fpga cpu ?

Srikanth Anumalla wrote: [...]

I think you should move this question over to the FPGA newsgroup.

Generally spoken, it depends a lot on what size FPGA you get to use. The larger ones can be programmed to have an actual CPU in them. Not a Pentium 4 or other monster, of course, but something that can in turn be used to run programs you write in a language like C.

FPGAs themselves are programmed in language not altogether unlike C, actually.

Srikanth Anumalla wrote: : Hi : : I am quite new in this field, Please excuse me if I talk something : nonsence. I have 10 pressure sensors which measure pressure in 10 : different points in a field. I need to aggregate all these values in : realtime and send to a remote computer.For this, somebody suggested me : to use fpga, I made little research and found out that we can actually

An FPGA would work, but it seems overkill to me. Any small 8-bit micro could probably do just as well, for less money.

How big is the field? Do you need 802.11b, bluetooth, or something else?

I would suggest you pay someone to design this, instead of trying to do it yourself (unless it's solely to learn the technology, in which case, go for it!)

--buddy

The filed is 3-4 miles. Means the most distant sensors are 3-4 miles apart. We considered blue tooth but, it will be for shorter ranges I guess.

Its mostly learning and a challenging task for me. So... want to design a flexible and cost effective framework/infrastructure for the problem.

guess.

it

for

You may want to checkout

Repeat-It do wireless broadband using WLAN and special antennas. They get 1 Mbps over 10 km or 6 miles. The website is in Swedish which is probably a problem, but the raw data is readable. Write an email to snipped-for-privacy@repeat-it.se (remove the '-') if you are interested.

I would suggest you look at some of the licence exempt wireless data transceivers. I would suspect that your data rate is rather low so a multiplexed network of these might work. They normally interface by standard rs232 serial so the data could be handled by any micro.

If you were in the UK you could investigate the low power wireless association (i think that is it's name) site which would give you lists of suppliers.

Phil Smith, sometimes G8JSL

snipped-for-privacy@nexusrobotics.co.uk

Embedded software, Robotics, CAN and Consultancy.

You are very vague here. How much data do you need to transfer (resolution/sampling rate)? How fast must the data be available? How reliable must the system work? Where do you get power from?

I can't see what advantage of a FPGA in this application. A microcontroller should be able to handle communication between the sensors and the transmitter.

Wireless network seems overkill, too.

Most likely you need to buy a module for the wireless part, because of regulations.

Jan-Hinnerk