Industry Expert Blogs

Everyone knows that FPGA complexities are rising remorselessly, despite constant worries that Moore's Law is about to hit the buffers. Vendors are already shipping 20nm devices and promising that new products using various flavors of FinFET are just around the corner. These will push FPGA densities to even higher levels.

Additional capabilities allow engineers to build ever more sophisticated systems into programmable devices and to produce innovative products. Intellectual property (IP) cores provide access to advanced specialist functions without requiring the user to be an expert in the technology. Such cores feature the wisdom and knowhow of the core provider and should provide an efficient implementation in the chosen FPGA architecture. Many IP vendors focus on one area of core competency, so that their products are highly efficient and fully compliant. As a result, system architects can specify a number of complex building blocks that combine third-party IP cores with homegrown IP to create the total system.