Question

How can FPGA can reduce development time compared to other logic designs

Answer 1

The BackEnd design cycle in VLSI - ASIC design involves system partitioning, Floor Planning, Placement and Routing stages.

In FPGAs already the architecture is prefabricated and uniform array of structure is laid out along with routing wires available all along the die. FPGAs are known for their flexibility and ability to be programmed on field and reprogrammed. An ASIC cannot be altered once fabricated while FPGAs have reprogrammble architecture.

An idea or a design methodology can be tested and verified on the hardware without following the time consuming process used in ASIC design. An small incremental changes in the design can be implemented and reiterated in FPGAs without much time consumption or cost investment.

Taking the advantages offered by parallism in architectures , FPGAs can compete with todays ASIC designs.

Nonrecurring Engineering (NRE) expenses in ASICs are much more than in FPGAs.