Ultrasonic Distance Measurement Using Basys 3 FPGA Board (PDF)

System-on-a-Chip (SoC) technology, which has evolved in recent years, is developed from different devices. A processor, several memory and peripheral components are located on a single chip to form today's high-performance SoCs with hundreds of IP blocks. IP cores are validated design blocks used as part of complex digital designs. Those designs are utilizing a hardware description language like VHDL or Verilog. In this way, time and cost of launching the product are reduced. Thanks to SoC, the features of computers were able to be reduced to the miniature level.
Microcontrollers have the features of computer systems on a single chip. They are used to collect, process, and manipulate data in complex projects. The complexity of microcontrollers has increased to provide better performance and flexibility to meet customer requirements. However, it must be able to adapt to operational changes. The hardware of a microcontroller can not be changed afterward. If subsequent changes are nevertheless necessary, these are associated with high additional costs. Reconfigurable devices such as FPGAs can reconfigure the hardware to design, develop, and deploy high-performance digital systems. With the power of a SoC combined with the flexibility of an FPGA, the MC8051 IP Core proves to be a great alternative to purely microcontroller-based systems.