Summit Information

Summit Description

The FPGA Summit focuses on the use of FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays).  FPGAs are semiconductor devices containing logic elements and interconnects.

Programming an FPGA typically involves selecting logic element functions and making or breaking connections among the elements to implement a specific design. That is, programming the FPGA involves selecting active connections much like building something by connecting pieces from a set of Legos.

A single FPGA can perform many functions depending on how it is programmed, much as someone can build many objects from a single set of Legos, depending on how one connects them.

The latest FPGAs contain many thousands of logic elements plus such components as memories, serial interfaces, and even full-fledged processors. 

FPGAs provide an increasingly attractive alternative to custom chips, since they offer a single-chip solution without requiring a manufacturing process (or a foundry). They are also easy to change, correct, or upgrade, and can even be reconfigured in the field. They are particularly useful for low-volume applications, prototypes, situations where requirements or specifications may change, signal interfaces, and applications where board space is at a premium. Large FPGAs can actually replace processors in applications such as signal processing that require maximum throughput (that is, hardware rather than software speeds).

FPGAs have long served as a way to prototype systems (since there is no manufacturing involved) and to replace large amounts of simple logic, saving board space and power.  Recent increases in FPGA size and speed, coupled with cost decreases, have led to the devices being used in such areas as communications, networking, military/defense/aerospace, instrumentation, process and industrial control, and even consumer electronics.  FPGAs can replace processors in many situations, including signal and image processing, speeding up operations (by avoiding the overhead of instruction fetch and decode) and simplifying development (since no software is involved)

In high volume, bottom-end FPGAs can cost between $1 and $2 apiece, whereas large, high-performance devices typically cost several hundred dollars each. 

Market Statistics

Market Size: $2.75 billion by 2010 (Jerry Worchel, In-Stat). The market was $1.9 billion in 2005. According to Gartner, FPGA revenues in 2007 declined slightly from 2006 owing to lower prices and despite higher volume. Gartner predicts 15.7% revenue growth in 2008. Gartner claims the low growth in 2007 was due to excess inventories, a slowdown in the wireless market, and lower prices.

According to revenue reported by the major FPGA makers, the total for 2007 is about $3.6 billion. Of that, Xilinx has 50%, Altera has 36%, and Actel and Lattice each have about 7%. 

Market Analysts: Gartner; In-Stat; Semico Research; Frost and Sullivan; iSuppli

Typical Applications: Networking equipment, communications devices, medical devices, consumer electronics, military/defense/space electronics, automotive electronics, high-performance computing

Issues

FPGA Advantages
FPGAs can replace a large amount of standard logic. They offer quick turnaround time, since they can be programmed to handle a specific application rather than manufactured in a chip foundry.  They are easy to understand and to use, since they involve no software.  They thus offer fast time-to-market, high flexibility, and hardware rather than software speed.  As compared to custom chips, they have almost no up-front engineering costs, thus making them suitable for low-volume applications (ASICs, by contrast, typically involve millions of dollars in overhead fabrication costs).  FPGAs also allow for late changes or revisions in a design to account for standards updates, new requirements, or additional functions.

Challenges Facing FPGAs
Since FPGAs consist of uncommitted logic, solutions based on them are usually larger, slower, and more power-hungry than ones based on custom chips such as ASICs.  They are also more expensive in large quantities.  Large FPGAs are often difficult to design and verify.  Software support for FPGAs is traditionally very limited, compared to ASICs, with much of it being simple, low-cost tools from the makers themselves.

Major Issues
Efficient design, rapid verification, increased use of high-level EDA tools, DSP applications, reconfigurable computing, use of intellectual property, low-power design.