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2008 Chairperson's Message
Today’s FPGAs are nothing like those of even a few years ago. Tremendous increases in size and performance coupled with dramatic cost reductions have led to their widespread use in communications, networking, computer, instrumentation, test equipment, industrial control, process control, military/space/defense, wireless, and even consumer applications. At the high end, the latest devices contain billions of transistors and can include memory, multi-gigabit serial interfaces, and can even include full-fledged multicore embedded computing systems. At the low end, simple devices can cost under $1 each in volume. Today, FPGAs are a multi-billion-dollar market with over 100,000 design starts (as compared to just 3,000 ASIC design starts). Design tools, test equipment, development boards, IP, software, and other accessories for them are now widely available. The old days when FPGAs served as simple logic replacement and as prototypes are long behind us. Now, FPGAs are a big business by themselves and serve as the basis of cutting-edge architectures such as reconfigurable computers and software-defined radio. What are today’s key issues? At the high end, ASIC-like design complexity has brought us face-to-face with ASIC-sized design and verification problems. The largest devices require far more sophisticated EDA tools and methodologies than FPGA designers have traditionally employed. At the low end, taking advantage of FPGAs in new applications such as consumer devices requires a careful eye on cost, power consumption, and form factor, as well as a shift from component-scale thinking to total-system engineering and integration. Still other challenges include signal integrity for high-speed serial interfaces, managing the exploding number of I/O pins, device and system testing, lifetime characterization, system maintenance and upgrades, ruggedization, and programming methods. High-end devices also raise system-level issues involving intellectual property licensing and hardware-software co-design. Tradeoffs for using FPGAs as DSP processors and compute accelerators, as well as strategies for taking advantage of on-chip processor cores, need to be explored. The FPGA Summit will provide an interactive venue for practical discussions of high-value issues in the real world. It will include tutorials, presentation sessions, expert tables, market research, design tips, status reports, and exhibits. It will be well-suited for both experienced FPGA-savvy designers and those evaluating the flexibility and capability that FPGAs can bring to new applications. It will also offer a place for FPGA designers at all experience levels to check out new offerings, share insight, and learn from leaders in the field. Please join me in taking advantage of this opportunity to trade ideas with colleagues and to gain new perspectives during presentations from a wide variety of leading-edge FPGA and related companies. Learn about new design methodologies, verification, low-power design, DSP acceleration, and other new applications. Hear from the experts and ask your questions in panels and other interactive sessions. Find out what’s happening in the industry and where it is heading. If you want to be successful designing FPGA-based systems, creating products for FPGAs, or working with FPGAs at any level, don’t miss the First Annual FPGA Summit. See you there! About the Chairperson: |
Kevin Morris