FPGA Vs Microcontrollers

[ravibg]

fpga vs microcontroller

If i can build a system X using

a) A Microcontroller
b) FPGA

what should i go for and why?

 

[IanP]

microcontroller vs fpga

These two have been created to perform different tasks.
Microcontroller will give you freedom..
FPGA you can treat as part of microcontroller; it allows you to performe certain logic funtions but if you would like to perform mathematical calculations, communicate with other devices (serial, I2C, etc..) and so on the choice is microcontroller.

 

[cawan]

fpga vs microprocessor

FPGA is mainly for programmable logic but microcontroller is mainly for hardcore processing. Microcontroller is running sequencially regardless of how fast the controller is. In digital signal processor, the hardcore would enhance the harward architecture by increasing pipelining to certain level of parallel instruction processing. Instead, FPGA is totally hardware based programmable. The parallel processing in FPGA is not depends to the pipelining, but it is hardware based parallel architecture. For general application, microcontroller is good enough for system implementation. However, in some critical arimethic processing such as dsp algo would need real-time processing that is time critical. In this case, FPGA would be the best solution.

 

[TheLizard]

fpga vs microcontrollers

With some of the newer FPGAs, you can get microprocessor "cores". Load one or more of these on an FPGA and now you've got a microprocessor that you can add extra logic to or have an FPGA running multiple processors.

 

[maizic]

fpga vs. microcontroller

If i can build a system X using

a) A Microcontroller
b) FPGA

what should i go for and why?

It's decided by what you need, but what you should?

 

[djalli]

fpga versus microcontroller

People here mentioned features, timing required for implementation, and characterized them especially cawan gave a very good insight.

What I would like to mention is "the price , the cost". If you system X ravibg, assuming speed issues etc... are resolved, can be built just using microcontrollers (see cawan explanation) it will be cheaper building it with microcontrollers rather than using FPGA's. Right?

Do not forget boys and girls: Money is common denominator in the world and engineers help business and society.

 

[ravibg]

microprocessor vs fpga

I would also like to know if there is a system with FPGA and microcontrollers integrated together.

I heard the new servers which can handle both Optical and electrical signals are built with just FPGA's .

 

[samcheetah]

microcontroller vs. fpga

you could take a microcontroller core and make it on an FPGA. you could use an AVR core on an FPGA. FPGAs could contain a multitude of things at the same time. the bigger ones can even have two PowerPC microprocessors running at the same time in the same FPGA.

 

[niks]

avr fpga

I think if you are working on low power design then micro-controller is the best. Second advantage is readily available and tested building blocks like ADC,Timers,DMA,UART. Nowdays low power FPGA's also available but you need to spend lots of time on optimization.
But FPGA wins when it comes to complex algorithms,DSP calculations.

 

[adro]

microcontroller versus fpga

I would also like to know if there is a system with FPGA and microcontrollers integrated together.

I heard the new servers which can handle both Optical and electrical signals are built with just FPGA's .

Atmels FPSLIC (AVR with FPGA)
http://www.atmel.com/products/FPSLIC/

Cypress PSoC
http://www.cypressmicro.com/

 

[maharshi_qis]

fpga vs. microcontrollers

it depends on the application,flexxibility of future modifications,cost,speed and many other factors..

 

[86412022]

I am a student and work on implementing arifiticial intelligence on fpga
i want to know what's adventags fpga versuse microprocessor in this case?

 

[karesz]

Hi,
In this case (& every time) you can implement your special needed micro, AND CHANGE IT in ACCORDANCE your NEWER NEEDs... Reconfigurability is a super bonus.
K.

Added after 1 hours 14 minutes:

I received exactly yet this actuellst script:
Tabula introduces 3-dimensional Spacetime programmable logic architecture, w*w.electronics-eetimes.com/en/tabula-introduces-3-dimensional-spacetime-programmable-logic-architecture.htm...id=222900735&vID=120

 

[RodSTAR]

FPGA's are merely logic multithreading realtime processing chips. For example, a microcontroller features certain set of peripherals like UART, SPI, PWM, Timers, and so on, and they are limited to it. Unless microcontrollers, FPGA don't feature built-in peripherals, instead, peripherals can be logically programmed. That's the power, FPGA are raw logic gates, that means you can make them do anything. For example, programmed to run like being a 1 UART chip, like a 100 channel PWM generators, 20 channel UART controller + 10 ethernet, 40 timers, even you can program it to emulate a whole microcontroller or several microcontrollers in a single chip. (depending on quantity of gates available)

In fact FPGA's are often used in PCI bus cards to perform high speed time critical specialized tasks a microcontroller would just couldn't afford due to it's architecture.


Unless microcontrollers, FPGA don't run on a core, FPGA run multithreaded cores.
That's why FPGA are used for time critical applications like:
-realtime multi motor control (period generators) for cnc, robotic arms, in general terms, any multi-axis (multi-motor) precision application.
-Any parallel processing application.

rod.-

 

[jeffrey samuel]

depending on the purpose they serve FPGA and MICROCONTROLLERS are the apex devices

 

[RetroTechie]

FPGA's are good at processing lots of relatively simply logic operations in parallel, at high speed. Think of processing digital audio or video streams, pre-processing sensor output, filtering lots of data in scientific projects, specialized cryptography tasks, prototyping logic circuits, etc.

µcontrollers are good at tasks that are relatively slow, but complex (lots of steps / operations, different methods used depending on input, etc). Like a user interface for a household appliance, motor control, steering an industrial robot, controlling a communication terminal, etc.

Usually a µcontroller will be more energy-efficient than a FPGA, as long as the task is relatively simple and low-speed. FPGA's have the advantage when there's mountains of data (like in many places these days), that need to be processed in a more-or-less constant way.

You can 'emulate' a real CPU on a FPGA, some FPGA's have a CPU built in as fixed silicon, there exist systems-on-chip where FPGA logic is stuck onto a CPU. So mix & match as required...

 

[bobsanjose]

Although this is a really old thread, I feel compelled to post a brief response to "RetroTechie's" excellent contribution.

Usually a µcontroller will be more energy-efficient than a FPGA, as long as the task is relatively simple and low-speed. FPGA's have the advantage when there's mountains of data (like in many places these days), that need to be processed in a more-or-less constant way.

I think it is fair to say that a typical modern MCU will use less current than a typical FPGA. Is the MCU more energy efficient? I doubt it. it takes a very short time to run some logic through an FPGA. Emulating this in an MCU takes hundreds of times longer, hence the energy to execute a certain digital functionality might be a lot better on the FPGA.

You can 'emulate' a real CPU on a FPGA, some FPGA's have a CPU built in as fixed silicon, there exist systems-on-chip where FPGA logic is stuck onto a CPU. So mix & match as required...

There are a couple architectures out there that do more than emulate a CPU. If you check out Smart Fusion from Microsemi, it combines a Cortex-M3 with a small FPGA and analog components on one chip while the PSoC 5 from Cypress combines a Cortex-M3, PLD-like digital logic and even better analog functionality on the PSoC devices.
If freely available logic gates are the priority Smart Fusion might be the way to go, if higher integration of analog features is more important I would opt for PSoC 5 which has a 20-bit Delta-Sigma ADC, a 12-bit SAR ADC, OpAmps,comparators and more.

If somebody needs limited digital programmability, the analog features a typical MCU offers (or better) and the convenience of having an MCU to program, check out the SmartFusion and the PSoC 5.
Bob