Initialization Behavior - 2023.2 English

Vitis High-Level Synthesis User Guide (UG1399)
Document ID
UG1399
Release Date
2023-12-18
Version
2023.2 English

In C/C++, variables defined with the static qualifier and those defined in the global scope are initialized to zero, by default. These variables can optionally be assigned a specific initial value. For these initialized variables, the value in the C/C++ code is assigned at compile time (at time zero) and never again. In both cases, the initial value is implemented in the RTL.

  • During RTL simulation the variables are initialized with the same values as the C/C++ code.
  • The variables are also initialized in the bitstream used to program the FPGA. When the device powers up, the variables will start in their initialized state.

In the RTL, although the variables start with the same initial value as the C/C++ code, there is no way to force the variable to return to this initial state. To restore the initial state, variables must be implemented with a reset signal.

Important: Top-level function arguments can be implemented in an AXI4-Lite interface. Because there is no way to provide an initial value in C/C++ for function arguments, these variable cannot be initialized in the RTL as doing so would create an RTL design with different functional behavior from the C/C++ code which would fail to verify during C/RTL co-simulation.