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Because field programmable gate array (FPGA) chips are large and all-encompassing, they are not solo development efforts any longer, and teams of developers can work on a single FPGA cooperatively. Topics covered are collaborative design, modular FPGA design, typical data flow for modular FPGA design, a design example for a communications chip, and new modular FPGA design techniques advantages to distributed design teams. With the new techniques, parts of a whole design can be approached independently so that multiple designers can work in parallel and add resources as needed to specific design modules. Functional modules can be analyzed separately, for better debugging and enhancements, and timing of each functional module is maintained because each module can be assigned to a specific region on the device, and tools are constrained for use of resources from that region. Modular flow can be used for performance optimization and preservation. Modules can be placed into regions in the floor plan, and because modular assignments are usually hierarchical, teams have increased control over the placement and performance of modules and groups of modules. All leading FPGA vendors offer a type of modular design method that uses a typical procedure of partitioning, floor planning, block implementation, and assembly.
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