FPGA Full Form

Field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a circuit that is integrated, and it contains an arrangement of logic blocks with a ladder of interconnecting reconfigurable. This allows blocks to be connected by the wires. As the name suggests (field programmable), they are generally built or configured by the buyer or the designer after being made by the manufacturer. They use a hardware description language (HDL), similar to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The logic blocks contained in them can be used for various complexes as well as simple processes.

History of FPGA

The need for the industry of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) arose in the 1970s and the 1980s when people had difficulty in using two devices, namely programmable logic devices (PLD) and programmable read-only memory (PROM). 

These devices could not be configured at home, so in 1984 a company called Altera invented the first reprogrammable logic device. It was the EP300 and offered a window that let ultraviolet light onto EPROM cells so that they could be erased. The cells contained the design configuration, which could be changed. Later in 1985, LuVerne R. Peterson and David W. Page created patents for logic blocks, gates, and programmable logic arrays. In the late 1980s, Steve Casselman experimented. He suggested the concept of Field programmable gate array (FPGA), and he was able to build around 600,000 reprogrammable gates; with that, he patented the creation in 1992. In the 1990s, the demand for  Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) boomed as it was helpful in many industries.

Applications of FPGA

Common FPGA Applications are Aerospace and Defence, Medical Electronics, ASIC Prototyping, Audio, Automotive, Broadcast, Consumer Electronics, Distributed Monetary Systems, Data Centre, High-Performance Computing, Industrial, Security systems, Video & Image Processing, Wired Communications, Wireless Communications. A detailed explanation about some is given below:

FPGAs in Medical Applications

They are used in medical machines like MRI, CT scan, Ultrasound, patient monitoring systems ECG because of their ability to process high amounts of data. The FPGAs used in the medical field consume low power, which is ideal for use in a hospital.

FPGAs in the field of aerospace

It is used for various reasons in the space industry. Some examples are:

1. Video processing to compress and decompress the data according to the data bandwidth requirement.
2. It can be used for high-resolution optical data processing and radar imaging.
3. It can be used to transmit data from satellites to the and vice versa.

FPGAs in Server Applications

FPGAs contain BRAM, which helps increase the chip’s data processing. By using it, companies also save on cost and power, providing extra storage space.

They play a vital role in this industry as the demand for data processing increases day by day.

FPGAs in Telecommunication

They play a very important role in networking solutions. They are used in both wired and wireless communications. You would find FPGAs in 4G or 5G network stations. They are also used for signal processing and noise removal.

Advantages of FPGA

There are many advantages of FPGA some are given below:

1. Cost Efficiency: They do not have heavy non-recurring expenses, and you do not require the use of any costly tools to design or configure your FPGA chip. They are very cost-effective in the long run as they are reprogrammable and do not replace similar technologies.
2. Adaptability: Because of their programmability, the FPGA can adapt to the level of the buyer in minimal time. It can be modified or updated many times.
3. Prototyping: Reprogram ability makes the FPGA chip a perfect candidate for prototyping since the process of prototyping involves a lot of trials and experiments to get the perfect combination earlier before FPGA the chips were not reusable, and new chips would cost a lot, so this made the process of prototyping quite difficult, but since the coming FPGA chip it has become a lot easier.
4. Better Performance: One of the main advantages of FPGA is its performance technologies which came earlier than FPGA, could not do parallel processing and process a large chunk of data at a faster pace. FPGA can do all the functions of a general CPU at a faster pace.

Conclusion

Through this article, we got to know what exactly is a Field-programmable gate array (FPGA), its history, its applications, advantages of using them, and their importance in our lives.