GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA

GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)

GAL : Generic Logic Array
PAL :  Programmable Array Logic
PLD : Programmable Logic Device
CPLD : Complex Programmable Logic Device
FPGA : Field Programmable Gate Array

Can someone explain with comparison what is the difference between all these
GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)  logic units?

Can all these units can be programmable with VHDL ?

<many gates> wrote in news:4125f816$0$6317$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au:

> GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)
> 
> GAL : Generic Logic Array

I thought this was: Gate Array Logic.

> Can all these units can be programmable with VHDL ?

That's a language. As long as someone has a tool to convert VHDL source
code to the device's expected "bit" file then yes. 

-- 
- Mark ->
--

  <many gates> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:4125f816$0$6317$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
  > GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)
  >
  > GAL : Generic Logic Array
  > PAL :  Programmable Array Logic
  > PLD : Programmable Logic Device
  > CPLD : Complex Programmable Logic Device
  > FPGA : Field Programmable Gate Array
  >
  > Can someone explain with comparison what is the difference between all
these
  > GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)  logic units?
  >
  > Can all these units can be programmable with VHDL ?
  >
  >
  >

  Hello,
  As a long year digital expert I'll try to tell you the difference of all
these logic parts.
  First: the content of all of  them can be described by the language VHDL.
But this makes sense only with higher complexities, which big CPLDs and
FPGAs have.
  PLDs, PALs and GALs are the lowest complexity of logic arrays (f.e.
22V10 -> 10 Flip-Flops + AND/OR-Logic).
  CPLDs and FPGAs have more gates and Flip-Flops, where CPLDs have a more
fixed structure (predefined number of gates and FFs) , while FPGAs are
consisting sometimes of pure gates (ACTEL, Antifuse) and can be handled like
true gate arrays. FFs are built by gates then.
  For the high complexities VHDL is the right tool to handle big designs.
But you should keep in mind, that the later layout of the FPGA-chip depends
on the design (how many IO-ports, number of FFs, number of gates, number of
logic blocks etc.).
  The best way to learn about the digital designs is to use the partly free
tools and do a design by yourself.
  All suppliers have nice kitparts and offer design software .

  Have fun.

  Regards,
  Roland

manygates asked:
>GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)
>
>GAL : Generic Logic Array
>PAL :  Programmable Array Logic
>PLD : Programmable Logic Device
>CPLD : Complex Programmable Logic Device
>FPGA : Field Programmable Gate Array
>
>Can someone explain with comparison what is the difference between all these
>GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)  logic units?
>
>Can all these units can be programmable with VHDL ?

This could take awhile :)

The most basic thing all of these have in common is the ability to create
unique circuit configurations on a standard device, and with most, the ability
to erase these configurations, and create new ones.  If we had a time machine
to go back - way back, we would find only devices with fixed architecture
elements, e.g. SSI devices(small scale integration) andgates(7408)
nandgates(7400), or gates (7432) inverters (7404) and then a big jump to MSI
(medium scale integration) like 7474(d flipflop with set/reset) counters (74161
- 4bit counter) , and the industry continues into LSI, VLSI, ASICs,
uprocessors, memories, etc....

then this idea of PLD - programmable logic device
by using fuses in an array, speicific configurations can be accomplished- by
connecting traces in the metal layers on a device, making the gates connected
to them form new circuits - unfortunately, fuses only work once :) - testing by
the manufacturer was limited - after all, how do we test a fuse?

PAL programmable array logic
early PALS were in preset configurations - where fuses could acitivate some
customization  - the pal16l2, the pal16r4, had and/or gate structures, or
limited registers to certain points -
somewhere along the way - UVerasable arrived, displacing one time programmable
fuses - with a nice quartz window, so you could flood the connections with UV
to reset the programming cell - and use a nice paper label to cover it up when
programmed - and with UV, testing by the manufaturer improved, as a pattern
could be built, then removed, although with 30-60minute erase times, it was
still limited -

GALs - neat concept - all possible PAL configurations could be
accomplished,e.g., 16v8 - Variable function, as the 'macrocell' for each output
pad had both combinatorial and registered capability, and even better, these
werre electrically erasable(EECMOS) and could easily be tested and erased in
milliseconds 

Along came FPGA and CPLD

I know I am leaving out a bunch of detail - the various vendors do a superb job
of describing in detail in their literature - 


CPLD - Complex Programmable Logic Device
early CPLD structures were closely related to the GAL/PAL idea, and created an
array of PALs ( think LAB, or GLB, or PALblock, or functionblock) in various
sizes and what not -  
CPLDs at their most basic are this A COMPLEX LOGIC BLOCK - with anywhere from
36 to 68 inputs available per block, with a range of PTERMS(and gate) from 1 to
160, available to drive each macrocell - combinatorial or registered.
Mostly NONVOLATILE devices(EECMOS) with some newer devices also incorporating
SRAM as part of the architecture, decent clock structures, high performance for
large, single logic level functions - think statemachines, decoders, counters
etc -
Routing and interconnect is typically a single large central routing array - so
interconnecting logic has little penalty in routing - and within the LOGIC
BLOCK - there is full interconnect for the various elements

FPGA Field programmable Gate Array - 
FPGAs are devices which can achieve significantly larger logic gate counts,
with each logic element TYPICALLY being built with a 4input LUT(look up table -
which allows pretty much any combination of 4 inputs ) with a combinatorial
and/or registered output available per logic element - each vendor has thier
own 'tweek' on this with additinal logic for muxes, carrychainsfor arithmetic/
counting functions, etc -I'm sure others will jump in here) - nad since the
logic element is small, a lot more fit on a device!.  To interconnect these
logic cells requires significant routing, or interconnect, resources, to build
a larger function out of the many small functions.  Much magic is required
here, by the silicon designers to balance resource requirements, and the SW
designers, to implement algorithms which efficiently connect the elements
together.  
FPGAs generally offer additional elements, e.g. RAM BLOCKS, so that more
complex system functions can be implemented within the single device.  As
technology has moved forward, many different elements have found their way into
FPGA - processors, SERDES, DSPBLOCKS etc.

MOSTLY based on SRAM processes, they offer rapid reconfigurability as well,
with the burden of storage somewhere in the system for the datastreams required
to configure the device.  There are Vendors with NONVOLATILE FPGAs as well,
running form FUSE BASED(one time programmable) to Flash and eecmos based
devices which incorporate flash and eecmos memory to carry the datastream for
configuration on chip. 

I hope this was a good start - Peter, Paul, Austin, Jim, Rick, Ray, Uwe, any
others out there want to expand on these points?

Mike Thomas
Lattice SFAE NY/NJ

Dear Roland,

Thank you for your clear and easy to understand summary.
>   The best way to learn about the digital designs is to use the partly
free
> tools and do a design by yourself.
Can you recomment a particular one to learn CPLD/FPGA and VHDL?


"Roland Macho" <RMacho@t-online.de> wrote in message
news:cg51qu$j5n$04$1@news.t-online.com...
>
>   <many gates> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:4125f816$0$6317$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
>   > GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)
>   >
>   > GAL : Generic Logic Array
>   > PAL :  Programmable Array Logic
>   > PLD : Programmable Logic Device
>   > CPLD : Complex Programmable Logic Device
>   > FPGA : Field Programmable Gate Array
>   >
>   > Can someone explain with comparison what is the difference between all
> these
>   > GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)  logic units?
>   >
>   > Can all these units can be programmable with VHDL ?
>   >
>   >
>   >
>
>   Hello,
>   As a long year digital expert I'll try to tell you the difference of all
> these logic parts.
>   First: the content of all of  them can be described by the language
VHDL.
> But this makes sense only with higher complexities, which big CPLDs and
> FPGAs have.
>   PLDs, PALs and GALs are the lowest complexity of logic arrays (f.e.
> 22V10 -> 10 Flip-Flops + AND/OR-Logic).
>   CPLDs and FPGAs have more gates and Flip-Flops, where CPLDs have a more
> fixed structure (predefined number of gates and FFs) , while FPGAs are
> consisting sometimes of pure gates (ACTEL, Antifuse) and can be handled
like
> true gate arrays. FFs are built by gates then.
>   For the high complexities VHDL is the right tool to handle big designs.
> But you should keep in mind, that the later layout of the FPGA-chip
depends
> on the design (how many IO-ports, number of FFs, number of gates, number
of
> logic blocks etc.).
>   The best way to learn about the digital designs is to use the partly
free
> tools and do a design by yourself.
>   All suppliers have nice kitparts and offer design software .
>
>   Have fun.
>
>   Regards,
>   Roland
>
>
>

<many gates> wrote in message
news:41261019$0$30602$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Dear Roland,
>
> Thank you for your clear and easy to understand summary.
> >   The best way to learn about the digital designs is to use the partly
> free
> > tools and do a design by yourself.
> Can you recomment a particular one to learn CPLD/FPGA and VHDL?

I have a simple CPLD design on my webs site that may be used with the free
Xilinx Webpack software.

Leon
-- 
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

Thank you all..
Leon's page about CPLD,FPGA etc on
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/pld_starter.html contains a good
summary about these units.


> > Dear Roland,
> >
> > Thank you for your clear and easy to understand summary.
> > >   The best way to learn about the digital designs is to use the partly
> > free
> > > tools and do a design by yourself.
> > Can you recomment a particular one to learn CPLD/FPGA and VHDL?
>
> I have a simple CPLD design on my webs site that may be used with the free
> Xilinx Webpack software.
>
> Leon
> -- 
> Leon Heller, G1HSM
> http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller
>
>

Dear Mikeandmax

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your very valuable posting.
I've enjoyed reading it and learnt alot in few paragraphs.

Regards,

"Mikeandmax" <mikeandmax@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040820105045.12055.00004128@mb-m01.aol.com...
> manygates asked:
> >GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)
> >
> >GAL : Generic Logic Array
> >PAL :  Programmable Array Logic
> >PLD : Programmable Logic Device
> >CPLD : Complex Programmable Logic Device
> >FPGA : Field Programmable Gate Array
> >
> >Can someone explain with comparison what is the difference between all
these
> >GAL,PAL,PLD, CPLD,FPGA, (what else...?)  logic units?
> >
> >Can all these units can be programmable with VHDL ?
>
> This could take awhile :)
>
> The most basic thing all of these have in common is the ability to create
> unique circuit configurations on a standard device, and with most, the
ability
> to erase these configurations, and create new ones.  If we had a time
machine
> to go back - way back, we would find only devices with fixed architecture
> elements, e.g. SSI devices(small scale integration) andgates(7408)
> nandgates(7400), or gates (7432) inverters (7404) and then a big jump to
MSI
> (medium scale integration) like 7474(d flipflop with set/reset) counters
(74161
> - 4bit counter) , and the industry continues into LSI, VLSI, ASICs,
> uprocessors, memories, etc....
>
> then this idea of PLD - programmable logic device
> by using fuses in an array, speicific configurations can be accomplished-
by
> connecting traces in the metal layers on a device, making the gates
connected
> to them form new circuits - unfortunately, fuses only work once :) -
testing by
> the manufacturer was limited - after all, how do we test a fuse?
>
> PAL programmable array logic
> early PALS were in preset configurations - where fuses could acitivate
some
> customization  - the pal16l2, the pal16r4, had and/or gate structures, or
> limited registers to certain points -
> somewhere along the way - UVerasable arrived, displacing one time
programmable
> fuses - with a nice quartz window, so you could flood the connections with
UV
> to reset the programming cell - and use a nice paper label to cover it up
when
> programmed - and with UV, testing by the manufaturer improved, as a
pattern
> could be built, then removed, although with 30-60minute erase times, it
was
> still limited -
>
> GALs - neat concept - all possible PAL configurations could be
> accomplished,e.g., 16v8 - Variable function, as the 'macrocell' for each
output
> pad had both combinatorial and registered capability, and even better,
these
> werre electrically erasable(EECMOS) and could easily be tested and erased
in
> milliseconds
>
> Along came FPGA and CPLD
>
> I know I am leaving out a bunch of detail - the various vendors do a
superb job
> of describing in detail in their literature -
>
>
> CPLD - Complex Programmable Logic Device
> early CPLD structures were closely related to the GAL/PAL idea, and
created an
> array of PALs ( think LAB, or GLB, or PALblock, or functionblock) in
various
> sizes and what not -
> CPLDs at their most basic are this A COMPLEX LOGIC BLOCK - with anywhere
from
> 36 to 68 inputs available per block, with a range of PTERMS(and gate) from
1 to
> 160, available to drive each macrocell - combinatorial or registered.
> Mostly NONVOLATILE devices(EECMOS) with some newer devices also
incorporating
> SRAM as part of the architecture, decent clock structures, high
performance for
> large, single logic level functions - think statemachines, decoders,
counters
> etc -
> Routing and interconnect is typically a single large central routing
array - so
> interconnecting logic has little penalty in routing - and within the LOGIC
> BLOCK - there is full interconnect for the various elements
>
> FPGA Field programmable Gate Array -
> FPGAs are devices which can achieve significantly larger logic gate
counts,
> with each logic element TYPICALLY being built with a 4input LUT(look up
table -
> which allows pretty much any combination of 4 inputs ) with a
combinatorial
> and/or registered output available per logic element - each vendor has
thier
> own 'tweek' on this with additinal logic for muxes, carrychainsfor
arithmetic/
> counting functions, etc -I'm sure others will jump in here) - nad since
the
> logic element is small, a lot more fit on a device!.  To interconnect
these
> logic cells requires significant routing, or interconnect, resources, to
build
> a larger function out of the many small functions.  Much magic is required
> here, by the silicon designers to balance resource requirements, and the
SW
> designers, to implement algorithms which efficiently connect the elements
> together.
> FPGAs generally offer additional elements, e.g. RAM BLOCKS, so that more
> complex system functions can be implemented within the single device.  As
> technology has moved forward, many different elements have found their way
into
> FPGA - processors, SERDES, DSPBLOCKS etc.
>
> MOSTLY based on SRAM processes, they offer rapid reconfigurability as
well,
> with the burden of storage somewhere in the system for the datastreams
required
> to configure the device.  There are Vendors with NONVOLATILE FPGAs as
well,
> running form FUSE BASED(one time programmable) to Flash and eecmos based
> devices which incorporate flash and eecmos memory to carry the datastream
for
> configuration on chip.
>
> I hope this was a good start - Peter, Paul, Austin, Jim, Rick, Ray, Uwe,
any
> others out there want to expand on these points?
>
> Mike Thomas
> Lattice SFAE NY/NJ
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>