DSP blocks in modern FPGAs can be used for a wide range of arithmetic functions, offering increased performance while saving logic resources for other uses. They have evolved to better support a plethora of signal processing tasks, meaning that in other application domains they may be underutilised. The DSP48E1 primitives in new Xilinx devices support dynamic programmability that can help extend their usefulness; the specific function of a DSP block can be modified on a cycle-by-cycle basis. However, the standard synthesis flow does not leverage this flexibility in the vast majority of cases. The lean DSP Extension Architecture (iDEA) presented in this article builds around the dynamic programmability of a single DSP48E1 primitive, with minimal additional logic to create a general-purpose processor supporting a full instruction-set architecture. The result is a very compact, fast processor that can execute a full gamut of general machine instructions. We show a number of simple applications compiled using an MIPS compiler and translated to the iDEA instruction set, comparing with a Xilinx MicroBlaze to show estimated performance figures. Being based on the DSP48E1, this processor can be deployed across next-generation Xilinx Artix-7, Kintex-7, Virtex-7, and Zynq families.
SRAM-based FPGAs are becoming increasingly attractive for use in space applications due to their reconfigurability and signal processing capabilities, as well as their increasing speed and capacity. Traditional SRAM-based FPGAs, however, are highly sensitive to the ionizing radiation environment in space, making them prone to radiation-induced memory upsets. In this paper, we evaluate and compare scrubbing techniques for Xilinx SRAM-based FPGAs with respect to radiation-induced single event upsets. A test framework using an exchangeable payload is developed for this purpose and run on a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. We show that recent SRAM-based FPGAs can constitute a cost-efficient alternative to radiation-hardened or antifuse FPGAs for non-critical space application such as satellite instruments.
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