"Embedded": What Does It Really Mean, Anyway?

With the Embedded Systems Conference coming up in Boston, I recently started thinking about the term “embedded” and what it means today.  It seems that it’s become bandied about with such reckless abandon that it means everything and nothing.

So what does it mean on the FPGA landscape?  I think there are two ways to look at it...  On one level, “embedded” simply means “built-in”.  Today’s FPGAs have embedded RAM, processors and DSP’s (LatticeECP2M).  There’s even embedded Flash (LatticeXP2) and SERDES (LatticeSC & LatticeECP2M) in FPGAs.

At a more substantial level though, it means “complexity”.  Complexity is good for the marketing folks, but risky for us engineer types: The more stuff you have embedded, the more stuff you have to configure, integrate and test.  Configuration and hook up are usually the straightforward part of embedded IP.  Testing: there’s the rub... Fortunately, there are a couple of aces up our “embedded” sleeves.

The first ace is evaluation boards. Eval boards are sold by FPGA suppliers to enable customers to experiment with embedded features in a simple development environment.  It’s an excellent medium for getting up-close and personal with an embedded feature. Since the same company that sells the embedded IP also designs the evaluation boards, designers have the same source for support and documentation.

The second ace up the sleeve is demos that show-off specific embedded features.  Usually designed to a specific evaluation board, these little gems are a powerful way to kick start your development.  Typically, you’ll download design files along with documentation to help you get the demo working on your eval board.  The purpose of any demo is (1) proof that the embedded feature works on a given device and (2) help for the developer to get started with that particular embedded technology.

If you’re attacking an FPGA design with new embedded features, I’d encourage you to look at our IP catalog to see what tickles your embedded fancy. Then go to the evaluation board page to take a gander at our evaluation board offerings.

Lattice Semiconductor will be at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston on September 19th and 20th.  We’ll have several demos showing off several of our latest embedded features.   Stop by for a look and a chat.