Field Programmable Gate Array Applications—A Scientometric Review

Abstract

Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a general purpose programmable logic device that can be configured by a customer after manufacturing to perform from a simple logic gate operations to complex systems on chip or even artificial intelligence systems. Scientific publications related to FPGA started in 1992 and, up to now, we found more than 70,000 documents in the two leading scientific databases (Scopus and Clarivative Web of Science). These publications show the vast range of applications based on FPGAs, from the new mechanism that enables the magnetic suspension system for the kilogram redefinition, to the Mars rovers’ navigation systems. This paper reviews the top FPGAs’ applications by a scientometric analysis in ScientoPy, covering publications related to FPGAs from 1992 to 2018. Here we found the top 150 applications that we divided into the following categories: digital control, communication interfaces, networking, computer security, cryptography techniques, machine learning, digital signal processing, image and video processing, big data, computer algorithms and other applications. Also, we present an evolution and trend analysis of the related applications.