FPGA In Layman''S Terms
FPGA is an Integrated Circuit which can be reconfigured again and again to perform different tasks as desired. For example, an FPGA can be configured to function as a processor, and then it can be reconfigured to function as a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or hardware video encoder, or something else. The point is that FPGA can theoretically be programmed to function as any other Digital Integrated Circuit. Think of FPGA as a breadboard for Digital Circuits. All the gates and flip-flops are present on the FPGA, and there are wires going through the complete chip. Circuits are made by connecting these wires to the relevant gates or flip-flops as per intended design. Instead of connecting the gates/flip-flops using a physical wire as in a breadboard, FPGAs has programmable interconnects that can be rewired programmatically. There are dedicated wires/routes for clock signals and only a selected number of FPGA pins are allowed to drive those global clock routing wires. FPGA Vs Microcontr...