Assembly On The cRIo

[Greg McKaskle]

So in theory I can, with the use of Vertigo or some other HDL, make the cRio "multi core". The FPGA can be split into seperate "modules" that can be used to do some pseudo parallel processing.

Pretty much any task the FPGA performs is true parallelism, not pseudo. In the FIRST usage, it generates PWMs, counts encoder transitions, accumulates gyro deltas, and performs all of its duties in parallel and independent of the PPC. Can you generate a core to have an additional full-fledged CPU? Yes, but that takes lots of gates, and this wouldn't be a cost-effective way to build a PS3.

Might seem redundent since a small micro controller like the CMUs can handle images fine, the Cell Processor might be an over kill.

Image processing on a small micro is impressive when it works, but image processing has the ability to absorb as much processing as you can throw at it. For a good example, the PR2 from Willow Garage has numerous cameras in its head and others in its arms. It has 2 quad-core Xeon processors in each server, and two servers on the robot, each with 24GB of memory. With all that , you can see some pretty cool algorithms that enable it to do what a four or five year old child can do. I'm not knocking it, but just pointing out that image processing is in its infancy, and today, will easily consume as much CPU as you can throw at it.

If you decide to program a PS3, write fully auto for the robot, or any other project, I encourage you to focus on the follow through. Starting projects is fun, easy, and exposes you to new things, but finishing them shows true character.

Greg McKaskle