Agenda

• Programming FPGAs
• Why Are They Useful?
• NI FPGA Hardware
• Common Applications for FPGAs
• How to Learn More
FPGA Technology

Programmable
Interconnects

Logic
Blocks

I/O Blocks
FPGA Logic Implementation
Implementing Logic on FPGA: F = {(A+B)CD}  E

LabVIEW FPGA Code E F

A
B
C
D
Demo

• Filter
LabVIEW FPGA Code Abstraction
Counter Analog I/O I/O with DMA

LabVIEW FPGA VHDL ~4000 lines

 LabVIEW FPGA Module

FPGA

• LabVIEW code is translated to hardware

circuitry implemented on the FPGA
• Natural representation of FPGA logic
Demo

• Simple I/O
Agenda
• Programming FPGAs
• Why Are They Useful?
• NI FPGA Hardware
• Common Applications for FPGAs
• How to Learn More
 Why Are They Useful?
• True Parallelism – Provides parallel tasks and pipelining

• High Reliability – Designs become a custom circuit

• High Determinism – Runs algorithms at deterministic

rates down to 25 ns (faster in many cases)

• Reconfigurable – Create new and alter existing task-

specific personalities
True Parallelism
E
F

A
B
C
D
Z

W X Y
High Reliability and Determinism
Decision Making in Software Multiple Software Layers

Application Software
Operating System

Calculation
Driver API
Hardware
~25 ms
UUT Response

Outputs
 High Reliability and Determinism
Decision Making in Hardware

Highest

Application Software
Operating System
Determinism

Calculation

Driver API
Hardware
25 ns*
UUT Response

Outputs

* Faster response for

80 and 120 MHz clocks Highest Reliability
Demo

• AI, AO, Custom Threshold logic

 From LabVIEW to Hardware

Translation Optimization Synthesis Bit Stream

VHDL Generation Analysis Place and Route Generation

Logic Reduction Timing Verification Download/Run
Agenda
• Programming FPGAs
• What Are FPGAs and Why Are They Useful?
• NI FPGA Hardware
• Common Applications for FPGAs
• How to Learn More
 What Is RIO Technology?
FPGA

• Use NI LabVIEW to design custom hardware

circuitry with off-the-shelf devices
 NI LabVIEW FPGA Hardware Targets

R Series NI CompactRIO NI NI FlexRIO Other

Multifunction •Industrial Control SingleboardRIO •Manufacturing Test •RIO IF Transceiver
RIO and Monitoring •Embedded Systems and Design •PCIe Framegrabbers
Validation •Compact Vision
•General Purpose
I/O for System
Measurement and
Control
Agenda
• Programming FPGAs
• What Are FPGAs and Why Are They Useful?
• NI FPGA Hardware
• Common Applications for FPGAs
• How to Learn More
Common Applications

• High-speed control
• Custom DAQ
• Digital communication protocols
• Sensor simulation
• Onboard processing and data reduction
Common Applications

• High-speed control
• Custom DAQ
• Digital communication protocols
• Sensor simulation
• Onboard processing and data reduction
• Coprocessing
High-Speed Control

About 200 kHz loop rate

Common Applications

• High-speed control
• Custom DAQ
• Digital communication protocols
• Sensor simulation
• Onboard processing and data reduction
Customize Your DAQ Device

• Custom timing & synchronization

• Multi-rate sampling
• Custom triggering
• Custom counters
• Flexible PWM
• Flexible encoder interface
Custom Triggered Analog Input
Common Applications

• High-speed control
• Custom DAQ
• Digital communication protocols
• Sensor simulation
• Onboard processing and data reduction
Digital Communication
Example – SPI
Common Applications

• High-speed control
• Custom DAQ
• Digital communication protocols
• Sensor simulation
• Onboard processing and data reduction
Sensor Simulation and FPGA
• Fully customizable hardware – Many types of sensors
• Parallelism – Many sensors on chip with no interference
• Strict timing requirements – Deterministic or highly
realistic
• Onboard processing – Engineering units to sensor signals

Sensor Signals
Common Applications

• High-speed control
• Custom DAQ
• Digital communication protocols
• Sensor simulation
• Onboard processing and data reduction
Onboard Processing and Data
Reduction
Built-In I/O Processing Output
• Analog voltages • Encoding/decoding • DMA preprocessed data
• Digital communications • Filtering/averaging • Streaming from input to
• Sensor signals • Modulation/ output without host
demodulation involvement
• Decimation
• Stream processing DMA to
Input Host
Process Output
 Intellectual Property (IP)

FFT
DC/RMS
Waveform Averaging
Digital filtering
Windowing
Resampling
 LabVIEW FPGA Math
IPNet Signal Processing
[Link]/ipnet
Data Manipulation and Transfer

RF and Communications

Digital Protocols

Data Acquisition

Signal Generation

Control

Sensor Simulation
More than 200 IP cores and examples
 HDL-Based IP in LabVIEW FPGA
• HDL Interface Node
 Inline HDL integration

• Component-Level IP Node
 Parallel HDL integration
How to Learn More
Questions?
[Link]/fpga [Link]/training
2 Day LabVIEW FPGA
Module Course