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The granular, regular structure of the Actel antifuse-based
FPGA products enables easy conversion to MPGA. Actel
provides all required engineering services to convert the
customer design from FPGA to MPGA, using proprietary
software to automatically convert the FPGA logic design into
the MPGA device. Test vector generation is made easy by
software that converts the customer's third-party simulation
vectors into the final vectors used to test the device in
production.
All Actel MPGA devices are pin-for-pin compatible with the
corresponding FPGA, and therefore no board redesign is
required. MPGA devices meet all worst-case timing
specifications of the FPGA devices. MPGA devices are
available for all plastic packaged devices from ACT 1, ACT 2,
1200XL, ACT 3, and 3200DX families. See the “Product Plan”
on page 1-260 for a detailed list of available device and
package combinations.
Actel FPGA to MPGA Design Flow
Actel’s three families of FPGA devices offer a wide selection
of device sizes, package choices, performance characteristics,
and price points. The FPGA families provide the ideal
prototyping
tool
and
are
cost-effective
for
low-
to
medium-volume applications. As volumes increase, a
cost-reduction path becomes a key factor to ensure continued
success and profitability of the end product. Once the design
has stabilized and volumes are increasing, a choice can be
made to convert the design to an MPGA. Since the MPGA
product is pin-for-pin compatible with the FPGA, no board
redesign is required, and the MPGA can directly replace the
FPGA.
A typical design process uses the FPGA device as the
prototyping and initial production product of choice and
converts to the MPGA as volumes warrant. Figure 1 shows the
design process for Actel FPGA and MPGA devices. This option
gives you the flexibility to adjust volumes as the demand for
the end product changes. Since the MPGA is a semicustom
device, all production is built to your order. If the design is
already completed in the FPGA, any demand upsides can be
satisfied by temporarily switching production back to the
FPGA. Since Actel FPGAs are standard off-the-shelf devices,
additional product requirements can be met within a short
lead time.
The Actel FPGA devices offer the easiest and fastest way to
bring a new product to market, and the three FPGA families
offer a wide selection of low-cost, high-performance devices.
The addition of the MPGA devices offers a simple, low-risk
cost-reduction path as production volumes increase.