pluto_hdl_adi/docs/user_guide/porting_project.rst

.. _porting_project:

Porting ADI's HDL reference designs
===============================================================================

In general, a given reference design for an FMC board is deployed to just a few
carriers, although several :git-hdl:`FPGA boards <projects/common>`
are supported in ADI's HDL repository. The simple reason behind this practice is
that it would create a tremendous maintenance workload, that would require a lot
of human resources, and would increase the required time for testing. The
general rule of thumb is to support a given project with a fairly popular
carrier (e.g. ZC706 or A10SoC), which is powerful enough to showcase the board
features and maximum performance.

All the HDL projects were designed to maximize source code reuse, minimize
maintainability and simplify portability. The result of these design goals is
that porting a given project to another carrier is fairly simple if the user
respects a couple of guidelines.

The main scope of this wiki page is to discuss these guidelines and provide
simple indications for users who wants to port a project to a non-supported
carrier.

Quick Compatibility Check
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.. note::

   All ADI's FPGA Mezzanine Cards (FMC) are designed to respect all the
   specifications and requirements defined in the ANSI/VITA 57.1 FPGA Mezzanine
   Card Standard (if not otherwise stated on board's wiki page). If the new FPGA
   carrier is fully compliant with this standard, there will be no obstacles
   preventing the user to port the project to the required carrier card.

There are two types of FMC connectors: LPC (Low Pin Count) and HPC (High Pin
Count). In general, an FMC board is using the FMC connector type that has enough
pins for the required interfaces between the I/O devices and FPGA. A carrier
with an FMC HPC connector can host FMC boards with an LPC or HPC connector, but
a carrier with an FMC LPC can host a board just with an FMC LPC connector.

.. tip::

   First, always check out the already available :git-hdl:`base designs <projects/common>`.
   If your board is present among our supported base designs, you do not need to
   verify the following things and you can jump to the Project creation
   section.

The most important things to check before porting are related to the ANSI/VITA
57.1 standard (the list is not necessarily exhaustive):

- Power and ground lines - 3P3V/3P3VAUX/12P0V/GND
- VADJ - adjustable voltage level power from the carrier, each board has a
  specific requirement for VADJ
- Dedicated pins for clock signals - all the clock dedicated pins should be
  connected to a clock capable pin of the FPGA (I/O pin which is capable to
  receive and/or transmit a clock signal)
- Dedicated pins for transceiver lines (DPx_[M2C|C2M]_[P|N])

.. attention::

   To check all the requirements, please refer to the ANSI/VITA 57.1 standard.
   The above few hints do not cover all the FMC standards and you
   may miss something that can prevent the porting of the project.


.. tip::

   Make sure that you have reviewed all the documentation and design files in
   order to know the electrical specifications and/or requirements of the
   FMC board. If you're not sure, ask!

Base design files
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At :ref:`architecture` it is described a generic base design and possible
components of it. The user should look at it as a suggestion only.

.. tip::

   In :git-hdl:`/projects/common </projects/common>`/<carrier_name>
   you can find templates for the *system_top.v*, *Makefile*, etc. to help you
   when creating a new project.

Example with a Xilinx board
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In this section, we are presenting all the necessary steps to create a base
design for the Xilinx ZCU102 development board.

First, you need to create a new directory in *~/projects/common* with the name
of the carrier.

.. code:: bash

   cd projects/common
   mkdir zcu102

The **zcu102** directory must contain the following files:

- **zcu102_system_bd.tcl** - This script describes the base block design
- **zcu102_system_constr.xdc** - I/O constraint file for the base design. It
  will contain I/O definitions for GPIO, switches, LEDs or other peripherals of
  the board
- MIG configuration file (if needed) - This file can be borrowed for the golden
  reference design of the board
- Other constraints files if needed

You should define the board and its device in the project flow script
:git-hdl:`projects/scripts/adi_project_xilinx.tcl`
by adding the following lines to the beginning of the **adi_project_create**
process:

.. code:: tcl

   if [regexp "_zcu102$" $project_name] {
       set p_device "xczu9eg-ffvb1156-1-i-es1"
       set p_board "xilinx.com:zcu102:part0:1.2"
       set sys_zynq 2
   }

.. tip::

   The valid board parts and parts can be retrieved by running the
   following commands in Tcl console: **get_parts** and **get_board_parts**. Run
   the commands like **join [get_parts] \\n**, so each part name will be listed on
   a separate line.

The **sys_zynq** constant variable should be set in the following way:

- 0 - 7 Series FPGA (e.g. Kintex7, Virtex7)
- 1 - Zynq7000 SoC
- 2 - Zynq Ultrascale+ SoC

Example with an Intel board
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To create a new base design for a given Intel FPGA carrier board, the following
steps should be taken (the A10SoC carrier was used as an example).

The following files should be created or copied into the directory:

- **a10soc_system_assign.tcl** - global and I/O assignments of the base design
- **a10soc_system_qsys.tcl** - the QSYS base design

You should define the board and its device in the flow script
:git-hdl:`projects/scripts/adi_project_intel.tcl`,
by adding the following lines to the beginning of the **adi_project_altera**
process:

.. code:: tcl

   if [regexp "_a10soc$" $project_name] {
       set family "Arria 10"
       set device 10AS066N3F40E2SG
       set system_qip_file system_bd/system_bd.qip
   }

Project files
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Project files for Xilinx boards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To follow the project framework as much as possible, the easiest way is to copy
all the projects files from an already existing project and modifying those
files to support the new carrier. A project for a Xilinx FPGA board should
contain the following files:

- **system_project.tcl** - This script is creating the actual Vivado project
  and runs the synthesis/implementation of the design. The name of the carrier
  from inside the file, must be updated.

- **system_bd.tcl** - In this file is sourced the *base* design's Tcl script
  and the *board* design's Tcl script. Again, the name of the carrier must be
  updated.

- **system_constr.xdc** - Constraint file of the board design. Here are defined
  the FMC I/O pins and board specific clock signals. All the I/O definitions
  must be updated, with the new pin names.

- **system_top.v** - Top wrapper file, in which the system_wrapper.v module is
  instantiated, and a few I/O macros are defined. The I/O port of this Verilog
  module will be connected to actual I/O pads of the FPGA. The simplest way to
  update the *system_top* is to let the synthesis fail and the tool will tell
  you which ports are missing or which ports are redundant. The first thing to
  do after the failure is to verify the instantiation of the system_wrapper.v.
  This file is a tool generated file and can be found at
  *<project_name>.srcs/sources_1/bd/system/hdl/system_wrapper.v*. Fixing the
  instantiation of the wrapper module in most cases eliminates all the errors.
  If you get errors that you cannot fix, ask for support.

- **Makefile** - This is an auto-generated file, but after updating the carrier
  name, should work with the new project without an issue.

Project files for Intel boards
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To follow the project framework as much as possible the easiest way is to copy
all the projects file from an already existing project and modifying those files
to support the new carrier. A project for an Intel FPGA board should contain the
following files:

- **system_project.tcl** - This script is creating the actual Quartus project
  and runs the synthesis/implementation of the design. It also contains the I/O
  definitions for the interfaces between the FMC board and FPGA. The carrier
  name and all the I/O pin names inside the file, must be updated.

- **system_qsys.tcl** - In this file is sourced the *base* design's Tcl script
  and the *board* design's Tcl script. Again, the name of the carrier must be
  updated.

- **system_constr.sdc** - Contains clock definitions and other path constraints

- **system_top.v** - Top wrapper file of the project. The I/O ports of this
  Verilog module will be actual I/O pads of the FPGA. You must make sure that
  the base design's I/Os are updated (delete nonexistent I/Os or add new ones).
  The simplest way to update the *system_top* is to let the synthesis fail and
  the tool will you tell which ports are missing or which ports are redundant.

- **Makefile** - This is an auto-generated file, but after updating the carrier
  name, it should work with the new project without an issue.

Tips
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Generating the FMC I/O constraints
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The easiest way of writing the constraints for FMC I/O pins is making use of the
script :git-hdl:`projects/scripts/adi_fmc_constr_generator.tcl`.

Required setup:

-  Carrier common FMC connections file
   (:git-hdl:`projects/common <projects/common>`/<carrier>/<carrier>_<fmc_port>.txt)
-  Project common FMC connections file
   (:git-hdl:`projects`/<project>/common/<project>_fmc.txt)

.. tip::

   In cases where these files don't already exist, you can make your own
   by following some existing ones as an example.
   For project common files, you can easily make them following :ref:`creating_fmc`.

Calling the script:

To use this script you can source it in any tcl shell or simply call the
adi_fmc_constr_generator.tcl with argument(s) <fmc_port>. But before sourcing or
calling it, your current directory needs to be
:git-hdl:`projects`/<project>/<carrier>

For example:

- :code:`tclsh ../../scripts/adi_fmc_constr_generator.tcl fmc0`
  (the project uses only one FMC port at a time)
- :code:`tclsh ../../scripts/adi_fmc_constr_generator.tcl fmc0 fmc1`
  (the project uses two FMC ports at a time)

If sourced without argument(s) then you can simply call gen_fmc_constr
<fmc_port>.

For example:

- :code:`gen_fmc_constr fmc0` (the project uses only one FMC port at a time)
- :code:`gen_fmc_constr fmc0 fmc1` (the project uses two FMC ports at a time)

.. note::

   The fmc port name can be deduced from the common carrier file name
   (:git-hdl:`projects/common <projects/common>`/<carrier>/<carrier>_<fmc_port>.txt).

The generated file will appear in the current directory as **fmc_constr.xdc**
(Xilinx board) or **fmc_constr.tcl** (Intel board). If ran from an open Vivado
project, the generated file will be automatically added to the project.

.. _creating_fmc:

Creating carrier common FMC connections
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To create a carrier common FMC connections file:

#. Open the space divided .txt file corresponding to the desired connector type,
   either with a text editor or importing in a spreadsheet editor
   (with Excel, export as .prn).
   :git-hdl:`docs/user_guide/sources/fmc.txt`,
   :git-hdl:`docs/user_guide/sources/fmc_hpc.txt`,
   :git-hdl:`docs/user_guide/sources/fmc+.txt`.
#. Fill the table by replacing the **#**'s where it's needed.
#. Save as .txt inside :git-hdl:`projects`/<project_name>/common/.
#. Clean up the file by removing the lines containing **#** for system_top_name.
#. Rearrange the lines following one of the existing examples.
#. To generate empty lines, leave an empty line in the .txt file.
   To generate comments, the line should start with **#** sign.
#. Run the script as :code:`tclsh /path/to/script {fmc_conn}`
   (e.g. :code:`tclsh ../../scripts/adi_fmc_constr_generator.tcl fmc0`).

   * Current directory needs to be hdl/projects/<project_name>/<carrier>.
   * If used from an open project, the generated file would be added to the project;
     otherwise it will appear in the current directory.
   * If the carrier has only one FMC port, the script can be called without parameters.
   * If the carrier has more FMC ports, the script should be called with:

     * One parameter indicating the FMC port: fmc_lpc/hpc, fmc0/1, fmcp0/1
       (see projects/common/<carrier>/\*.txt).
     * Two parameters indicating both FMC ports in the desired order for projects
       that use both FMC connectors.