Looking for FPGAs with processor

Question

Hi people!!

I am a final year student and I am currently doing a research for my professor, which is to compare a selection Fpgas that include a processor manufactured by all available vendors if possible. With that, I would like know whether such FPGAs is available on market ? If yes, where can I get the respective product information/data sheet? Or can anyone recommend me which FPGA is better than the other?

A quick response would be highly appreciated. Thank you.

altera_forum · Answer

by mi known, Altera only Supports softcore processors in ther new devices.

the exalibur (or something like that) used to have an embed processor, but altera has switched to first nios ans then to NiosII softcores.

pros for a softcore :

- very customizeble

- cheap

- good performance

- large suport over the net

- free ide, with gcc compiler

- easy to learn

- debugging c code over jtag

- ...

contras:

- thakes long time(15 to 1h) to compile the "hardware" ( full blown niosII system)

Look at the NiosII website.

http://www.altera.com/products/ip/processors/nios2/ni2-index.html

to have an idee how it looks take a look at one of the dev kits

http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-nios-2c35.html

altera_forum · Answer

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the exalibur (or something like that) used to have an embed processor

--- Quote End ---

That was Excalibur ARM around 2001. That device family had dedicated silicon for an ARM processor and some peripherals combined with FPGA fabric using the APEX architecture.

--- Quote Start ---

contras:

- thakes long time(15 to 1h) to compile the "hardware" ( full blown niosII system)

--- Quote End ---

The compilation time added by the soft microprocessor itself isn't much compared to the compilation time for other functions typically in FPGA designs. The compilation time for the complete SOPC Builder system including its peripherals depends heavily on how large the SOPC Builder system is. The compilation time ranges from very fast to very long. At least with SOPC Builder and Nios, the system can have only the peripherals required for the specific design (part of the "very customizeble" pro listed by mirimon).

In addition to the Nios II soft CPU, Altera devices support the ARM Cortex-M1 soft core. See http://www.altera.com/products/ip/processors/32_16bit/m-arm-cortex-m1.html.

altera_forum · Answer

Altera has performace information about NIOSII including how it compares to chips and any FPGA competition. I don't see that information on the Altera web site. You would likely have to get it from the local Altera sales force. You also may be able to get a loaner NIOSII development kit from Altera's university program. I'm not sure if I should spend Altera forum time to point you to their competition, but it is called micro-blaze.

altera_forum · Answer

thanx a lot for the quick replies!!!you don't know how much this helps. I will definitely have a look at the links you've given me. thanx again!!

altera_forum · Answer

--- Quote Start ---

Hi people!!

compare a selection Fpgas that include a processor manufactured by all available vendors if possible.

--- Quote End ---

Altera: NIOSII (softcore)

Xilinx: Microblaze (softcore) and PPC (hardcore)

Actel: Leon3 (softcore), CoreMP7 (softcore) and Cortex (hardcore)

Lattice: Mico32 (softcore)

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Looking for FPGAs with processor

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