Combining FPGAs and DSPs to get the best performance

By Deepak Boppana, Altera Corp.

How intelligent partitioning between DSPs and FPGAs will deliver the best combination of features and cost-effectiveness for such things as wireless basestation applications.

Suppliers of DSP chips and programmable logic may differ over which device type is best for new wireless system designs but the design strategies their customers are actually implementing is what's most important.

And today, designers are mixing PLDs and DSPs. "Intelligent partitioning" between these two device types gives wireless systems the best combination of features and cost-effectiveness.

Besides the obvious goals of meeting specifications, the practice of mixing DSPs and FPGAs brings a measure of future proofing as well as potential for risk-free cost reduction. This article expands on these design strategies and provides examples of FPGA+DSP system partitioning for wireless basestations that illustrate why combining programmable logic with DSP can assist designers with their projects.

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