Low-Power Techniques For Fpgas

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are reconfigurable devices that can be programmed after fabrication to implement any digital logic. As such, they are flexible, easy to modify in-field, and cheaper to use than manufacturing a customized application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). However, this programmability comes at a cost in terms of area, performance, and perhaps most importantly power. As currently manufactured, FPGAs are significantly less power efficient than ASICs. Fortunately, in the last decade concentrated attention to power consumption has identified many approaches to power reduction. This chapter surveys the techniques and progress made to improve FPGA power efficiency.