field-programmable gate array

A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of digital electronic circuit (invariably a chip) designed so as to be customized to carry out a specific calculation after the chip is fabricated. It provides a means of creating circuits that can process a stream of data more rapidly than a typical computer's CPU can, yet can be developed much more quickly and cheaply than designing a chip from scratch for the specific task. The FPGA is manufactured with all the transistors (gates) in place, along with a means of adjusting the connections between the transistors, generally by feeding a specially prepared signal into a chip-input designed for that purpose, i.e., the "programming". The circuit particulars and the necessary programming-signal are designed using software for the purpose on a computer, then fed into the FPGA. FPGAs are an option for incorporation in astronomical instruments that handle a considerable stream of digital data, such as processing digitized radio signals.