|
Battery-Powered Proof
Development Board with a Mission
FPGAs are power-hungry monsters, right? We all learned this ten years ago, and un-learning it sometimes seems beyond the capabilities of the electronic design community. We plod along with our pre-conceptions, patiently ignoring the evolving reality. In truth, low-power FPGAs have been available for years now. Depending on your application, you can find a programmable logic device that fits just about any power budget. Ask the average designer on the street, though, and you’ll usually get the same response: “We couldn’t use an FPGA in our design because, you know, they’re power hogs.”
Altera, Linear Technology, and Arrow Electronics set out to change that perception recently with the introduction of a new development board – dubbed the Low Power Reference Platform (LPRP). The collaboration between these companies makes this development board an interesting case study in blending objectives of changing market perceptions, selling chips, and providing a robust tool to facilitate product prototyping and development.
When you open the LPRP box and pop out the development board, you’ll notice one thing right away – a battery strapped to the bottom. Next, almost like an engineer’s magic trick, you can power up the board and run through a series of demo designs with no cables connected whatsoever. Are they making the point yet? It’s an FPGA board. It runs on a battery. You can listen to your favorite MP3 tunes (OK, probably not your actual favorites, but a nice collection of material that they apparently could get rights to distribute) while a power display on the tiny LCD monitors the milliwatts for you in real time. Not convinced? Hook up a multi-meter to the proper resistor and you can get a verifiable second opinion. Or, just measure how long until the battery goes dead. [more]
|
