Features that make Altera FPGAs so Popular

Altera FPGA from directics.com have been taking over the technology world and are growing popular with well-known and well-regarded software and technology companies such as Nios, Cisco, Panasonic, General Dynamics and many more. Even the technology giant Microsoft has begun to implement the use of FPGA devices into many of its data centers.

Why are these Altera products so popular? Why are so many companies starting to implement FPGA devices as part of their technology solutions?. What makes them so enticing to software companies and other businesses and organizations?

Altera has been creating manufacturing and shipping FPGA boards since late 2012. They started distributing the devices in December of that year. The boards allow for ease of use and faster processing by integrating with existing processing systems and combining traditional processors into a single chip.

Because Altera was so successful, the brand became highly sought after and was acquired by Intel in 2015 for the massive amount of $16.7 billion dollars. According to Wikipedia via Altera “Since December 2012, the company has been shipping SoC FPGA devices. According to Altera, fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) chip manufacturing process is beneficial for FPGAs. These devices integrate FPGAs with full hard processor systems based around ARM processors onto a single device.”

This sounds exciting and definitely has the potential to streamline your technology solutions, but what are the drawbacks and advantages? What effect will implementation have on your organization when it comes to getting projects completed in a timely and efficient manner?

When you consider that the previous technique that was widely used you may start to get a little overwhelmed, especially if you are not a programmer. It is not unheard of for programming to take hours on end to configure. Writing software and software programming, in the past, has been based on the instruction. One of the biggest problems with instructional based programming is that if you had even a single typo in the instructions, you could create multiple software glitches. Those glitches can be a pain to figure out and fix because you have to go through the programming and find where they occurred.

Producing the circuit and designing could take a lot of capital as it may require several rewrites before the program is ready to be implemented. FPGA devices may be a solution to this problem that so many software engineers run into every day. They are logic-based and therefore may be able to fix the problem before it occurs. If an organization should implement a single chip to create customizable and programmable arrays in their designs, they may be able to reconfigure the meaning in each circuit.

This allows for customizable software technology that can be changed according to the needs of each individual organization. Because of this software solution, those changes can be easily made by simple commands, instead of having to follow the rigor of instruction based technology.

Because FPGA devices use logic they aid in the ability to compute quickly and with more ease. They allow for broader bandwidth and can be used in direct conjunction with a company’s existing technology to allow for even higher and faster bandwidth abilities.

Not only are they faster, with the capability of more bandwidth, but, The processes used in engineering and creation are less expensive and require fewer parts. This allows FPGA devices to cost less to create and manufacture. This savings in time and production costs creates a ripple effect and are less expensive when compared to other technology solutions. Because their design is so streamlined, the devices also are more energy-efficient and require less time to run and maintain the previously used, traditional CPUs or GPUs.

Another thing to consider when discussing the popularity of FPGAs is that they have a lower latency, which allows for shorter processing time. The response time is about 50 times less than CPUs or GPUs. Take into consideration that FPGA boards have the potential to input our output data in under a microsecond, whereas CPUs and GPUS can take upwards of 50 times that.

FPGA devices are smarter computers with the ability to use logic to compute the desired information. They use logic to determine what best meets what is being done. While this may have some hiccups and drawbacks if the computer thinks you’re trying to accomplish one thing and you’re actually aiming for another goal, overall this could lessen the time it could take to accomplish your tasks. FPGA devices use deterministic qualities to compute the information you give it and can be much faster than and don’t depend on the generic, instruction based operating system.

FPGAs are more efficient and therefore tend to be used in Scientific industries such as astronomy and technology because they can handle more data per second than most internet-based programs, but the downside is that they may, at times be more difficult to program. The ironic thing is that, although instruction-based programming may be a headache, if there’s a glitch, it can be easier to fix. It may be more of a challenge and can take several hours of programming just to determine the cause.

If you need an embedded system for change because of the technology update and customer requirements will be your best bet. Most technology products available today run out of a higher operating capability. Coding is becoming outdated. FPGAs are flexible and work with today’s technology.