Internet-based training of reconfigurable technologies

The paper presents perspectives for realizing Internet-based training in reconfigurable technologies by describing an FPGA-course currently under development at Darmstadt University of Technology. Additionally, it tries to stress the possibilities of such promising, flexible and cheap computing systems, and also to identify present disadvantages in order to accelerate future developments, as well as to force more necessary interrelations between industry and academic fields. Within this FPGA-course, persons interested in the perspectives of reconfigurable computing (e.g. students as well as small companies) are offered an amount of information covering an introduction into reconfigurable computing and its applications, cost/performance trade-offs (e.g. for small companies), fine-/coarse-grained and hybrid device architectures, overview on vendors and corresponding design tools, and finally the structural programming process including examples from different areas