4.6 Support

Obtaining advanced technical answers or technical clarification from a manufacturer can be challenging. Manufacturers will provide designers with some phone support, but the trend is moving toward e-mail support with direct access to answer databases to previous questions online. Make sure to find out what manufacturer support resources are available and get team members signed up for access. Generally, advanced technical support requires current manufacturer design tool subscription status.Many design topics have been addressed by previous questions so the online answer database is a good place to start when a question arises.Additional sources for information include manufacturer magazines and newsletters and online forums, both hosed by the manufacturer and independent.

Access to technical support is important to efficient FPGA design. FPGA design can be complicated and there are often several ways to implement a design function or control a software tool. Each approach will have advantages and disadvantages, with some options being more efficient than others in terms of resource utilization or effort required. In an ideal situation a new FPGA designer would have direct, unlimited access to a group of engineers with extensive experience with each phase of the design and verification cycle. However, this is seldom the case. Especially in small organizations, the engineer will not have direct contact or very limited contact with experienced FPGA designers. In this situation alternative sources of technical support, knowledge and training must be pursued.

Designers may also have access to FAEs (field application engineers). FAEs may work for the FPGA distributor or manufacturer. The individual FAEs available for support will depend on the relationship the organization has developed. Extensive FAE support can be difficult to obtain due to the large numbers of accounts they generally support. FAEs can generally provide good guidance to specific manufacturer documentation and resources.

Support will depend on the size of the design and volume of business with the manufacturer, the organization’s relationship with the manufacturer, representative and distributor and the available technical resources. Generally the support group will be the same for the life of a project, so give some consideration to the selection of the support to be provided. The distributor an organization works with will influence who provides engineering support. Generally there will be more than one distributor to choose from, depending on the market. Make an effort to establish a relationship with available support personnel early in the design cycle. It can be easier to get timely support if support personnel are already familiar with the project and application. Distributions may also offer regional training and technical, training that can keep design teams up to speed on the latest architectures, tool options and design flows.

4.6技术支持

从器件厂商获取高级的技术解答和技术阐述会是富有挑战性的。器件厂商会给设计者提供一些电话支持，但 是趋势正在向电子邮件支持转移，同时提供对以往问题的在线解答数据库。确保弄清楚器件厂商提供哪些在线技术支持资源并且让团队成员注册以访问这些资源。通 常，高级的技术支持需要客户提供当前对厂商设计工具的认购状态信息。许多设计主题都已经在先前的问题中得到了解答，所以当问题出 现时应该首选查询在线解答数据库。另外的信息来源包括器件厂商的期刊和简报以及独立的或由厂商主办的在线论坛。

获得技术支持对高效的FPGA设计很重要。FPGA设计可以很复杂，而且经常有多种实现某个设计功能或控制软件工具的方法。每种方法都有优缺点，某些 选项在资源利用和设计努力上比其他选项效率更高。在理想的情况下，新的FPGA设计者可以直接地、无限制地接触到一些在设计和验证周期的每一个阶段都有广泛经验的设计者，然而， 这样的情况极少。尤其在小的机构中，设计者没有或者很难直接联系到有经验的FPGA设计者。在这样的情况下，必须寻求另外的技术支持、设计知识和培训资源。

设计者也可以联系FAE（现场应用工程师）。FAE可能为FPGA分销商或者器件厂商工作。能否获得特定FAE提供的技术支持取决于机构与分销商或厂商建立的联系。由于他们通常支持的客户数量众多，获得广泛的FAE支持可能很困难。FAE通常可以对具体的厂商文档和资源提供 很好的指导。

技术支持取决于设计规模，与厂商的交易额，机构与器件厂商、销售代表、分销商以及其他可利用的技术资 源的关系。支持团队在项目的生命周期内通常都不会变化，所以需要考虑好如何选择将要得到的支持。机构与之合作的分销商将会影响谁会提供工程支持。取决于市 场情况，通常会有一家以上的分销商可供选择。在设计周期的早期努力与可获得的支持人员建立联系。如果支持人员已经熟悉了项目及其应用，就比较容易获得及时 地支持。分销商也会提供地区性的技术培训，这些培训可以使设计团队跟上最新的器件结构、工具选项和设计流程。