Industry Expert Blogs

Any doubters of the importance of FPGA technology to the defense/aerospace industry should consider this: each Airbus A380 has over 1000 Microsemi FPGAs on board. That is a staggering figure, especially considering the FAA doesn’t trust FPGAs, or the code that goes into them.

The lack of trust isn’t a reflection on the fine folks at Achronix, Altera, Lattice, Microsemi, Tabula, Xilinx or any other company, or their FPGA technology. Rather, it is a reflection on a general state of mind in defense program offices and aerospace agencies regarding risk avoidance. I’m sure the other companies can offer their aerospace success stories, but I think all would agree it has been an uphill battle to gain acceptance for FPGAs in safety-critical applications.