An Analysis of Implanted Antennas in Xilinx FPGAs

FPGA interconnects are typically utilized as digital resources to connect the logical building blocks of an FPGA. Because of the flexibility in the FPGA interconnect, all of the wires in the interconnect will never be simultaneously utilized. These unutilized wires can combined into a single net on the FPGA while retaining a specific physical shape. When this shape is excited, energy is emitted from this shape, much like a radio transmitter. This is then captured by a wide-band antenna this is controlled by an automated testing apparatus. This research extends previous efforts by evaluating multiple shapes on the same FPGA, utilizing a wide-band antenna from two measurements distances, automating the collection of results with a fine grain resolution, and monitoring the stability of the FPGA while the transmission is occurring.