Hardware-Software co-design and Xilinx Zedboard implementation of an AXI4-based embedded system

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2073245 636 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Σχεδίασης Ολοκληρωμένων Κυκλωμάτων
Πληροφορική
Deposit date:
2017-10-24
Year:
2017
Author:
Panteloukas Alexandros
Supervisors info:
Αντώνης Πασχάλης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πληροφορικής και Τηλεπικοινωνιών, Εθνικό Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών (ΕΚΠΑ)
Original Title:
Συσχεδίαση υλικού-λογισμικού και υλοποίηση σε Xilinx Zedboard ενσωματωμένου συστήματος με βάση το πρωτόκολλο επικοινωνίας AXI4
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Hardware-Software co-design and Xilinx Zedboard implementation of an AXI4-based embedded system
Summary:
Embedded systems design has evolved to the extent on which hardware design and software development happen almost simultaneously and affect one another. Design decisions aim not only at the development of a high-performance and robust system, but also on the choice of processes that will be executed on hardware and processes that will be executed on software.
The purpose of the thesis is the design of an embedded system that comprises the programmable logic (FPGA implementation) and the central processing unit (CPU). The Zedboard of Xilinx offers the programmable logic and the processing unit on the same chip, thus enabling the design of a high-performance communication between hardware and software.
The hardware-software communication is implemented based on the AXI4 protocol [1]. AXI4 is a fourth generation interface on-chip protocol for ARM CPU cores that are desired to communicate with peripherals.
Xilinx’s Vivado tool (which is the main tool used for the embedded system development) simplifies and accelerates the design process due to the wide variety of offered IP-blocks (intellectual property) which communicate with AXI4 interfaces.
The embedded system was designed as follows: a) Simple data processing logic design on VHDL, b) Embedded system design using IP-blocks offered by Vivado, c) Edit/design of AXI4 interfaces of the programmable logic with the CPU, d) Simple C-code development, executed by the CPU, e) integration, implementation and validation of the system on the Xilinx’s Zedboard.
The results of the thesis look promising due to the fact that the hardware-software co-design is extremely simple. Designers can easily integrate their work (HDL code / C program) to the system and develop a fully functional embedded system.
Main subject category:
Technology - Computer science
Keywords:
System-on-Chip, interface protocol, hardware-software co-design, FPGA implementation
Index:
Yes
Number of index pages:
1
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
6
Number of pages:
68
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