Field-Programmable Gate Arrays: Reconfigurable Logic for Rapid Prototyping and Implementation of Digital Systems

8.6   FUTURE OUTLOOK

While the concept of truly dynamic reconfiguration has been known for some time, there have so far been few applications that justify its complexities. Rapid reconfiguration increases the number of pins that must be totally dedicated to this purpose.

Several companies, including Atmel and PMeL, have announced their intention to exploit dynamic reconfiguration. For example, the Atmel Cache Logic* concept allows newly required functions to be loaded into an FPGA while inactive functions are kept in an adjacent memory.

Clearly, the gate count of FPGAs will continue to increase as finer detailed very-large-scale integration (VLSI) processes continue to develop. FPGAs have the same attraction as memory to fabricators, that is, they are highly regular and the end application is of little concern. But there are differences as well as similarities, and the provision of a routing network that is generous enough for all applications and yet fast is a particular challenge.

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ALTERA CORPORATION

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APTIX CORPORATION

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I-CUBE, INC.

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XESS CORPORATION

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XILINX INC.

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Section 8.2.1 was contributed by Robert Hartman of Altera, Inc.

Section 8.2.2 was contributed by Gareth ...