It is not uncommon to make extended designs of products. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are not left out. If you want to buy one of these devices, pay attention to the use case/application and compare it with the original family.
The Spartan 3AN is an extended FPGA board, made out of the original Spartan 3 family. In this article, we discuss the reasons for making the extension and some of the capabilities of the board.
Why was the Spartan 3AN Designed?
Typical of FPGAs, there is a continuous need for innovations. That is one of the reasons for making the Spartan 3AN. It is designed to be an extension of the Xilinx Spartan 3 family.
The extension comes on the heels of the absence of some features on the original family. For example, the Spartan 3AN boasts of increased capabilities and can favorably compete with other devices because of its support for a broad range of densities.
Spartan 3AN’s Non-Volatile Capability
The primary use case of the Spartan 3E is logic optimization. If you are working on a device that doesn’t require more I/O pin counts, it makes a great deal of investment to prioritize working with the Spartan 3E.
However, the Spartan 3AN takes a different approach and proves to be a better competitor to the Spartan 3E by enabling the designs of non-volatile applications.
The FPGA device works by prioritizing the use of more non-volatile densities and cutting down on the use of more Input and Output (I/O) pins.
To that end, it is a better fit for applications that require non-volatile, larger user flash and system integration of the designs. You can also use the Spartan 3AN to configure your boards that require improved design security.
One of the additional benefits of working with the board is that it is space-defined. That way, you get to work with designs and applications that require the tiniest of spaces. To boost this, the board supports the configuration of secure applications.
It also supports the configuration of low-cost embedded controllers and related devices.
Features of the Spartan 3AN
Here are some of the features and benefits that can be attributed to working with the Spartan 3AN board.
1. Integrated Robust Configuration Memory
The memory of the Spartan 3AN is both robust and integrable. In that case, you tend to use it to reduce support issues that come with designing the devices.
The integrated robust configuration memory also enables the simplicity of the designs, reducing the board space used for the configuration and offering an all-around improvement in its ease-of-use.
2. Support for Alternative Configurations
The Spartan 3AN doesn’t only have one way to its configuration. In addition to the basic configuration process, you can also use alternative methods to achieve the same result.
The alternative configuration options are enabled with the board’s support for MultiBoot. As the world’s first nonvolatile FPGA with the MultiBoot feature, it allows designers to configure the board in several ways.
In addition, its configuration is channeled to the multiple system configurations, field upgrades and test modes of the Spartan 3 devices.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, the Spartan 3AN is a reliable FPGA family that assures you of excellent designs and a host of alternative configuration options. If you are looking for help before getting started, contact EBICS today.
