Design Approaches to Field-Programmable Analog Integrated Circuits

Abstract

Abstract. The drive towards shorter design cycles for analog integrated circuits has given impetus to several developments in the area of Field-Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAAs). Various approaches have been taken in implementing structural and parametric programmability of analog circuits. Recent extensions of this work have married FPAAs to their digital counterparts (FPGAs) along with data conversion interfaces, to form FieldProgrammable Mixed-Signal Arrays (FPMAs). This survey paper reviews work to date in the area of programmable analog and mixed-signal circuits. The body of work reviewed includes university and industrial research, commercial products and patents. A time-line of important achievements in the area is drawn, the status of various activities is summarized, and some directions for future research are suggested.

An Asynchronous Spike Event Coding Scheme for Programmable Analog Arrays

“…An important design problem in a FPAA is the communication of analog signals between CABs. Previous implementations of FPAAs used crossbars or matrix switches [1] [2]. These approaches suffer from signal distortion due to voltage drops, parasitic capacitances along the wires and switches and through signal interference.…”

Configurable analogue building blocks for field-programmable analogue arrays

“…This was a motivating factor towards research in the field programmable analogue arrays (FPAAs), the analogue counterpart of the FPGAs. See for example references Gulak (1992, 1995); Pierzchala, Perkowski, Halen and Schaumann (1995); Kutuk and Kang (1996);D'mello and Gulak (1998); Gaudet and Gulak (1998); Pierzchala and Perkowski (1998a,b); Bindra (2000); Buxton (2000); Dudek and Hicks (2000); Edwards et al (2000); Looby and Lyden (2000); Ray (2000); Bindra (2001); Colombini (2001) ;Sun (2001, 2002); Santini et al (2001); Znamirowski et al (2002) and the references cited therein.…”

Reconfiguration costs in analog sensor interfaces for wireless sensing applications

“…The optimal design and usage of FPAAs for wireless sensing depends upon the cost of reconfiguration, which raises tradeoffs such as the universality and power consumption of the FPAA. General FPAA design choices were previously outlined in [4]. This paper studies the circuit-level and node-level costs of FPAA reconfiguration and what these costs imply for using FPAAs within wireless sensing, where energy consumption is of paramount importance.…”