A Lab Built for FPGAs
Choosing the right FPGA is only half the task; applying it correctly is the other half. To support customers more effectively, BeiLuo has opened an FPGA design lab where our FAE engineers can characterise devices and validate design choices before a customer commits. The lab focuses on the practical questions that decide whether a design succeeds: how fast a device configures, how its I/O timing behaves across temperature, how much power it draws in each mode, and how a high-speed interface performs in a real board environment. Turning advice into measured data reduces the risk of late-stage surprises.
What We Measure
The lab is equipped with high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, differential and current probes, power analysers and environmental control. Engineers measure configuration time for ECP5 and Certus-NX devices and confirm wake time for the instant-on MachXO and iCE40 families. They characterise I/O timing and signal integrity on the ECP5 SerDes channels and on the CrossLink-NX MIPI D-PHY links, and they measure power across configuration, standby and full-load modes for the always-on iCE40 designs. Each measurement answers a question a customer actually faces.
Configuration and Wake
For many products the boot time is a hard requirement. The lab can measure how long a device takes to become operational from power-up, compare configuration schemes, and confirm that an instant-on device meets its wake budget. That data directly informs the choice between a non-volatile MachXO device and an externally configured FPGA.
Interface Validation
High-speed interfaces are where FPGA designs most often run into trouble, so the lab devotes attention to them. Engineers characterise the ECP5 SerDes channels with the recommended equalization and pre-emphasis settings, capture eye diagrams and confirm link margin, and test the CrossLink-NX MIPI D-PHY receivers with real sensor timing. For a customer planning a camera or a backplane link, this validation shows whether the chosen device and layout will meet margin before production.
Power Characterisation
Power is the reason many customers choose a low-power Lattice device, so the lab measures current in every operating mode and correlates it with the design's activity. For iCE40 always-on designs, the lab can show where standby current actually goes and help the customer close the gap to a battery-life target. These measurements turn a power budget from an estimate into a fact.
From Selection to Validation
When a customer asks which device suits their application, our FAE team can now validate the recommendation in the lab. We compare ECP5 against Certus-NX for a bridging task, match a CrossLink-NX device to a camera configuration, and evaluate an iCE40 device for an always-on function. The result is a design path backed by measured data, which shortens bring-up and reduces risk.
Supporting Customers Remotely
Not every customer can send hardware, so the lab also supports remote work: we characterise a device or an interface and share the measurements, waveforms and recommendations in a written report. Whether the work is done on our bench or yours, the aim is the same: give the customer the evidence to commit with confidence. Contact our FAE team to discuss a characterisation for your Lattice design.
Reference Designs and Bring-Up Support
Alongside measurement, the lab maintains a small set of reference designs that customers can borrow from: a bridging core for ECP5, a MIPI receive and pipeline skeleton for CrossLink-NX, an always-on sensing template for iCE40, and a control and configuration example for MachXO3. These starting points let a customer focus on the application logic rather than on plumbing that has already been solved. When a design needs something the templates do not cover, our engineers can adapt them to the customer's function and hand over the source.
What Customers Can Request
Customers can ask the lab to characterise a specific device or interface, to validate a shortlist against their requirements, or to review a board layout before fabrication. The output is a short written report with measurements, waveforms and concrete recommendations, so the customer's team has evidence to act on. In many cases a single bench session answers a question that would otherwise take weeks of guesswork on the customer's own hardware, and it often reveals a configuration or layout improvement worth more than the original question.