Pico processors
K. Chapman · Electronic Systems and Software · 2003
Programmable logic provides the opportunity to define specialised yet reusable state machines that combine the flexibility of software with low memory and logic overheads. The author's particular interest is in the creation of very small processor macros. His focus is to bring the most significant advantages that a processor can offer to a design environment at minimum cost. For this reason, he considers these small processors to be 'programmable state machines'. It is possible to create processors that occupy just 35 configurable logic blocks (CLBs) in an FPGA such as the Xilinx Spartan-II. Eight of them could fit into the smallest of these devices and still leave 30% of the die free for traditional logic.