How is an FPGA programmed?

The designs running on FPGAs are mainly coded using Hardware Description Languages (HDL) such as Verilog, VHDL or SystemVerilog. An increasingly popular way to program for FPGA is High-Level Synthesis (HLS) in which the design is done in a subset of C and the compiler transforms the design into correct Verilog code.

What does a CPLD do?

CPLD is used for loading the configuration data of a field programmable gate array from non-volatile memory. CPLDs are frequently used many applications like in cost sensitive, battery operated portable devices due to its low size and usage of low power.

What is the difference between FPGA and CPLD?

FPGA contains up to 100,000 of tiny logic blocks while CPLD contains only a few blocks of logic that reaches up to a few thousands. 2. In terms of architecture, FPGAs are considered as ‘fine-grain’ devices while CPLDs are ‘coarse-grain’. FPGA is a RAM-based digital logic chip while CPLD is EEPROM-based.

What are the differences between CPLD and FPGA?

How does a Verilog simulator work?

Simulation is a technique of applying different input stimulus to the design at different times to check if the RTL code behaves the intended way. The Verilog code is divided into multiple processes and threads and may be evaluated at different times in the course of a simulation, which will be touched upon later.

What is CPLD and FPGA?

When it comes to the internal architecture, the two chips are obviously different. FPGA is short for Field-Programmable Gate Array, is a type of a programmable logic chip. On the other hand, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) is designed by using EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) .

What is the purpose of using Verilog?

Verilog is a Hardware Description Language (HDL) which can be used to describe digital circuits in a textual manner. We will write our design for FPGA using Verilog (as if you write microcontroller programs in C and Assembly).

What programming language should I learn to design an FPGA?

We will write our design for FPGA using Verilog (as if you write microcontroller programs in C and Assembly). Learning Verilog is not that hard if you have some programming background. VHDL is also another popular HDL used in the industry extensively.

How hard is it to learn Verilog?

Learning Verilog is not that hard if you have some programming background. VHDL is also another popular HDL used in the industry extensively. Verilog and VHDL share more or less same market popularity, but I chose Verilog since it is easy to learn and its syntactical similarity to C language.

What is the difference between a CPLD and an FPGA?

More or less like connecting individual logic gate ICs (again oversimplified but a good mental picture nonetheless). FPGAs are manufactured by companies like Xilinx, Altera, Microsemi, etc… FPGAs are fundamentally similar to CPLDs but CPLDs are very small in size and capability compared to FPGAs.