Latest FPGA Technical Articles

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Which Encoding Type Should I Use? Example FPGA Applications

Follow three experiments that show the process of determining which kind of encoding suits a given FPGA.

January 06, 2021 by Eduardo Corpeño

Comparing Binary, Gray, and One-Hot Encoding

This article shows a comparison of the implementations that result from using binary, Gray, and one-hot encodings to implement state machines in an FPGA. These encodings are often evaluated and applied by the synthesis and implementation tools, so it’s important to know why the software makes these decisions.

January 05, 2021 by Eduardo Corpeño

JTAG Implementation in Arm Core Devices

This article will teach you about the intersection between JTAG and Arm core devices, with special attention paid to the Arm Debug Interface or ADI.

December 14, 2020 by Sam Gallagher

JTAG Connectors and Interfaces

Learn about the interfaces and connectors used to implement JTAG.

November 23, 2020 by Sam Gallagher

The JTAG Test Access Port (TAP) State Machine

In this article, we’re going to look at the test access state machine in detail and even see some pseudocode for a simple JTAG interface.

November 20, 2020 by Sam Gallagher

Introduction to JTAG and the Test Access Port (TAP)

In this article, we’re going to be talking about JTAG, the ubiquitous hardware tool used for testing, programming, and debugging.

November 18, 2020 by Sam Gallagher

What Is a Hardware Description Language (HDL)?

This FEQ (or Frequent Engineering Question) covers the basics of a crucial topic: hardware description languages.

March 11, 2020 by Robert Keim

Watchdog Timers in Microcontrollers

This article is the fourth of a series on microcontroller timers which discusses internal watchdogs.

February 10, 2020 by Stephen Colley

Real Time Clocks (RTCs) in Microcontroller Timers

This article is the third of a series on microcontroller timers which describes the RTCs inside a microcontroller.

February 09, 2020 by Stephen Colley

Introduction to Microcontroller Timers: Periodic Timers

This article, the first in a series on “timer/counter” functions in microcontrollers, discusses periodic timers.

January 14, 2020 by Stephen Colley

Concurrency and Interrupts in Microcontrollers and Embedded Systems

This article introduces the idea of concurrency and a mechanism that many computers provide for dealing with concurrency called interrupts.

September 30, 2019 by Philip Asare

Embedded Firmware Tips: How to Initialize Arrays in C with Signal Waveforms and Other File Data

This article shows how to initialize arrays in a C program with values from text files.

September 25, 2019 by Stephen Colley

Embedded Firmware Tips and Tricks: Use Your Read Only Memory to Free Up RAM

Learn how to use code memory to free up RAM on your MCU.

September 16, 2019 by Robert Keim

Understanding Verilog Shift Registers

This article will discuss how to implement a shift register in Verilog. The register described can be synthesized and downloaded to an FPGA for test in actual hardware.

August 27, 2019 by Garrett Holthaus

How to Interface the Mojo V3 FPGA Board with a 16x2 LCD Module: Block Diagram and Verilog Code

This article will discuss the details of interfacing a basic 16x2 LCD module with an FPGA.

May 19, 2019 by Dr. Steve Arar

How to Interface the Mojo v3 FPGA Board with a 16x2 LCD Module

This article will discuss the details of interfacing a basic 16x2 LCD module with an FPGA.

May 17, 2019 by Dr. Steve Arar

An Overview of Software Languages for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)

What software languages are used with programmable logic controllers?

May 10, 2019 by Stephen St. Michael

Understanding Embedded C: What Are Structures?

After introducing structures, we’ll take a look at some of the important applications of this powerful data object. Then, we’ll examine the C language syntax to declare a structure. Finally, we’ll briefly introduce the data alignment requirement. We’ll see that we may be able to reduce the size of a structure by simply rearranging the order of its members.

May 01, 2019 by Dr. Steve Arar

How to Interpret IMU Sensor Data for Dead-Reckoning: Rotation Matrix Creation

Working with IMUs can maddening for a variety of reasons, but what scares people the most is usually the math.

April 23, 2019 by Mark Hughes

Introduction To Real-Time Embedded Systems

This article looks at real-time embedded systems including classifications, constraints, and design patterns.

April 12, 2019 by Stephen St. Michael