Using Off-the-Shelf Technology with an FPGA to Replace Custom Hardware

Part 2: Picking platforms, tools

By Rick Kuhlman, National Instruments
December 14, 2007 -- pldesignline.com

Part 1 of this two-part series focused on choosing the right hardware platform for industrial and control applications and discussed some of the challenges design engineers face. This article examines the issues designers need to keep in mind when creating custom hardware in an industrial setting.

While there are many advantages to making in-house proprietary systems, there are also a number of important benefits to using a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. This article explores some of these issues while developing a case for COTS hardware that includes a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as a feasible and flexible way to replace custom hardware.

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