Dan DeVries
Mentor Graphics

Producing optimal implementations for designs targeted to today's advanced FPGAs is increasingly dominated by the ability of the user to take advantage of dedicated resources such as block RAMs, multipliers and DSP blocks. What is needed is a way to give expert control to every user, providing early visibility into mapping choices and the ability to easily investigate alternate implementations. While synthesis tools do a good job of properly mapping designs to these resources in most cases, there are instances where input from the designer can greatly improve results. This input has typically taken the form of specialized directives and attributes on design objects, requiring a great deal of expertise and manual effort to achieve optimal results. Giving users better control over FPGA resource allocation and allowing them to fully explore the design space helps users achieve their design goals.