FPGARLab: Leveraging FPGA Design and Verification Using Intelligent Cyber Physical System Based Collaborative Remote Laboratory

The Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) computing architecture allows users to program and reconfigure hardware, providing flexibility and adaptability. FPGAs have garnered considerable attention in both academic research and industrial contexts due to their potential applications. Teaching hardware design, requiring direct access to specific hardware platform for conclusive testing, faces challenges with FPGAs, which are not easily shared among multiple users. The rising use of remote laboratory systems has addressed this constraint, allowing access to various equipment and devices from different geographic locations, has witnessed an upsurge in engineering education and industrial research. The traditional laboratory approach has transformed with the integration of computers, electronic devices, and the internet, giving rise to a novel paradigm in laboratory practice known as the remote laboratory system. This system allows users to access lab equipment at their convenience, fostering self-paced learning. This paper demonstrates an intelligent cyber physical system based platform for remote FPGA kit access, facilitating collaborative task-solving through a web interface. Tailored for FPGAs, the system autonomously manages logic design, synthesis, and simulation. Acting as a gateway, it provides users fully control over FPGA development boards, including peripherals with real-time feedback via video streaming and live chat. This proposed intelligent cyber-physical system also possesses the capability to oversee multiple and diverse FPGA development boards through smart light control and power-saving mode, thereby augmenting the system's overall efficiency. This distinctive design offers the advantage of conducting student laboratory exercises or industrial training where FPGA hardware must be accessed by numerous users simultaneously.