The configuration option with the lowest cost varies depending on the specific application.
- If there is spare nonvolatile memory available in the system, the PDI can be stored in system memory. It can even be stored on a hard drive or downloaded remotely over a network connection. If so, one of the slave modes should be considered: slave serial, slave SelectMAP, or JTAG configuration mode.
- If nonvolatile memory is already required for an application, it is possible to leverage it to also store FPGA configuration PDI with small or no incremental cost. For example, the FPGA configuration PDI can be stored with any processor code for the board. If the processor is a MicroBlaze™ embedded processor in the FPGA, the FPGA configuration data and the MicroBlaze processor code can share the same nonvolatile memory device.