Getting Started with Targeting Xilinx Versal ACAP Platform

This example uses:

This example shows how to use HDL Coder™ and the hardware-software codesign workflow to blink LEDs at various frequencies on the Xilinx® Versal® ACAP platform.

Introduction

This example is a step-by-step guide that helps you use HDL Coder to generate a custom HDL IP core that blinks LEDs on the Xilinx Versal AI Core Series VCK190 Evaluation Kit. It also shows you how to build a bitstream and program the Versal device using the hardware-software codesign workflow.

You can use the hardware-software codesign workflow to help automate the deployment of your MATLAB® and Simulink® design to a Xilinx Versal ACAP device. You can explore the best ways to partition and deploy your design by iterating through this workflow. The following diagram shows a high-level picture of generating an IP core and bitstream, a step in the hardware-software codesign workflow. For more information, see Targeting FPGA & SoC Hardware Overview.

You can use MATLAB and Simulink to design, simulate, and verify your application, perform what-if scenarios with algorithms, and optimize parameters. Using the guided workflow shown in this example, you can then automatically generate HDL code for the programmable logic using HDL Coder, and implement the design on the Xilinx Versal ACAP Platform.

In this workflow, you perform the following steps:

Set up your Xilinx Versal VCK190 hardware and tools.
Generate an HDL IP core using HDL Workflow Advisor.
Integrate the IP core into a Xilinx Vivado project and program the Xilinx Versal hardware.
Tune parameters and capture results using the Xilinx Vivado JTAG tool.

Requirements

Xilinx Vivado Design Suite, with the supported version listed in HDL Language Support and Supported Third-Party Tools and Hardware
Xilinx Versal AI Core Series VCK190 Evaluation Kit
HDL Coder Support Package for Xilinx Zynq Platform

Set Up Xilinx Versal ACAP Hardware and Tools

1. Set up the Xilinx Versal AI Core Series VCK190 Evaluation Kit as shown in the following figure. To learn more about the VCK190 hardware setup, please refer to the Xilinx VCK190 Board User Guide.

2. Connect your computer to the USB JTAG/UART connector of VCK190 using a Micro USB cable.

3. Install the HDL Coder Support Packages for Xilinx Zynq Platform if you have not already.

4. Set up the Xilinx Vivado synthesis tool path using the following command in the MATLAB command window. Use your own Vivado installation path when you run the command.

hdlsetuptoolpath('ToolName', 'Xilinx Vivado', 'ToolPath', 'C:\Xilinx\Vivado\2020.2\bin\vivado.bat');

Generate HDL IP Core Using HDL Workflow Advisor

Generating an IP core using the HDL Workflow Advisor enables you to automatically generate a sharable and reusable IP core module from a Simulink model. The generated IP core is designed to be connected to an embedded processor on an FPGA device. HDL Coder generates HDL code from the Simulink blocks, and also generates HDL code for the AXI interface logic connecting the IP core to the embedded processor. HDL Coder packages all the generated files into an IP core folder. You can then integrate the generated IP core with a larger FPGA embedded design in the Xilinx Vivado environment.

In this example, the subsystem led_counter is the hardware subsystem. It models a counter that blinks the LEDs on an FPGA board. Two input ports, Blink_frequency and Blink_direction, are control ports that determine the LED blink frequency and direction.

open_system('hdlcoder_led_blinking');

1. Start the IP core generation workflow.

1.1. Open the HDL Workflow Advisor from the led_counter subsystem by right-clicking the led_counter subsystem and choosing HDL Code > HDL Workflow Advisor.

1.2. In the Set Target > Set Target Device and Synthesis Tool task, for Target workflow, select IP Core Generation.

1.3. For Target platform, select Xilinx Versal AI Core Series VCK190 Evaluation Kit. If you do not have this option, select Get more to open the Support Package Installer. In the Support Package Installer, select Xilinx Zynq Platform and follow the instructions provided by the Support Package Installer to complete the installation.

1.4. Click Run This Task to run the Set Target Device and Synthesis Tool task.

1.5 In the Set Target > Set Target Reference Design task, choose Default system.

1.6. Click Run This Task to run the Set Target Reference Design task.

2. Configure the target interface.

Map each port in your DUT to one of the IP core target interfaces. In this example, input ports Blink_frequency and Blink_direction are mapped to the AXI4-Lite interface, so HDL Coder generates AXI interface accessible registers for them. The LED output port is mapped to an external interface, LEDs General Purpose [0:3], which connects to the LED hardware on the Zynq board.

2.1 In the Set Target > Set Target Interface task, choose AXI4-Lite for Blink_frequency, Blink_direction, and Read_back.

2.2 Choose LEDs General Purpose [0:3] for LED.

2.3 In the Set Target > Set Target Frequency task, set Target Frequency to 50 MHz.

3. Generate the IP core.

To generate the IP core, right-click the Generate RTL Code and IP Core task and select Run to Selected Task.

4. Generate and view the IP core report.

After you generate the custom IP core, the IP core files are in the ipcore folder within your project folder. An HTML custom IP core report is generated together with the custom IP core. The report describes the behavior and contents of the generated custom IP core.

Integrate IP Core with Xilinx Vivado Environment

In this part of the workflow, you insert your generated IP core into a embedded system reference design, generate an FPGA bitstream, and download the bitstream to the Zynq hardware.

The reference design is a predefined Xilinx Vivado project. It contains all the elements the Xilinx software needs to deploy your design to the Versal platform, except for the custom IP core and embedded software that you generate.

1. To integrate with the Xilinx Vivado environment, select the Create Project task under Embedded System Integration and click Run This Task. A Xilinx Vivado project with IP Integrator embedded design is generated.

A link to the project is provided in the dialog window. You can optionally open up the project to take a look. From the block diagram in Vivado tool, you can see the HDL Coder generated IP core led_count_ip_0 is connected to the Processing System through the AXI interface.

2. Build the FPGA bitstream in the Build FPGA Bitstream task. Make sure the Run build process externally option is checked, so the Xilinx synthesis tool runs in a separate process from MATLAB. Wait for the synthesis tool process to finish running in the external command window.

3. After the bitstream is generated, select the Program Target Device task. Choose JTAG for Programming method to program the FPGA bitstream through JTAG to the Xilinx Versal VCK190 board. Click Run This Task to program the Versal hardware.

After you program the FPGA hardware, the LED starts blinking on your Xilinx Versal VCK190 board.

Tune Parameters and Capture Results on Versal VCK190 Hardware

When you are prototyping and developing an algorithm, you can monitor and tune the algorithm while it runs on hardware. In this example, you can tune parameters and capture results through JTAG using the Xilinx System Debugger (XSDB) tool.

1. Start the XSDB console by running the following command in MATLAB:

!xsdb &

2. In the XSDB console, run the following command:

connect

The XSDB connects to hw_server, and is ready to be used.

3. In the XSDB console, run following command to connect to the target DPC, which is a centralized debug packet controller in the Versal ACAP device.

target 14

4. Now you can read and write to AXI registers on the HDL Coder generated FPGA IP core. For example, you can use the mrd command to read out register values such as the IP core version register on address 0xA4000008.

mrd 0xA4000008

You can use the mwr command to write to an AXI register such as the blink frequency register on address 0xA4000100 or the blink direction register on address 0xA4000104.

mwr 0xA4000100 5

mwr 0xA4000104 1

You can observe the change in frequency and direction of the LED array blinking on the Versal hardware when you change the AXI register values.