FPGA Projects for Engineering Students

From basic to advanced level FPGA projects are covered in this article.  You can use any FPGA project at home or at work because it comes with free, downloadable source code. This blog will give you some tips about how to start the FPGA projects for engineering students, why FPGA projects are so important, requirements for executing the top FPGA projects, the list of FPGA projects done by Takeoff Projects. First let’s look at the basic information about FPGA.

What is an FPGA?

The customizable logic block (CLB) matrix at the centre of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a semiconductor device, is coupled via programmable interconnects. After production, FPGAs can be reprogrammed to meet specific application or feature needs. FPGAs are distinguished from Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), which are made especially for particular design tasks, by this property. Although one-time programmable (OTP) FPGAs are available, SRAM-based FPGAs are capable to reprogram themselves as the changes in design are more common.

CSE experts often have a broad range of knowledge, including hardware, software, and electronic engineering. Professionals in the field of computer science and engineering are also expected to do a variety of tasks, such as developing software, conducting analyses, creating complicated circuits, etc.

Meaning of FPGA

An integrated circuit which could be reprogrammed or programmed to the desired functionality or application after manufacture is called a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Reduced complexities, faster speed, volume designs, and programmable functionalities are crucial properties of FPGAs. FPGAs have been a practical option for many systems and marketplaces due to the rapid progression of the technology.

Also read : VLSI Projects for ECE Final Year Students

Why to do FPGA Projects?

For setups where evolving needs necessitate updated processing, FPGAs seem to be the perfect match. By entering various data into an FPGA, it is possible, for instance, to handle the on-site migration of a cell tower from 3G to 4G. The racks of devices do not need to be changed since the data "rewires" the hardware.

The FPGA market is expected to grow in the future. Leading producers of regular CPUs are purchasing FPGA-focused businesses to diversify their product lines. A US-based producer of programmable logic devices (PLDs), Altera, was acquired by Intel in 2015, whereas AMD bought Xilinx last year, the firm that created the FPGA design. 

Networking will also make more use of FPGAs. They will also include highly specialised silicon components, such as network interface controllers, in addition to programmable logic cells. Additionally, it is possible that network-specific circuits will be created.

FPGA circuits will have more logic gates, which will enable us to create more complicated capabilities from the standpoint of the developer. More network functions can be accommodated on a single circuit and piece of hardware. Of course, this will also increase the complexity of the overall program.

Hence it is important to do the FPGA projects in the right area adds on to your profile, as most of the employers ask about the final year FPGA projects to the engineering students in the interview.

How to Start Projects in FPGA?

Beginning FPGA development is quite similar to beginning with any other programmable silicon. Select the hardware first. Create the development environment next. Construct your initial "Hello World" program to finish. I'll walk you through each of those three processes in this post, perhaps helping you avoid the MCU-to-FPGA pitfalls that are most frequently encountered.

• The "HelloWorld" project

• The development environment

• The structure of an FPGA configuration

• The selection of a development board,

• The addition of the source code

• The addition of the UCF and

• The creation of the .bit file.

Given that FPGA is more expensive than microcontrollers, it is crucial to choose the right FPGA for the work at hand. In order to help the reader distinguish between FPGAs when making a purchase, we will go into depth about each of the elements that are taken into account when choosing any FPGA.

The following considerations should be made while buying any FPGA:

• IO count

• Number of Gates

• Memory

• Operating Frequency

• Operating temperature

• Cost

• Vendors

• Peripherals

The word IO, which stands for input output, is used to provide input and receive output from any system. We provide inputs to the system when working on any project, and the system returns the desired result. These inputs come from the outside world, and when the inputs have been processed, the FPGA produces the output. Therefore, this became crucial to choose an FPGA with enough IO ports to readily support our idea.

Number of Gates

FPGAs come in a wide range of Gate Count variants on the market. Multiple gates allow for the implementation of larger modules. However, the cost rises as the gate count grows, therefore it's best to choose the smallest FPGA that can still meet the project's needs.

Memory

Random Access Memory (RAM) is a crucial memory component. Larger RAM allows the handling of more bits at once, but purchasing larger RAM units will be expensive; thus, it is preferable to estimate the general amount of memory required for our project and purchase memory in accordance with that estimate.

Operating Frequency

Here, the term "frequency" refers to the FPGA's clock frequency. Techniques demand high-speed calculation, hence boosting the clock frequency helps to speed up the processing. Every FPGA manufacturer grades the speed of their FPGAs; thus, our goal is to choose the least expensive FPGA that satisfies the speed criteria. A flip-maximum flop's frequency is determined by the FPGA's speed grading. For instance, Altera Apex-1 operates more quickly than Altera Apex-2 and Altera Apex-3. Different timing characteristics like LUT, IO, etc. are influenced by speed grade.

Operating Temperature

Most of the time, this aspect has little impact. When we labour in settings with harsh temperatures, it matters a lot. For instance, it's crucial in defence programmes, etc. There are FPGAs that can handle these situations, but the price goes up. It is not necessary to take this aspect into account for most domestic tasks.

Cost

Money is important; thus, we attempt to discover cheaper things in order to save as much as we can. It is therefore wiser to choose a less expensive FPGA that meets all the project criteria as per the aforementioned considerations.

Vendors

For FPGA, there are primarily four vendors. Another two are medium-sized vendors such as Lattice Semiconductor and Microsemi, while Xilinx and Altera (Intel) are two of the more substantial ones. Although there are a few minor variances, everything they offer is essentially equal. Although certain vendors provides FPGAs which are better designed for high-speed interface, others offer multiple clock sources or specific blocks that may give our project a functional advantage. A local representative and support firm from some vendors may also be able to assist everyone with the design features.

Peripherals

Choosing microcontrollers frequently requires a careful examination of the peripherals, such as SPI, I2C, UART and other physical connectors, such as Qwiic, USB, mikroBus, MOD, Grove, viz.; and anyway, we will use these for real-world projects where we need to connect sensors and actuators to our processing systems. This may be a contentious topic. The same is true with FPGAs. For simplicity of usage in practical situations, industry standard protocol hardware and software stacks should be readily available.

For rapid prototyping or teaching purposes, additional bells and whistles such as segmented screens, buttons, and LEDs are also useful for beginners.

Also read : Arduino Based Mini Projects for ECE

Top Projects Ideas in FPGA

The top FPGA projects done by us are listed below. You can refer to these so that you can get some ideas in doing FPGA projects.

1. Virtex 7 FPGA Implementation of 256 Bit Key AES Algorithm with Key Schedule and Sub Bytes Block Optimization

2. Implementation of Efficient Modulo 2nAdders for Cryptographic Applications

3. Image Enhancement using Edge Spartan 6 FPGA Board

4. A Systematic Delay and Power Dominant Carry Save Adder Design

This blog article gives you some important tips about the basic concepts of computer science engineering. First it gives details about how to start the FPGA projects. Then the reason behind their significance is also stressed in “Why to do FPGA projects”. Then the lists of FPGA projects done by Takeoff Projects are provided at the end.

Why Takeoff Projects? How can it help with the FPGA Projects?