FPGA

FPGA core could mean two things: 1. FPGA IP Core 2. FPGA core in an SoC such as Zynq MPSoC series or Intel (formerly Altera) SoC such as Stratix SoC, Arria SoC etc.

FPGA IP Core is a design unit which serves specific purpose in an FPGA hardware design. There could be CPU IP core, LED blinking IP core, PCI Express IP Core, HDMI IP core etc. IP Cores can be thought as like libraries in case of software. Libraries add specific functionality to the design and are well tested. IP cores are same thing in case of hardware designing.

In case of SoCs, FPGA core is an area in the silicon with complete FPGA core slapped onto the die along with a processor core such as ARM Cortex-A series. Zynq series from Xilinx are an example of this kind of SoCs. They have full-featured FPGA die in them along with dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 cores plus assortment of peripherals.

The FPGA fabric is mainly meant by the FPGA interconnect matrix and CLBs embedded into them. But FPGA core doesn’t contain only FPGA fabric since it would significantly decrease the practical applications possible. The FPGA core contains many more elements in addition to just FPGA fabric such as PLLs, Block RAMs, SerDes, Multi-Gigabit Transceivers, PCI Express blocks, DSP blocks, Configuration Logic etc.