Microchip & DigiKey explore the role of FPGAs in embedded design

For many engineers, microcontrollers remain the default choice. However, FPGAs allow for a level of customisation that fixed-function devices cannot match. Engineers can essentially ‘build their own chip’ without the costs and complexities associated with developing an ASIC. This opens the door to optimised, application-specific designs. 

FPGAs are particularly useful for offloading tasks that would otherwise burden a microcontroller. For example, decoding quadrature signals can consume significant resources on a traditional MCU. By implementing such functions in programmable logic, engineers can free up processing power and improve system responsiveness. Adding an FPGA to a design oftens come with a steep barrier of entry and cost penalty. To keep the advantages of programmable logic while minimising those downsides, Microchip’s CLB, which functions as a tiny FPGA embedded directly within a microcontroller, offers a compact and efficient way to achieve this integration. It combines the benefits of programmable logic with the low power and ease-of-use typically associated with MCUs. 

One area where this technology stands out is in voltage compatibility. Traditional FPGAs often struggle in 5V environments, but Microchip’s solutions support native 5V tolerance and voltage stepping. This is particularly valuable when designing systems that need to interface with legacy hardware. 

FPGAs also scale well in complexity. Microchip devices span a wide range of logic element counts – from 25,000 up to 500,000 – allowing designers to choose a device that suits the task at hand. Importantly, these devices are built with robustness in mind. Immunity to single event upsets (SEUs) makes them particularly suitable for use in safety-critical sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and medical. 

To make FPGA design more accessible, Microchip offers the CLB Synthesiser tool, available at logic.microchip.com/clb. This browser-based utility allows users to experiment with basic logic designs without needing to install large software packages. Designs can be created in under five minutes, and the tool generates Verilog and VHDL files to help beginners understand the principles of parallel processing. 

For those looking to explore further, resources such as discover.microchip.com, Microchip’s GitHub repositories, and its YouTube channel provide practical examples and tutorials. The panel agreed that learning FPGA design is a strong career move, with skills in programmable logic remaining in high demand across the industry. 

The discussion reflected how far FPGAs have come in terms of usability. Once viewed as complex and niche, they are now increasingly seen as a natural extension of the embedded designer’s toolkit. While not every project requires an FPGA, they offer powerful and flexible solutions when microcontrollers alone are not enough.