Traditional Fixed-Platform Design
A fixed platform design is a hardware design completed in the Vivado Design Suite. You can use the Vivado IP integrator feature to stitch together IP in a block design, or you can describe the hardware system in RTL. You can also use Vitis HLS to create hardware functions in C++ and generate Vivado IP to add to your hardware design.
You will use the write_hw_platform
-fixed
command to create a Xilinx
Shell Archive (.xsa) of the completed
hardware design; and use either the Vitis IDE,
or the Xilinx Software Command-line Tool
(XSCT) to define a platform project, import the fixed .xsa, and configure and define processor domains, or BSPs for the
fixed-platform. The fixed platform (.xpfm)
can be used in a traditional embedded software design flow to create embedded
applications for Versal ACAP devices, or
Zynq MPSoC devices.
The development of software applications for embedded processors requires the use of hardware drivers delivered as part of the exported hardware container (.xsa). You must manage and use the drivers to access your hardware design from your software application. This traditional embedded software design flow is fully documented in the Vitis Embedded Software Development User Guide (UG1400).
Extensible Platform-Based Design
The extensible platform also starts with the Vivado Design Suite to define an extensible hardware design
(.xsa) that allows the addition of programmable components
such as PS and AI Engine features to quickly
vary the resulting embedded system design. The extensible .xsa
is a container that provides the foundation of the hardware design for the
v++
linker to extend by updating a dynamic region of the
design. The extensible platform allows the embedded system designer to easily extend
the functionality of the extensible hardware foundation.
For embedded system designs, a parallel development process can be used where different elements of the heterogeneous system can be developed concurrently. The application team starts work with a Xilinx base platform, such as the VCK190 or ZCU104, to develop the programmable components of the system. Using an available platform means that the application can be developed and tested independently using a known-good system. At the same time the platform team works to build and validate the custom platform. You are strongly encouraged to use an existing platform design as a reference for your own custom platform designs. Current Xilinx embedded platforms can be found in the Vitis installation, and their source code can be found in the Vitis Embedded Platform Source repository on GitHub.
The hardware part of the extensible platform is a Vivado project containing any required IP such as an interrupt controller and clock wizard, as well as any additional features you want to implement into the hardware design. Extensible platform designs have specific requirements as described in Creating Embedded Platforms in Vitis, such as AXI-4 interfaces for linking PL kernels into the system, memory controllers, one or more clock and reset signals, and a single interrupt. More information on required interfaces can be found at Adding Hardware Interfaces.
The hardware design file (.xsa) is exported from the Vivado project using the write_hw_platform
command and imported into a Platform project in the
Vitis IDE, or XSCT. In the Platform
project the software components (processor domains, DeviceTree, OS) are packaged
with the hardware (.xsa) to create a custom
extensible embedded processor platform (.xpfm):
- Operating System includes standalone (or baremetal), FreeRTOS, or Linux. For systems running XRT, Linux is required.
- Processor specifies the Arm core to use for the specified OS
domain. Note that the choice of OS determines which processors are available to
configure. Tip: The initial Platform project setup lets you configure one processor domain, but the IDE lets you configure additional domains once the project has been established. Advanced settings of the platform, such as for DFX platforms, must be accessed through XSCT.
When the platform has been built, an export folder is added to the hierarchy of the project, and the
platform .xpfm file and ./hw and ./sw
folders are added to the platform. The new platform is added to the $PLATFORM_REPOSTORY_PATHS
environment variable, and
the platform can be used for application development with the Vitis tools.
The platform-based design flow uses the Vitis tool for the definition of OS, domains, and software
applications in the embedded system, but also uses the Vitis compiler (v++
) to link PL
kernels and AI Engine graph applications with
the extensible hardware platform. This flow promotes concurrent development of the
different elements of the system and facilitates the integration process of
heterogeneous systems.
The extensible platform is adapted by linking PL kernels (.xo) and AI Engine graph applications (libadf.a) to the hardware design using the v++ --link
command. However, in designing the extensible platform, you
can decide how much or how little to include in the hardware design (.xsa) of the platform. As described in Generate XSA file, an extensible platform has
minimum content requirements such as interrupt controller and clock wizard. You can
choose to design a platform with the minimum content required and add functionality
to your system through PL kernels, or you can add features directly to the platform
hardware design while relying less on PL kernels.
A minimal platform is more flexible, more easily defined, and quicker to iterate and implement new functionality. However, implementing functionality directly in the platform has the advantage of integrating existing RTL code rather than packaging the IP for use as PL kernel.