PicoBlaze is an 8-bit microcontroller soft core developed and maintained by Xilinx engineer Ken Chapman. It can be implemented in various CPLDs and FPGAs, including Cool Runner II, Virtex-E, Virtex-II (Pro), and Spartan-3 (E). The name "PicoBlaze" reflects its compact size, as it's smaller than Xilinx’s main 32-bit RISC core, MicroBlaze. Sometimes referred to as uBlaze, PicoBlaze is even more minimal in terms of resource usage.
The term "pico" comes from the metric prefix meaning one trillionth (10^-12), similar to how "pF" stands for picofarads. This naming convention fits PicoBlaze perfectly, as it’s extremely lightweight. For instance, implementing it on an XC3S500E FPGA only requires 96 SLICEs—just 5% of the available logic resources. Despite its small footprint, PicoBlaze delivers strong performance, executing most instructions in two clock cycles.
Using a 50MHz clock, such as on the Spartan-3E Starter Kit, PicoBlaze can achieve up to 25MIPS, making it ideal for applications that don’t require high computational power. It has been used in various projects, including some specialized applications in Sony Ericsson mobile games. Additionally, multiple instances of PicoBlaze can be instantiated within a single design, offering flexibility and scalability.
According to Xilinx’s documentation (UG129), PicoBlaze is defined as a microcontroller. However, based on Ken Chapman’s reference designs, it’s actually short for Konstant Code Programmable State Machine (KCPSM). You could also call it Ken Chapman’s Programmable State Machine as a tribute. Most of the code written for PicoBlaze consists of constant values, function jumps, and interrupt service routines, executed sequentially. While this might seem different from typical FPGA operations, it still offers efficient control.
In the Xilinx forum, Ken Chapman listed several practical applications for PicoBlaze, such as LED flashing, PWM generation, switch monitoring, UART interfaces, LCD control, SPI masters, I2C masters, audio DSP processing, DTMF tone dialing, system monitoring, motor control, rotary encoders, frequency synthesizers, filter coefficient generators, microcontroller emulation, PID control, and more. It’s also used for peripheral development and interrupt controllers in conjunction with other processors like MicroBlaze or PPC.
One notable real-world example is the massive LED display at the JP Morgan Chase building in Times Square, New York. At the time, it was the world’s largest high-resolution LED display (as of 2004). The project utilized over 1,000 PicoBlaze cores, along with several Virtex-II, Spartan-3, and PLD devices. The design supervisor praised PicoBlaze as a key tool, stating that without it, the project would have been impossible to complete on time. He emphasized that PicoBlaze simplifies control functions by acting as a programmable state machine, eliminating the need for custom state machines for each task.
So, even though 32-bit processors are more popular, don’t overlook the powerful little brother—PicoBlaze. It’s a versatile, efficient, and easy-to-use solution for a wide range of embedded applications.
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