Maximize Power Efficiency in Embedded Applications with Agilex™ 5 FPGAs and SoCs

Reduce power consumption in memory-intensive applications with the Agilex™ 5 FPGA

How to Select the Optimal DRAM for Your Application

Selecting the right DRAM is a critical decision for embedded system engineers, balancing bandwidth, latency, and power constraints. Our latest white paper provides a detailed comparison of key memory types (DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR4, and LPDDR5) with practical

recommendations for high-throughput applications such as video processing and AI inference. The paper demonstrates how Agilex™ 5 E-Series FPGAs, with hardened memory controllers and an enhanced I/O bank, streamline timing closure, lower dynamic and static power, and enable efficient access to low-voltage, high-bandwidth memory technologies.

Why Memory Efficiency Matters for Embedded Systems

Modern embedded applications—from 4K/8K vision systems and real-time AI analytics to industrial data logging and edge databases—require high memory bandwidth without the power budget of a GPU. With system-wide energy efficiency now a gating factor in design success, the memory subsystem has become a make-or-break architectural element. Choosing an FPGA platform with optimized DRAM support and hardened memory controllers is essential to hitting performance and power targets without overdesigning your system.

How Agilex 5 Devices Reduce Power and Complexity

Agilex™ 5 devices are engineered to support the latest DRAM standards (DDR4, LPDDR4, DDR5, and LPDDR5), allowing engineers to tailor memory performance and power to application needs. The integrated hardened memory controller and PHY eliminate the need for soft logic, reducing power consumption and logic resource usage. This also accelerates timing closure and simplifies the memory interface design process. Together, these innovations offer lower total system power, faster data access, and lower cost per bit, ideal for embedded designs requiring real-time responsiveness and high energy efficiency.

Real-World Applications: Vision, AI, and Industrial Edge

Agilex 5 FPGAs are already powering next-gen embedded solutions such as:

• AI-based defect detection systems running on multi-sensor image pipelines
• 4K/8K HDR camera platforms for smart surveillance and broadcast
• Industrial edge AI controllers that fuse sensor data and run real-time ML inference
• Analytics and filtering engines in automotive and medical edge devices

These real-world workloads benefit from low-voltage memory access, hardened controllers, and scalable performance built into Agilex 5 devices.

Agilex 5 Power Efficiency Benchmarks at a Glance

• 1.9× lower total system power vs. AMD Zynq UltraScale+
• 1.7× power savings when switching from DDR4 to LPDDR5
• Supports DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR4, and LPDDR5 for maximum memory flexibility
• Hardened memory controller and PHY reduce logic utilization and increase bandwidth per watt

Download the White Paper: Maximize Power Efficiency in Embedded Applications with Agilex™ 5 FPGAs and SoCs

Get the full technical deep dive, performance benchmarks, and real-world implementation insights