zinq has a large arm processor paired with an FPGA.

FPGA's are good at parallel tasks, timing critical paths and specialized tasks like signal processing.

For example I know that Siglent uses Zynq's in their Oscilloscopes where they undoubtedly use the FPGA fabric to process the samples in real time, detect triggers, calculate measurements etc while the processor handles the GUI and misc system tasks.