A Modular FPGA-Based Smart Multi-Functional Display Architecture for Low-Power and Real-Time Avionics Systems

This paper presents a modular FPGA-based Smart Multi-Functional Display (SMFD) architecture designed for low-power and real-time avionics applications. Conventional SMFD systems are typically based on tightly coupled monolithic architectures, which limit scalability, maintainability, and subsystem flexibility while increasing system complexity and power consumption. To address these limitations, the proposed architecture separates processing, display, and communication functions into independent hardware modules, enabling flexible system integration and subsystem-level optimization. It consists of four primary modules: an FPGA-based Programmable Logic Device (PLD) module for deterministic video processing and display timing control, an NXP i.MX8X CPU module for application-level management, a high-resolution LCD module, and a dedicated I/O module supporting avionics communication interfaces, including AFDX and RS422. The architecture combines FPGA-assisted real-time processing with power-aware task partitioning strategies to improve both timing predictability and energy efficiency. Experimental evaluation performed on the implemented hardware prototype demonstrates that the proposed architecture achieves approximately 40% reduction in power consumption compared to a conventional baseline configuration while maintaining real-time operational capability with an average processing latency of 12.7 ms. In addition, the FPGA-based implementation enables dynamic display reconfiguration with a measured switching time of approximately 235 ms. The results indicate that the proposed modular architecture provides an effective balance between power efficiency, real-time performance, scalability, and system flexibility for next-generation avionics display applications.