Method for generating redundant configuration in fpgas

Abstract

A method for generating redundant configuration in FPGA devices includes: analysing the configuration pertaining to a given design to be configured, or already configured, in the FPGA device, in order to identify programmed and empty configuration memory portions, configuring the FPGA device for implementing said design, measuring the power consumption of the configured FPGA device, copying the configuration from at least some subsets of the programmed portion to subsets of the empty portion, (a) verifying the configuration read back from said subsets of the empty portion with the configuration data read from said subsets of the programmed portion, (b) verifying whether the functionality of the design after the copy is still correct, (c) measuring the power consumption of the FPGA device, and verifying whether the power consumption of the FPGA device after the copy is acceptable according to pre-defined criteria, if the verification steps (a), (b) and (c) are all successful the redundant configuration is correctly generated, and if the verification steps (a), (b) and (c) are not all successful the method restarts from the beginning choosing other subsets of the empty portion of the FPGA device for hosting the configuration data from said subsets of the programmed portion.