Hello Obadi,
We can see NIOS II as a real microcontroller that lives inside the FPGA, as you already know the FPGA has a specific logic region assigned to host the NIOS II hardware.
Once these have been told, I can give you a more accurate answer about why and when we should use NIOS II in our designs:
- The FPGA has its owns logic gates that can be programmed to execute a specific function.
- On the other hand, NIOS II allows you to run, for example, an RTOS
- Nios II Processors propitiates flexibility in the implementation of the processor system such as the exact set of CPUs, interfaces, and peripherals needed for the application.
- Increase the performance without changing your board design, in this way you are able to accelerate only functions that require it.
- Lower power consumption due to many functions are combined into one chip.
Just to mention a few of the advantages.
Please let me know any questions you may still have.
Regards,
-Eliath Guzman
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