FPGA VS Emulator

SystemVerilog
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1

Hi,

Could anyone please tell me what is the difference between FPGA prototyping amd Emulation in detail?
When there is FPGA Boards why there is a need of Emulator?

  • I have heard using emulator we can map our design and then also run software on that design. For Eg. I have a processor design, now I mapped this Processor design onto the emulator, ultimately processor has to run some kind of OS. So using emulator i can also run OS on that design of Processor. These things I cannot do with FPGA.

Thanks,

Mukul

2

In reply to mukul1996:

Compared to a standalone FPGA, an emulator provides considerably more controllability of and observability into the design as its running. However emulators are considerably slower than FPGAs. So the typical flow is that the firmware / software is tested on an FPGA first. If there is a bug that’s completely hardware, or if it’s difficult to tell if it’s a hardware or software bug, then debugging moves to the emulator or simulator.