Vitis

This page describes the current state of PipelineC+Xilinx Vitis integration. It primarily consists of a demo showing a PipelineC pipeline in a Vitis streaming kernel based design running on Alveo hardware.

Beginning in PR 127, the primary person behind this fantastic work is @bartokon. If you have any Vitis-related questions or comments they are likely the best person to contact. The flow is very flexible and could be easily modified to work for another platform, ex. Zynq ARM based designs.

The files discussed here are in the PipelineC repo at examples/vitis_import.

Files

• axis.c: PipelineC main file
  • Pipeline the_pipeline()
    • Function is autopipelined to meet MAIN_MHZ specified
    • Has input and output wires connected to the IO and Control logic
  • IO and Control io_and_ctrl()
    • Has wires to and from the pipeline
    • Inputs go directly into pipeline
    • After being output from the pipeline, output data is stored in FIFO
    • Output data FIFO is used to read data out as out_ready is signaled
    • FIFO is required because auto-pipelined functions cannot be directly connected to feedback/ready signals yet
• build.sh: script to run pipelinec tool and produce VHDL + Vivado .XO packaging .tcl script.
  • The .tcl script is used by Vivado to package VHDL files with an AXIS interface into an IP .XO file
• vitis_scripts: All Vitis files
  • build_all.sh: Run all builds for specified TARGET
    • Vitis: vitis_compile.sh and vitis_link.sh
    • gpp.sh C++ compile
    • Runs tests: test.sh
  • includes directory:
    • Xilinx Core Library xcl2.cpp and xcl2.hpp
  • sources directory:
    • xrt.ini Xilinx Runtime Config
    • Vitis Config: vitis_hls.cfg and vitis_link.cfg
    • main.cpp:
      • Based on Vitis Hello World demo and Stream Kernel Integration Tutorial
      • Host CPU program
      • Hardware Emulation (Simulation):
        • Xilinx runtime config xrt.ini file configures running Vivado xsim simulation.
      • Hardware Test (Alveo board):
        • Programs the programmable logic (target hardware is Alveo in this example).
        • Creates IO buffers in the HBM memory.
        • Runs the hardware kernel that sends and receives streams to-from the FPGA.
      • Data received from FPGA is stored and checked against expected results.
      • Uses helper conversions of streaming data to and from AXI bus access: maxi_to_stream.cpp and stream_to_maxi.cpp

Build

Tested with Vivado/Vitis tools version 2022.2

Streaming interfaces are used as communication channel.

Scripts, ex. build_all.sh, are used to generate Vitis HLS IP from PipelineC generated VHDL. That IP can be used to simulate or drive real hardware that transfers streaming data to+from PipelineC hardware modules.

PipelineC IP is packaged as an .XO and connected with Vitis at linking stage.

• From in the vitis_import directory use build.sh run the PipelineC tool and produce Vivado .XO packaging .tcl script
• Source Xilinx env
  • for example: source /tools/Xilinx/Vitis/2022.2/settings64.sh
• From in the vitis_scripts directory use build_all.sh to build and run the example Vitis project.
  • If you wish to build for hw change TARGET in build_all.sh script.

Hardware Emulation (Simulation)

Setting TARGET=hw_emu in the build_all.sh will cause test.sh to run main.cpp configured to do the following:

• Reads xrt.ini file that specifies that hw_emu should be run with xsim and gui
• Data received from simulation is stored and checked against expected results.

Hardware Test

Tested on Alveo hardware.

Setting TARGET=hw in the build_all.sh will cause test.sh to run main.cpp configured to do the following:

• Programs the programmable logic
• Creates IO buffers in the HBM memory.
• Runs the hardware kernel that sends and receives streams to-from the FPGA.
• Data received from hardware is checked against expected results.