Reprogrammable Platforms for High-Speed Data Acquisition

Complex embedded systems that do not target mass marketsoften have design and engineering costs that exceed production costs. Oneexample is the triggering and data acquisition system (DAQ) integrated intohigh-energy physics experiments. Parameterizable and reprogrammable architecturesare natural candidates as platforms for specialized embedded systems likehigh-speed data acquisition systems. In order to facilitate the design ofspecialized embedded systems, design strategies and tools are needed thatgreatly increase the efficiency of the design process. End-user programmabilityof reprogrammable platforms is essential, because system designers, withouttraining in low-level programming languages, are required to change the basedesign, compare designs, and generate configuration data for the reprogrammableplatforms. This paper presents a methodology for designing and evaluatinghigh-speed data acquisition systems using reprogrammable platforms.