Reconfigurability - a new feature of the hardware

Modern education in electronics includes introducing of FPGA (field programmable gate array) integrated circuits (IC) and the corresponding design process. FPGAs combine traditional advantages of hardware (higher execution speed than software) and traditional advantages of software (possibility of an efficient way of making changes and relatively low-cost solution). Students must have knowledge not only about key features of FPGAs, but also about VHDL (very high speed integrated circuit description language), VHDL simulators, VHDL synthesizers and programming of FPGAs. The authors share the opinion that not only lectures but also very good laboratory exercises (valuable laboratory experience) can prepare students very well for their future activities. One way is to use licensed and up-to-date software, and a development kit, which was donated by ALTERA Corporation, is discussed. The main issue is to introduce one way of teaching HDL (hardware description languages), especially VHDL. This is quite a complex language, but we are able to use more practical examples, known by the students from their former digital subjects. In this way, students can connect their previous knowledge with this new quite complex matter.