Today’s FPGA applications are made up of many different functional elements; hardware blocks, software modules, I/O functions and on-chip interconnect fabrics are four major categories of these elements. I will explore some of the characteristics of these categories in order to provide insight into how the creation, or “synthesis”, of these functional elements can be automated as much as possible. In particular I will focus on unique benefits and challenges FPGAs present when considering such system design tools. The ideas will be illustrated by examples taken from applications in the networking and the image processing areas. These examples will illustrate progress to date as well as highlighting important areas of focus for future developments.

Mark Dickinson joined Altera in 1998 as technical director of the European Technology Center, building the group to the centre of expertise in system and DSP design that it is today. An ETC group was tasked with creating Altera's Excalibur embedded processor solutions. In 2000, Dickinson’s responsibilities were expanded to include all aspects of the company's embedded processor strategy and he was appointed vice president. More recently, Dickinson has been driving the company’s strategy in system-level design, in particular developing system-level solutions for a number of the company’s key market segments. Dickinson holds a degree in physics from Oxford University and a PhD in electronics from Birmingham University. His previous experience includes electronic system and semiconductor design and management positions at test equipment manufacturers and communications companies.