MicroFPGA – The Coming Revolution in Small Electronics

Explore the emerging revolution of MicroFPGAs in small electronics through this informative 39-minute Hackaday conference talk by David Williams. Discover how open-source tools, affordable development boards, and new libraries are enabling designers to create high-performance, flexible, and low-power projects. Learn about the architecture of FPGAs, their advantages over traditional microcontrollers, and the concept of MicroFPGAs. Delve into topics such as discrete logic units, FPGA tools, soft CPUs, and modular hardware. Understand the challenges faced by FPGAs and the potential changes in the industry. Gain insights into getting started with FPGA development, including board selection, connecting to FPGAs, and working with various interfaces like cameras and motor controls. Explore low-level languages, wire protocols, and image processing techniques specific to FPGAs. Conclude with an overview of MicroFPGA advocacy and standards, equipping you with knowledge to leverage this technology in your own projects and products.

Introduction
The Architecture
Why FPGA
BGAs
Opensource tools
What is MicroFPGA
Discrete Logic Units
What is an FPGA
FPGA Tools
FPGA Module
YIS
Lattice Diamond
Full Processor
Soft CPU
Badge
Micro FPGA
The problem with FPGAs
What will change
Getting Started
FPGA Boards
Modular Hardware
Connecting to FPGAs
FPGA modules
Multidrop standards
Pmods
Analog IO
Motor Control
Alternative
What if
Lowlevel language
The valid line
The low line
Wire it all together
Camera interfacing
Camera pipeline
Start of frame
Cartridge board
Image scaler
FPGA development
GitHub
Micro FPGA Advocacy
Micro FPGA Standards