Embedded Design with The Xilinx Embedded Developer Kit

Xilinx Training

Welcome

If you are new to Embedded design with Xilinx FPGAs, this module will help you start planning your design

Understanding the difference between Xilinx’s FPGA architectures is essential if you are going to select an appropriate FPGA device family

The Embedded Developers Kit software (EDK) is designed to make building a custom embedded design easy

Objectives

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Choose between a PPC 440 and a MicroBlaze processor system

Explain the primary tool functionality included with the Embedded Developers Kit (EDK)

Explain the benefits of building an embedded design with an FPGA

Hardware Introduction

Overview of EDK

Embedded Development Design Flow

Summary

Lessons

Xilinx Embedded Processor Innovation

PerformanceIntegration FlexibilityFeatures

32-bit RISCProcessorSoft Core

32-bit RISCProcessorSoft Core

PLB46 Embedded Development Kit

IP PowerPC 440 Embedded Block with

Integrated Interconnect

PowerPC 440 Embedded Block with

Integrated Interconnect

PowerPC® 405 Hard Corein Virtex®-II PRO FPGA

PowerPC® 405 Hard Corein Virtex®-II PRO FPGA

2000 2002 2004 20082006

PowerPC 405 Hard Core

in Virtex-4 FX FPGA

PowerPC 405 Hard Core

in Virtex-4 FX FPGA

Supported FPGAs

FPGA families– Spartan-3/3A/3AN/3A DSP/3E FPGA (MicroBlaze processor)– Spartan-6 (MicroBlaze Processor)– Virtex-4 FX (MicroBlaze and PowerPC 405 processors) and LX/SX FPGA

(MicroBlaze processor)– Virtex-5 FXT (MicroBlaze and PowerPC 440 processor) LX/LXT FPGA

(MicroBlaze)– Virtex-6 (MicroBlaze processor)

Embedded Design in an FPGA

Embedded design in an FPGA consists of the following– FPGA hardware design

• Processor system MicroBlaze processor (soft core) PowerPC processor (PPC440 hard core) PLB bus components

• Other FPGA hardware

– Software platform for processor system• Standalone

C language support Processor services C drivers for hardware

• Third-party operating systems (optional)

– User software application

PowerPC Processor-Based Embedded Design

Full system customization to meet performance, functionality, and cost goals

UART GPIOBus

MasterHi-SpeedPeripheral

GB E-Net

e.g.Memory

Controller

PLB v46

Off-ChipMemory

ZBT SSRAM DDR SDRAMSDRAM

PLB v46

DDR

SPLBMPLB

TEMACPowerPC440 Core

Dedicated Hard IP

MCI DMAPPC DDR2

Memory Controller

MicroBlaze Processor-Based Embedded Design

Flexible Soft IPMicroBlaze32-Bit RISC Core

UART Memory Controller

Off-ChipMemory

FLASH/SRAM

Fast Simplex Link

0,1….7

CustomFunctions

CustomFunctions

BRAM Local Memory

BusD-CacheBRAM

I-CacheBRAM

ConfigurableSizes

Possible inVirtex™-5 FXT

PLB v46

CacheLink

SRAM

PLB v46

MPLB

Dedicated Hard IPDedicated Hard IPDedicated Hard IP

PowerPC440 Core

Dedicated Hard IP

GB

E- Net

Hi-SpeedPeripheral

SPLB

IP Peripherals

All are included FREE!

Bus infrastructure and bridge cores

Memory and memory controller cores

Debug

Peripherals

Arithmetic

Timers

Inter-processor communication

External peripheral controller

DMA controller

PCI

User core template

…and Other cores

Hardware Introduction

Overview of EDK

Embedded Development Design Flow

Summary

Lessons

Embedded Development Kit

What is the Embedded Development Kit (EDK)?– The Embedded Development Kit is the Xilinx software suite for designing

• Complete embedded programmable systems• Processor sub-system component of larger design

– The kit includes all the tools, documentation, and IP that you require for designing systems with embedded IBM PowerPC 440 hard processor cores and/or Xilinx MicroBlaze soft processor cores

– SDK Eclipse-based software design environment– It enables the integration of both hardware and software components of an

embedded system

XPS Functions

Platform management– System create wizard (BSB)– Netlist Generation (PlatGen)– Custom Peripheral creation wizard– Hardware Debugging (ChipScope)– Hardware Simulation (SimGen)

XPS

SoftwareDesign - SDK

Hardware Design

HW/SWDebug

HW/SWSimulation

Software application management– Software library generation (LibGen)– Software Profiling– Xilinx Microprocessor Debugger

(XMD) and Software Debugging– Xilinx MicroKernel (XMK)

Xilinx Platform Studio (XPS)

See the Notes section for a detailed description

SystemAssembly

View

Connectivity Panel

Project Information

Area

Console

Hardware Introduction

Overview of EDK

Embedded Development Design Flow

Summary

Lessons

Embedded Development Design Flow

Create a new EDK project

Use the Base System Builder (BSB) to construct your basic embedded design

Run PlatGen to make your HDL instantiation files and netlist for each component in your embedded design

Implement the embedded design with the ISE software

Create and compile your software with SD

Merge your compiled software with the FPGA bitstream using the Data2MEM utility

Download your FPGA’s completed bitstream using iMPACT

Launching a New XPS Project

It is recommended that XPS processor projects be launched from Project Navigator in the ISE software– Easy to integrate a processor sub-

system with other FPGA logic– Access to more Xilinx point tools– Easy software integration

The processor sub-system can be placed anywhere in the design hierarchy

More on this in later modules

Starting out with a Processor Design

Many vendors support evaluation and demo boards with Xilinx FPGAs– Xilinx– Avnet– Digilent

Base System Builder (BSB) is a wizard to facilitate a fast processor-based system design by high abstraction, level-specification entry

Virtex®-5 FPGA ML507

Spartan®-3E FPGA 1600E

Project Creation Using the Base System Builder

Select a target board

Select a processor

Configure the processor

Select and configure I/O interfaces

Add internal peripherals

Generate system software and a linker script

Generate the design– Generated files include the following

• system.mhs• system.xmp• data/system.ucf• pcore directory (empty)

Generating the Processor Hardware Netlist

Select Hardware Generate NetlistPlatform Generator: PlatGen– Input file MHS and MPD

• The MHS file defines the configuration of the embedded processor system, including the bus architecture, peripherals and processor(s), interrupt request priorities, and address space

• The MPD file defines the configurable parameters with their default values and available ports for a peripheral

– Output files system netlist, peripheral netlists, and BMM file– Creates the synthesis, HDL, and implementation directories– Generates the HDL wrapper files for the peripherals– Generates the top-level system HDL file– Extracts the peripheral netlists from the EDK install directory– Generates the BMM file– Calls XST to synthesize the top-level wrapper file

Detailed EDK Design Flow

Processor IPMPD Files

system.ucf

Create FPGA Programming (system.bit)

MHS Filesystem.mhs

PlatGen

FPGA Implementation(ISE/Xflow)

Hardware

Data2MEM

download.bit

Compile

Link

Object Files

Executable

Libraries

Source Code (C code)

LibGen EDIF IP Netlists

Source Code(VHDL/Verilog)

Synthesis

Standard Embedded Software Flow Standard Embedded Hardware Flow

Software Flow

Software development is performed with the Xilinx Software Development Kit (SDK)

A hardware image XML file must first be generated to define the hardware platform for which the software application will be developed

The SDK software tools will then attach the software project to the hardware

SDK can be launched now or later, Export Only

SDK Software Development

SDK software development– Create software platform

• System software, board support package

• LibGen program

– Create software application

– Create Linker Script– Build project compile,

assemble, link– Output file executable.elf

Merging Hardware and Software Flows

Data2MEM

download.bit

MicroBlaze/PPC

UART

Arbiter

GPIO

Hardware Flow

SoftwareFlow

FPGA Partial Reconfiguration enables the reprogramming of the Block RAM contents without reprogramming the entire FPGA– Saves download time– Saves re-implementation time– Enables software debugging

Use of off-chip RAM encouraged for large pieces of software (typical)

Configuring the FPGA

Download the bitstream– Input file download.bit– This downloads the download.bit

file onto the target board by using the Xilinx iMPACT tool in batch mode

Accessible from all tools– XPS– SDK– Project Navigator

Requires that the download cable is connected

SDK

ISE Tool

XPS

Virtex-5 FPGA ML507 Lab Board

RS-232 cable – transmits serial

information from your PC to your embedded

system (the other end is attached to the PC). A null modem is needed.

Xilinx USB platform cable – configures the FPGA (the other

end is attached to the USB port of the PC)

High-performance ribbon cable

Demo Boards

Lab instructions are provided for both the PowerPC 440 and MicroBlaze processors

Spartan-3E FPGA XC3S1600EMicroBlaze Development

Board

Spartan-6 FPGA LXT SP605MicroBlaze Development

BoardVirtex-5 FPGA FXT ML507

PowerPC EvaluationPlatform

Hardware Introduction

Overview of EDK

Embedded Development Design Flow

Summary

Lessons

Summary

The Embedded Development Kit (EDK) includes all the tools, documentation, and IP necessary for building embedded systems

The Software Development Kit (SDK) is a comprehensive software development environment for simple software and firmware for complex applications

The Base System Builder (BSB) makes it easy to build a full hardware design targeting an available demo board

Merging software into an FPGA hardware bitstream is completed with the Data2MEM utility (Update Bitstream)

Hardware netlists for an embedded design are implemented with the ISE tools

Where Can I Learn More?

Xilinx Embedded Processing page– www.xilinx.com/embedded– Learn more about Embedded Design Kits for all Xilinx product families

Xilinx online documents – support.xilinx.com

• Getting Started with the Embedded Development Kit• Processor IP Reference Guide

Right-click any peripheral from the IP Catalog to learn more about it

• Embedded Systems Tools Guide• Xilinx Drivers• Processor reference guides

PowerPC 405/440 Processor Block Reference Guide MicroBlaze Processor Reference Guide

• For all docs, select Help EDK Online Documentation from the EDK tools

Where Can I Learn More?

Xilinx Training Courses– www.xilinx.com/training

• Embedded Systems Development course Rapidly architect an embedded system Introduction to most of the EDK tools

• Embedded Systems Software Development course Rapidly architect an embedded software system Introduction to the SDK (Software Development Kit)

• Advanced Embedded Systems Development course Take advantage of advanced features of the PPC440 Apply advanced debugging techniques including ChipScope Design a Flash memory-based system and boot load from off-chip Flash

memory• Customers spend 50% of their time in lab

What’s Next?

Related Video Courses– Embedded Design with the MicorBlaze Soft Processor Core– Embedded Design with the PPC 440

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