Programmable devices such as FPGAs continue to rapidly increase in power and capacity as costs for the devices plummet. Rather than just embedded software, you can now imbue your products with true ‘embedded intelligence’ spanning both software and programmable hardware.
By moving functionality from the board into programmable hardware, you can shorten design cycles while adding functionality with little or no increase in manufacturing costs. The software, processor and peripheral hardware can all be moved inside the FPGA. All are easily changeable because the entire system exists within a ‘soft’ realm. In this scenario critical design decisions do not have to be locked down until later in the design cycle, and the entire intelligence of the product can be easily updated right up until the product ships – or even beyond.
The bottom line is the move to a ‘soft’ design paradigm gives you the freedom to approach electronics design in a new way, a way that provides complete flexibility in functional implementation and opens the door to creating more intelligent products in shorter time frames and with lower production costs.