Advantages of FPGA-Based Multiprocessor Systems in Industrial ...

transferring image data, interfacing the peripherals, such ascooler, motors, and other auxiliary hardware, and connectinga CAN bus. Another major part consists of the integration ofthe existing trigger-logic functionality.On the software side, the next steps are as follows: First ofall, the existing software functionalities have to be ported tothe new system. Then, the distribution of the data andcommunication objects, i.e., the memory map, should beoptimized with respect to the system’s runtime behavior.After the completion of the steps mentioned above, a finalfield study has to prove both sufficient processing speed andfulfilment of the required timing behavior.VII. CONCLUSIONThis paper has presented the benefits of utilizing an FPGAto implement a multiprocessor platform for an industrialapplication in the field of offset printing. This paper hasfurthermore shown that FPGA-based solutions enable theusage of soft-core processors, which leads to flexible,scalable, and easy-to-maintain systems.For the following reasons, the approach presented heremight be of particular interests for industrial applications: Itenables the efficient participation of future trends, such asdynamically reconfigurable hardware [10]; the support bypowerful tools, the usage of an abstract hardware descriptionlanguage, and the option of employing IP-cores all result insignificant time and money savings; since the particularsystem is not bound to a particular FPGA, i.e., the hardwarecan be ported to a different FPGA by a simple recompilation,it can be easily scaled if demands desire so.Another point to consider, when working with FPGAs, isthat hardware description, i.e., the VHDL code, remains atthe development side and can furthermore not be recoveredby third parties by reading the configuration file. That is, allsystem-related information can be kept confidential. Thisalso reduces time and money costs during communication tothird-party companies.All the advantages described above are a strong argumentfor using FPGAs in industrial applications. Another equallyimportant argument is that all the provided tools allow almostany developer to utilize FPGAs at very low personal andmonetary costs.VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors gratefully thank Dr. Horst Steppat, managingdirector at basysPrint, and John Hedde, director of researchand development at basysPrint, for providing the existingtechnology and the excellent cooperation. In addition theauthors sincerely thank Jens Hildebrandt, former member ofthis research and now with Siemens VDO Automotive AG.This research was supported in part by the German federalministry of education and research, grant number 03i4919B.IX. REFERENCES[1] Chris Wright and Mike Arens, “FPGA-based Systemon-ModuleApproach Cuts Time to Market, AvoidsObsolescence”, FPGA and Programmable LogicJournal, Volume VI, No. 6, Feb. 2005[2] Salil Raje, “Catching the FPGA Productivity Wave”,Electronic Design, Oct. 2004, Online ID 8931[3] Altera Corp., NIOS II Processor Reference Handbook,Altera Document NII5V1-1.2, Altera Corp., San Jose,CA, Jan. 2005[4] Gaisler Resarch, LEON2 Processor User’s Manual –XST Edition, Gaisler Research AB, Goteborg, Sweden,Jan. 2005[5] XILINX Inc., MicroBlaze Processor Reference Guide,XILINX Document UG081 (v5.0), XILINX Inc., SanJose, CA, Jan. 2005[6] Altera Corp., Quartus II Handbook Volume 4 - SOPC-Builder, Altera Document QII5V4-1.0, Altera Corp.,San Jose, CA, Feb. 2005[7] David. E. Culler and Jaswinder Pal Singh, ParallelComputer Architecture – A Hardware/SoftwareApproach, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., SanFrancisco, California, 1999[8] José Carlos Palma, Aline Vieira del Melo, FernandoGehm Moraes, Ney Calanzans, “Core CommunicationInterface for FPGAs”, 15 th Symposium on IntegratedCircuits and System Design, Porto Allegre, Brazil, 2002[9] Ross B. Ortega and Gaetano Borriello, “CommunicationSynthesis for Distributed Embedded Systems,” inProceedings of the 1998 IEEE/ACM internationalconference on Computer-aided design, pp. 437-444,1998[10] Reiner Hartenstein, “The Microprocessor is no moreGeneral Purpose: why Future Reconfigurable Platformswill win,” in Proceedings of the Second Annual IEEEInternational Conference on Innovative Systems inSilicon, 1997[11] Altera Corp., Nios Development Board ReferenceManual, Cyclone Edition, Altera Document MNL-N2DEVLBDCYC-1.1, Altera Corp., San Jose, CA,[12] basysPrint, UV-Setters Series 7, basysPrint Ltd., 2004