1. The Xilinx EDK Toolset: Xilinx Platform Studio (XPS) Building a base system platform

2. What Is Xilinx EDK? EDK = Embedded Development Kit. It is a set of tools used for building embedded processing systems. I.E. Systems-On-Chip (SoCs) Processors (PowerPC, MicroBlaze) Interconnect (PLB, OPB, FSL, etc.) Memories (BRAM, DDR) Peripherals (UART, Ethernet, Custom cores) Running processes to implement a design. Simulation Synthesis Compilation

3. How Do I Use Xilinx EDK? Xilinx Platform Studio (XPS) - the actual tool. u Design flow… First, create the hardware platform –Select all of the peripherals –Connect peripherals Second, create the software for the platform –Write software to “make things work” u Iterate if needed The FPGA has a malleable fabric… u So both hardware and software are flexible and can be changed… At “compile-time” At “run-time” (dynamic reconfiguration)

4. How To Get Started Open up XPS Create a new project. u Select “File”, “New Project” u Select “Base System Builder…” Provides a wizard to help get the basic parts of the system established. u Click “OK”

5. Building The Base System Set the project file name. u Make sure the absolute path doesn’t have any spaces. Create a new design from scratch. u Do not use a.BSB file. Select the development board. u Xilinx, Spartan-3 Starter Board (E) Select the processor unit. u MicroBlaze. u Use all of the default settings EXCEPT… Enable the cache link. Select which peripherals to include. u Use all of the defaults. Cache setup. u Make both instructions and data cacheable (iCache & dCache). Software setup. u Use all of the defaults.

6. Base System Assembly View

7. How To Run An Application Select the TestApp_Memory application. u Compile the sources for the application… Right click on it and select “Build Application” Execute the test on the base system platform. u This requires the following to be combined… Hardware bitstream (.bit) Software executable (.elf) u This is done by selecting “Device Configuration”. “Update Bitstream” - combines HW/SW (.bit +.elf). “Download Bitstream” - downloads the configuration to the board.

8. Monitoring Software Execution On The FPGA How do you see what is happening on the FPGA? u Normally in software you use print() statements. u The output goes to the screen. In this system, STDIN/STDOUT are routed to the serial port. u We must monitor the serial port from an external host to see what is happening. In order to “see” what is executing… u Open up a terminal window Minicom (Linux) Hyperterminal (Windows) u Setup the correct communication parameters (baud rate = 9600).

9. Creating New Software Applications Select “Software”… u Click on “Add Software Application Project”. Enter the new project name. u Also, choose which CPU to run the application on (MicroBlaze). Now a new application tab entry will appear. u You can add/create sources for this new application. In order to run this new application… u Right click on it u Select “Mark to initialize BRAMs” Instructs the tool that this application is to be “added” to the bitstream. u Now, when updating the bitstream, this application will be added.