Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FEATURES OF FPGA
TECHNOLOGY AND THEIR
APPLICATION IN NPP I&CS
have been developed and applied in aerospace and
process industries since the 1990s. Although the
use of FPGAs in NPPs I&C systems has lagged
behind in the past compared to other industries,
there is an increasing number of FPGA installa-
tions in operating NPPs.
This subsection provides results of comprehensive
analysis of FPGA technology features, including
approaches to implementation of FPGA-based
development activities, as well as possible ap-
plications of the technology.
BACKGROUND
Features of FPGA Technology
The FPGA technology offers an alternative to
microprocessor (or computer) technologies and to
other types of programmable logic devices. Physi-
cally, FPGA is a semiconductor-based complex
programmable device which can be configured
to perform a required function.
It includes two entities: an FPGA chip, which
is a piece of hardware that can be qualified against
hardware qualification testing requirements, and
the electronic design of the FPGA, implemented
into a chip, represented by a set of instructions in
hardware description language (HDL) that can be
verified against functional requirements.
Problem is development of new approach
to assessment of FPGA-based systems for NPP
I&Cs taking into account of the FPGA technol-
ogy features.
There are two lines in contemporary program-
mable logic arrays (Kharchenko, V. S., Sklyar, V.
V. (Ed.), 2008; Barkalov, A., Wegrzyn, M. et al.,
2006): Complex Programmable Logic Devices
(CPLD) and Field Programmable Gates Arrays
(FPGA). CPLDs are a continuation of program-
mable matrix logic line, whereas FPGAs continue
basic matrix crystal line. The desire to combine
the advantages of both line led to development
of combined architecture VLSIs (see Figure 1).
Still, all contemporary FPGAs possess such ar-
chitecture. We shall discuss FPGAs of APEX II
family produced by Altera as representatives of
combined architecture.
Figure 1. Architecture types of FPGA
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