China has a talent pool of 461,000 integrated circuit professionals, with a talent gap of 320,000. The average annual demand for talent is 100,000, but entering the semiconductor industry and mastering HDL languages is not easy.

To excel in FPGA and enter the semiconductor industry, one must think from a hardware perspective during the development process. Understanding the deeper meanings behind IDE tool operations is crucial. When learning HDL, do not rush to write code immediately; avoid blindly using floating points and performing arbitrary operations like division and square roots. These are related to the characteristics of FPGA and its hardware structure. Timing analysis is not difficult, but it is essential to understand its fundamental reasons. If you grasp these five principles, using any FPGA will not be too challenging.

FPGA is a typical hardware development process, and its challenges lie in a profound understanding of FPGA hardware. Excellent FPGA engineers optimize code based on mathematical models and an understanding of the underlying FPGA hardware rather than algorithms. Without a clear understanding of FPGA hardware, directly describing it using HDL can lead to issues. Here, we will share the optimization process of FPGA code in digital signal processing through the DSP architectures of two FPGA devices.

Gowin DSP Resources

Xilinx DEP48E Resources

Xilinx Fourth Generation ASMBL FPGA Architecture

Typically, FPGA developers write code, correct syntax errors, follow the tool’s sequential processes, and download the code. However, have you considered the deeper meanings behind synthesis, layout, routing, physical constraints, timing constraints, and how IDE-related parameter settings impact your design?

In digital signal processing, we usually recommend users to first quantize floating-point data. When encountering square root operations, we often suggest simplifying to absolute values and squares before processing, and to avoid division whenever possible. What is the logic behind this?

Xilinx Efficient Low-Cost Spartan-7 FPGA Device Features

Cycle constraints, input/output delay constraints, clock generation constraints, global clock network requirements, multi-cycle constraints, and pseudo-path settings are common techniques in timing constraints. Are you clear about the logic behind these? I would like to discuss the underlying logic of timing constraints with everyone.

Three Essential Paths for Timing Analysis: Source Clock, Data, Destination Clock Path

There is an interesting statistic: most issues with FPGAs are caused by crossing clock domains. If you truly understand FPGA, porting FPGA code will not be too troublesome. Ultimately, the choice of FPGA manufacturer becomes less significant, as the principles remain constant.

On October 26 (next Monday) at 8 PM, the Enthusiasts Academy invites a teacher with nearly 10 years of FPGA development experience, Teacher Mill, to share insights on the five major misconceptions in FPGA development. Teacher Mill’s FPGA series courses have set a record of 14,000 online attendees, and three sessions of FPGA practical training camps have been successfully held. On that day, the “FPGA Pitfall Guide” live session will premiere, helping millions of electronic engineers avoid the five major misconceptions of FPGA and prevent pitfalls, enabling them to leverage FPGA for career advancement as soon as possible. Registering for the live session now gives you the chance to interact with the teacher and enjoy learning discounts and benefits!Guest Speaker: MillLive Highlights:1. Avoid rushing into writing code when learning FPGA; it could take many years!2. Deeply understand the underlying logic of IDE tools!3. Avoid blind floating points, square roots, division, and exponential calculations!4. Timing constraints and timing analysis are not as difficult as imagined!5. If you understand the fundamentals, any FPGA manufacturer will be similar! (A little spoiler: there will be real-time Q&A during the live session, and it is said that there will also besuper low flash sale learning spots + red envelope benefits!)

Long press the QR code below to join the FPGA live benefits group for free registration!

Ps: If you cannot enter the group, please contact the teaching assistant on WeChat for a manual invitation to join the group. Assistant Tiantian: 18118775427, Assistant Mario: mlamla96