Increasing Design Changeability Using Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration

In order to be able to change the functionality of filters and other data acquisition algorithms after their installation, it has been common for years to utilize reconfigurable field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for data filtering and data forwarding. This paper presents a framework built to take advantage of an enhanced reconfiguration technology called dynamic partial reconfiguration (DPR). It is shown how this framework is designed and how it can be used to get a quick and easy access to DPR. Current case study measurements are presented and a short outlook illustrates how DPR could help to significantly increase the changeability of FPGAs regarding typical data acquisition applications and algorithms, which could finally lead to a better capacity utilization of FPGAs.