Before selecting a power supply device, you need to know the power consumption of the target FPGA, which depends on various factors (resources used) such as the number of I/Os and logic used, internal memory, DSP blocks, and transceivers.
For users of Altera® FPGAs, an Excel-based tool called PowerPlay Early Power Estimator (EPE) is available to estimate power consumption. Enter the FPGA resources to be used into the EPE and the power consumption will be calculated. Ambient temperature, airflow, and other conditions can also be entered.
For more information on estimating power consumption and analyzing power consumption for Altera® FPGAs, please refer to this article.
Types of FPGA Power Consumption and How to Calculate
How to Estimate Power Consumption
To estimate FPGA power consumption, you need to enter FPGA resource information into EPE. The more accurate this resource information is, the more accurate the calculated power consumption will be.
Two methods are introduced here, depending on the degree of completion of the FPGA design (circuit).
When the FPGA utilization is not yet visible
If you do not have a good idea of the utilization for the FPGA, you will need to guess more resource information to be used in each tab of the EPE and enter it manually.
If you are pre-designing, you may not know how much resources to assume, but try entering the resource information you can expect for each tag (Logic, RAM, DSP, I/O, PLL, Clock, HSDI, HMC, XCVR, IP, HPS). If you are estimating power, it is safer to use more resource information.
For detailed input method, please refer to this article.
How to Estimate FPGA Power Consumption
If you have some idea of FPGA utilization
If you are designing an FPGA design with Quartus® Prime, you will be able to see the FPGA utilization to some extent, and you can estimate the current power consumption by porting that information to EPE. Specifically, you can generate a CSV file from Quartus® Prime to EPE that allows you to input resource information, and then import this CSV file into EPE to easily calculate power consumption.
To generate the CSV file, select "Project" menu ⇒ "Generate PowerPlay Early Power Estimator File" in Quartus® Prime. By importing this CSV file from EPE's ImportCSV, resource information will be entered and power consumption will be calculated.
Importing the CSV file is by far easier and more accurate than manually entering the data, and is recommended.
Selecting the Implementation Environment
Once the resource information has been entered, the next step is to select the FPGA implementation environment.
Here, changing PowerCharacteristic from Typical to Maximum will change the calculated result to the maximum power consumption result, so try changing it if necessary.
Next, select the FPGA ambient temperature, presence and type of heat sinks, and presence and type of airflow, and the calculated power consumption results will be displayed according to these conditions.
How was it?
You have learned that FPGA power consumption depends on how the FPGA is used (resources, etc.) and that it can be estimated in advance. Please use the results estimated by EPE as a reference for selecting Enpirion® devices.
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Analog Circuits for the Very Beginner Enpirion® Part 1: Power Supply Requirements for FPGA
Analog Circuits for the Very Beginner Enpirion® Part 3: Power Supply Accuracy (Part 1)
Analog Circuits for the Very Beginner Enpirion® Part 4: Power Supply Accuracy (Part 2)
Types of FPGA Power Consumption and Calculation Methods
Development Flow of Altera® FPGAs / FPGA Top Page