What is this project about?This project demonstrates how FPGA prototyping accelerates ASIC and SoC development by enabling early software validation, architectural testing, and hardware-software co-design. It’s based on real-world practices shared during an industry event hosted by Rolls-Royce and supported by Alpinum Consulting.
Why did we decide to build this?Many companies face high risks and long lead times when developing custom silicon. Errors discovered late in the flow—often at tape-out—can cost millions. FPGA prototyping bridges the gap between design and physical silicon by providing a high-fidelity, reprogrammable hardware model that’s ideal for debugging, software development, and system validation. We wanted to highlight a practical, scalable prototyping flow inspired by actual use cases.
How does it work?The project uses a high-end FPGA development board (e.g., Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ or Intel Stratix 10) configured with RTL representing the target ASIC. We integrate peripherals, connect to a host machine running Linux, and use tools like Vivado and Synopsys Verdi to simulate, synthesize, and verify system behavior.Testbench components validate the hardware response, while embedded software interacts with the hardware in real time. Through this setup, we can validate entire SoC subsystems, identify performance bottlenecks, and iterate rapidly—without waiting for silicon.
We also used debug probes, logic analyzers, and signal tracing to improve visibility during runtime.
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