FPGA usage has evolved from its early use as glue logic, as reflected in the six Megatrends now making significant use of Xilinx All Programmable devices: 5G Wireless, SDN/NFV, Video/Vision, ADAS, Industrial IoT, and Cloud Computing. Today, you’re just as likely to use one Xilinx All Programmable device to implement a single-chip system because that’s the fastest way to get from concept to working, production systems. Consequently, system-level testing of Xilinx devices has similarly evolved to track these more advanced uses for the company’s products.
If you’d like more information about this new level of testing, a good place to look is page 11 of the just-published 2015 Annual Quality Report from Xilinx. (You just might want to take a look at all of the report’s pages while you’re at it.)
