From the Editor
FPGAs are increasingly finding places in safety-critical applications. Yet such flexible devices present problems in the certification process. Europe editor Dick Selwood hears how Altera has teamed up with a German certification organisation to simplify things for the user.
You may have noticed a reward for the best, most insightful forum posts. We're giving another away for the best posts in March, so get started posting.
Kevin Morris - Editor, FPGA Journal
Industry News
March 16, 2010
March 15, 2010
6A, 4MHz, Synchronous Step-Down Regulator in a 3mm x 5mm QFN
March 12, 2010
Upcoming DSP for FPGAs Technical Course in May in Munich
March 11, 2010
New UK Distributor for Impulse C to FPGA Compiler
March 10, 2010
16-Bit Quad, SPI DAC with Internal Reference Achieves ±4LSB INL (Max)
March 09, 2010
Imec and Synopsys collaborate on 3D stacked IC development
March 08, 2010
Ericsson adds Full PMBus Read And Write Capability to Voltage Regulators
Lattice Ships Over 200 Million ispMACH 4000 CPLD Devices
March 04, 2010
Programmable 2A 2-Cell Supercap Charger with Automatic Cell Balancing in a Compact 9mm2 Package
March 03, 2010
Synopsys System Studio Speeds DSP Algorithm Development With New Matrix Data-Type Support
Xilinx Simplifies Development of Real-time Ethernet Networks for Industrial Automation Applications
Feature Articles
Measuring Safety, an FPGA at a Time
One of the problems of being an engineer is the compulsion to classify, count and measure things. Not just for professional purposes, but the sort of person who becomes an engineer seems also to be the sort of person who automatically counts, classifies and lists the things they encounter in everyday life. But some things are difficult to measure. Take love – Shakespeare's Mark Anthony proclaims that, “There's beggary in love that can be reckoned.” (Although, perhaps, Elizabeth Barrett Browning displays an engineering streak when she asks, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”)
Safety is another quality that does not lend itself to easy metrics, but it is something that has to be calibrated. We want our cars, our aeroplanes, our homes to be somehow “safe”, and the outcry after we feel we have been let down, as we can see today with the Toyota affair, is ample evidence that this is a general feeling. But the engineers who have to achieve that safety are faced with a vast range of conflicting pressures. If you were building a brand new transportation system, starting from a totally clean sheet of paper, is it socially acceptable to recognise that there is no such thing as absolute safety? At what point do you say, “It will cost $X million to make this safer and it will save one life a year”? Read More
It's Just Cool
Is Smart Fusion an FPGA? Who Cares?
The Spacetime Continuum
Tabula Explains 3D FPGAs
Cards on the Table
Xilinx Announces 28nm Plans
Paved with Good Intentions
Replacing Judgement with Process
Changes in the Wind
Altera Shows 28nm Plans
Fending Off Evil
Protecting Your FPGA Against DPA
A Perfect DSP Storm
BDTi + High Level Synthesis + FPGA
From Pinout to Layout:
The FPGA/PCB Balancing Act
I'll take a stab
I can think of a few scenarios that don't require simulation, IMHO:
1) Using components in the code that have already been validated.
2) Only using combinational logic in the design for basic ...
Any reason not to create a test bench
I figure if it's a really small design, then it's easy to create a really sma...