Remote System Upgrades with Stratix FPGAs
Stratix® FPGAs enable a host of new applications by making real-time system upgrades from remote locations possible and allowing the remote system upgrades to be transmitted using any communications network, keeping products ahead of the competition. Additionally, the dedicated recovery circuitry built in to Stratix FPGAs assures you of secure and reliable remote upgrades.
Extended Marketplace Advantage
Increasing competition and shrinking market windows mean that products must be the best in the market both today and in the future. Using PLDs significantly enhances design flexibility and reduces time-to-market. A system with the added benefit of remote system upgrade capability can extend its life cycle and, ultimately, revenue generation. Stratix FPGAs provide these advantages, as shown in Figure 1. Stratix FPGAs allow you to design and ship functional subsets of your systems now, and provide the ability to add features and enhancements at a later date, from any remote location. Using Stratix FPGAS, you can start the product design cycle earlier and get products to market faster with the assurance that they can be easily upgraded in the future. Stratix FPGAs also feature the industry's first on-chip recovery circuitry to ensure that systems get upgraded reliably without compromising security.
Figure 1. Remote System Upgrade Time- and- Revenue-Related Benefits
Ability for Systems to Evolve
Stratix FPGAs provide the ability to easily evolve systems in accordance with changing market demands. A Stratix-FPGA-developed system can be upgraded when:
- Additional protocol support is required to ensure compatibility with future products
- Enhancements or bug fixes are necessary
Hardware systems that use Stratix FPGAs can stave off premature obsolescence because they can support evolving standards and applications that were not known at the time of equipment deployment. Stratix FPGAs are an ideal solution for half-generation system upgrades, with no need to deploy new equipment with every system upgrade (see Figure 2). These easy upgrades dramatically reduce costs and significantly extend product revenue streams.
Figure 2. Future System Upgrades Can be Performed Remotely
Custom-Built Circuitry
Stratix devices feature the industry's first dedicated recovery circuitry for remote system upgrades. Dedicated circuitry ensures that whenever an error occurs, whether during data transmission or device configuration, the Stratix FPGA will always return to a known state to operate correctly, guaranteeing "always operational" functionality. Information about the error will also be available to the controller.
Remote system upgrades are enabled using Stratix FPGAs and standard flash memory. As shown in Figure 3, remote system upgrades happen in three simple steps:
- Send an update from the development location through a network to the Stratix FPGA
- Store the update in the memory
- Upgrade the Stratix FPGA with the new data
For more detailed information, please refer to Using Altera Enhanced Configuration Device section of the Configuration Device Handbook.
Figure 3. Three Steps to Remotely Upgrade Systems with a Stratix FPGA
The Altera Advantage
With remote system upgrades, Stratix FPGAs take systems to the forefront of technology faster, and keep them ahead of the competition longer. Stratix FPGAs provide significant time-to-market benefits for the fastest possible system design and deployment, all with the ease and assurance of performing upgrades at a later time. New features and support for evolving protocols can be easily updated, while system performance can increase over time with design optimization.
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