The Low-Cost , Efficient Serial Configuration of Spartan FPGAs

This application note shows how to achieve low-cost, efficient serial configuration for Spartan FPGA designs. The approach recommended here takes advantage of unused resources in a design, thereby reducing the cost, part count, memory size, and board space associated with the serial configuration circuitry. As a result, neither processor nor PROM needs to be fully dedicated to performing Spartan configuration.