Achieving High-Latency, Low-Bandwidth Communication: Logic Emulation Interfaces

There is a large amount of interest in using multi-FPGA systems for logic emulation and rapid-prototyping of digital systems. One difficulty with this approach is the handling of the external interfaces of the system. In this paper we describe a generic interface transducer, a board capable of handling the external interfaces of the system under prototype, allowing the emulation to operate in the target environment. We also describe how several protocols can be implemented on this board, including NTSC video, digital audio, PCMCIA, and VMEbus.

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