Prototyping Advanced Control Systems on FPGA

In advanced digital control and mechatronics, FPGA-based Systems on a Chip (SoCs) promise to supplant older technologies, such as microcontrollers and DSPs. However, the tackling of FPGA technology by control specialists is complicated by the need for skilled hardware/software partitioning and design in order to match the performance requirements of more and more complex algorithms while minimizing cost. Currently, without adequate software support to provide a straightforward design flow, the amount of time and efforts required is prohibitive.