Design
New Trends
FPGA technology is no doubt getting faster, S.N Padmanabhan is a graduate in Electronics
better and cheaper. This has enabled FPGAs to Engineering with Masters in Electrical
penetrate a wide variety of applications, making Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology.
them attractive choices for a variety of Padmanabhan joined Wipro Technologies as a
applications. They make possible full system campus recruit in 1986 and went on to hold
implementation dreams a low cost reality with several positions there.
the availability of multi million gate FPGAs that He was involved in the development of
have embedded processing elements. intelligent peripheral controllers for various
Unfortunately, most designs need analog minicomputers during his initial years at Wipro.
interface capability, which the FPGAs cannot He was responsible for designing high end
offer in order to complete the full system processor and memory subsystems based on the Motorola series of
Issue I 2009
solution. Analog is a different world and a microprocessors.
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difficult domain. There is a widespread scarcity Subsequently, in 1990, he moved on to build capabilities in VLSI
.com
of skills across the globe. It is every engineer’s Design and helped to grow this as one of the larger strengths of the
wish to handle analog designs as easily and organization. He was one of the pioneers to have started chip design in
flexibly as their digital cousins. Is there a day India and have been a part of some of the industry wide initiatives in
they can look forward to analog equivalents of this area.
FPGAs or is it going to stay a dream? Padmanabhan joined MindTree in 2000 and has been involved in
Luckily there is hope as a new class of building its Hardware and IC Design capabilities since then.
experimental technology is emerging – Field He has been responsible for bringing in the tools and
oasiasemiconductor
Programmable Analog Array (FPAA). These are methodologies in these areas. At MindTree, he incubated the
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network of a variety of analog elements that can development of Ultrawide Band (UWB) technology which is undergoing
www
be interconnected like in an FPGA to realize development and testing as of now. Currently he is a Senior Vice
various functions. They can implement various President addressing the Semiconductor market.
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analog functions, including active filters, A/D and
D/A, using a set of configurable analog blocks
and programmable interconnect network which
also actively involve in the signal processing dreaming about such advances.
path. FPGAs have revolutionised electronic
The FPAAs have not yet become product designs. The technology has
mainstream technology, although a few empowered engineers and scientists beyond the
companies have released such devices in the electronics world to create innovative solutions.
market. The success and viability of this Low cost, flexibility, programmability and
innovation are yet to be proven. reasonable power consumption have enabled
Combined as a part of the FPGAs, FPAAs them to penetrate the highly volatile consumer
can take on the challenges of Programmable appliance segment.
Mixed Signal designs and make them a reality. FPGAs have emerged as the choice for
We should call them Field Programmable Mixed rapid prototyping needs. They have constantly
Signal Arrays or FPMAs for want of a better been at the forefront of semiconductor device
name. technologies offering a great technological
Going by the trends and advancements in edge to product designers at a very affordable
semiconductor technologies, such devices may cost.
not be very far away. However the challenges of Newer trends like Field Programmable
creating such a device that is affordable, flexible Analog/Mixed Signal Arrays will become a
and programmable cannot be undermined. For reality. Finally, FPGAs will continue to find new
the time being, let us restrict ourselves to applications and market segments.
FPGAs have revolutionised electronic product designs.
The technology has empowered engineers and scientists
beyond the electronics world to create innovative solutions
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