LabVIEW FPGA Idea Exchange

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crossrulz

Allow Type Cast in FPGA

Status: New

We need a way to simply reinterpret the bits in our FPGAs.  I currently have a situation where I need to change my SGL values into U32 for the sake of sending data up to the host.  Currently, the only way is to make an IP node.  That is just silly.  We should be able to use the Type Cast simply for the purpose of reinterpreting the bits.


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12 Comments
Intaris
Proven Zealot

Never mind, just re-read the OP. Move along, nothing to see here.

raphschru
Active Participant

An incredibly useful case of application for this "FPGA Type Cast" would be to flatten/unflatten a complex cluster into/from a fixed-size byte array for sending via TargetToHost/HostToTarget DMA FIFO. Currently this has to be done manually with lots of primitives.

 

Also, the argument that "high-level implementations are often inefficient, this would consume FPGA space at the expense of coding convenience." is false because reinterpreting the bits is purely a wiring operation and thus consumes no FPGA resource.