Opportunities and challenges for dynamic FPGA reconfiguration in electronic measurement and instrumentation

Reconfigurable systems based on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) can offer performance and power advantages over processor-based systems as well as cost and flexibility advantages over custom integrated circuit solutions. Dynamic reconfiguration, the ability to partially modify a circuit implementation at run-time, has the potential to extend the flexibility, utilization, and resilience of FPGA-based systems even further. In this paper we review the capabilities of this technology with respect to applications in electronic measurement and instrumentation and present results on testing and assuring the correctness of dynamically reconfigurable systems at design and run time.