100 Power Tips For FPGA Designers
This book is a collection of short articles on various aspects of FPGA design: synthesis, simulation, porting ASIC designs, floorplanning and timing closure, design methodologies, performance, area and power optimizations, RTL coding, IP core selection, and many others. The book is intended for system architects, design engineers, and students who want to improve their FPGA design skills. Both novice and seasoned logic and hardware engineers can find bits of useful information. This book is written by a practicing FPGA logic designer, and contains a lot of illustrations, code examples, and scripts. Rather than providing information applicable to all FPGA vendors, this book edition focuses on Xilinx Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 FPGA families. Code examples are written in Verilog HDL. All code examples, scripts, and projects provided in the book are available on accompanying website: http://outputlogic.com/100_fpga_power_tips
Why Read This Book
You should read this book if you want a compact, hands‑on set of actionable tips from a practicing FPGA designer that speed up everyday tasks — from RTL coding and synthesis to timing closure and power tweaks. The short-article format makes it easy to pick solutions for common problems and apply vendor-specific optimizations quickly.
Who Will Benefit
Embedded engineers, FPGA/logic designers, and system architects with some HDL experience who need practical, time-saving techniques for Xilinx 6‑series FPGAs or similar workflows.
Level: Intermediate — Prerequisites: Basic digital logic, familiarity with Verilog HDL, and working knowledge of FPGA toolflows (synthesis, place & route, timing constraints).
Key Takeaways
- Apply RTL coding patterns that improve synthesis result and ease timing closure
- Implement floorplanning and placement strategies to accelerate timing fixes
- Reduce dynamic and static power through architecture and tool settings
- Use vendor tools and scripting (ISE/XST/UCF/Tcl-era workflows) more effectively
- Port or adapt ASIC-oriented logic to FPGA fabrics with minimal rework
- Select and integrate IP cores while managing area, timing, and interface constraints
Topics Covered
- Introduction and How to Use the Tips
- RTL Coding Style and Synthesis-Friendly Constructs (Verilog)
- Simulation, Verification and Testbenches
- Synthesis Gotchas and Tool Options (XST/ISE)
- Constraints, UCF and Timing-Driven Design
- Floorplanning and Placement Strategies
- Timing Closure Techniques and Debugging
- Power Estimation and Optimization Techniques
- ASIC-to-FPGA Porting Tips
- IP Core Selection and Integration
- I/O Planning and Signal Integrity Considerations
- Scripting, Automation and Workflows (practical scripts/examples)
- Case Studies: Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 Examples
- Appendices: Useful Scripts and Reference Patterns
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
Compared with Pong P. Chu's "FPGA Prototyping by Verilog Examples" (a structured HDL learning text), Stavinov's book is slimmer and tip-oriented rather than tutorial; compared with Wayne Wolf's "FPGA-Based System Design", it is far more implementation- and vendor-focused rather than system-level architectural coverage.
