~gpanders/gpanders.com

4b3101ac061e8df744ea81c27f17d231af3c35eb — Greg Anders 2 years ago 71ecc6c 
Update vitis post
patch browse .tar.gz 
1 files changed, 38 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)

M content/blog/vitis-for-embedded-hardware-acceleration.md

M content/blog/vitis-for-embedded-hardware-acceleration.md => content/blog/vitis-for-embedded-hardware-acceleration.md +38 -31
@@ 19,31 19,36 @@ I've aimed to keep things as device agnostic as possible.
near-future. I will try to keep this guide as up-to-date as possible, but be
warned that some pieces may be antiquated by the time you read it.

You can find a "reference implementation" of the steps below [here]. This
implementation uses a Makefile to automate all of the steps outlined below with
a simple example design. You are welcome to copy the reference implementation
and modify it to your own needs however you wish.
You can find a "reference implementation" of the steps below [here][reference].
This implementation uses a Makefile to automate all of the steps outlined below
with a simple example design. You are welcome to copy the reference
implementation and modify it to your own needs however you wish.

You can also find a lot of examples and Vitis tutorials online provided by
Xilinx. However, almost all of these are targeted towards using x86/PCIe
platforms and do not carry over well into edge-based/Zynq platforms (hence the
need for this guide).

-   [Vitis Tutorials]
-   [XRT Platform Creation]
-   [Vitis Documentation]
-   [Vitis Tutorials][]
-   [XRT Platform Creation][]
-   [Vitis Documentation][]

[reference]: https://github.com/gpanders/vitis_example
[Vitis Tutorials]: https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis-Tutorials
[XRT Platform Creation]: https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis_Embedded_Platform_Source/tree/master/Xilinx_Official_Platforms/zcu102_base
[Vitis Documentation]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2020_1/vitis_doc/kme1569523964461.html

Outline
-------

The high-level outline of doing hardware acceleration in Vitis is

1.  [Create a hardware design (XSA file) in Vivado]
2.  [Create Linux software components]
3.  [Create a Xilinx platform file (XPFM)]
4.  [Write and compile your kernels]
5.  [Write and compile your host executable]
6.  [Run software emulation]
1.  [Create a hardware design (XSA file) in Vivado](#creating-your-hardware-design)
2.  [Create Linux software components](#create-linux-software-components)
3.  [Create a Xilinx platform file (XPFM)](#generate-a-xilinx-platform-file)
4.  [Write and compile your kernels](#write-and-compile-your-kernels)
5.  [Write and compile your host executable](#write-and-compile-the-host-code)
6.  [Run software emulation](#run-software-emulation)

Pre-packaged Embedded Platforms
-------------------------------


@@ 66,6 71,13 @@ page][platforms]. After extracting the archive you'll find `sdk.sh` scripts for
both the Zynq 7000 and the Zynq Ultrascale. Execute the `sdk.sh` script for
your chip and supply an installation path for the sysroot.

**UPDATE 2020-06-23:** The 2020.1 Vitis update seems to have removed the
sections on creating custom platforms from their [documentation][Vitis
Documentation] (at least, I haven't been able to find it). I am not sure what
the reason is behind this. Perhaps they want users to stick to their
pre-packaged embedded platforms? In any case, the instructions below still seem
to be valid, but proceed with caution.

[platforms]: https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/embedded-platforms.html

Creating Your Hardware Design


@@ 159,7 171,7 @@ Without this addition, the `zocl` driver will not be loaded and the Xilinx
Runtime will not be able to detect your hardware device.

If you use plain YoctoLinux, the `xrt` and `zocl` applications can be found in
Xilinx's [meta-petalinux] layer.
Xilinx's [meta-petalinux][] layer.

One other important modification you must make is to disable the
`CONFIG_CPU_IDLE` kernel option. See [AR\# 69143] for more information. Without


@@ 208,6 220,8 @@ these two files _do_ matter: they should be named `qemu_args.txt` and
Vitis uses these software components to run the software and hardware emulation
targets, which we'll get to later.

[meta-petalinux]: https://github.com/Xilinx/meta-petalinux

Generate a Xilinx Platform File
-------------------------------



@@ 274,6 288,8 @@ void axpy(float const *a, float const *x, float const *y, float *out, int const 

The first step is to compile our kernel into a Xilinx object file (`.xo`):

<!-- TODO: Update this section for Vitis 2020.1 update -->

```console
mkdir -p build/sw_emu
v++ --platform ./build/platform/vitis_example/export/vitis_example/vitis_example.xpfm -t sw_emu -g -o build/sw_emu/axpy.xo -c kernels/axpy/axpy.c


@@ 312,15 328,19 @@ Write and Compile the Host Code

Again, this step is out of scope for this guide as it is highly design
dependent. The easiest way to get started on this step is to start from an
[example].
[example][].

Note that as of this writing (Feb 2020) Xilinx only supports OpenCL 1.2. This
is in part because Xilinx depends on some APIs that were deprecated in OpenCL
2.0. You can find the OpenCL 1.2 reference pages [here][4].

[example]: https://github.com/gpanders/vitis_example/blob/master/src/host/host.cpp

Run Software Emulation
----------------------

<!-- TODO: Update for Vitis 2020.1 -->

This is the point where the edge-based flow differs significantly from an
x86/PCIe platform. In order to do software emulation for the ARM CPU, Vitis
spins up a QEMU virtual machine using the parameters supplied during platform


@@ 413,27 433,14 @@ all of them are entirely scriptable (as you can see in the reference
implementation). This means that once the process is done once, the time cost
of repeating it is negligible.

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to [contact me].

  [here]: https://github.com/gpanders/vitis_example
  [Vitis Tutorials]: https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis-Tutorials
  [XRT Platform Creation]: https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis_Embedded_Platform_Source/tree/master/Xilinx_Official_Platforms/zcu102_base
  [Vitis Documentation]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2019_2/vitis_doc/kme1569523964461.html
  [Create a hardware design (XSA file) in Vivado]: #creating-your-hardware-design
  [Create Linux software components]: #create-linux-software-components
  [Create a Xilinx platform file (XPFM)]: #generate-a-xilinx-platform-file
  [Write and compile your kernels]: #write-and-compile-your-kernels
  [Write and compile your host executable]: #write-and-compile-the-host-code
  [Run software emulation]: #run-software-emulation
If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to [contact
me](mailto:contact@gpanders.com).

  [Xilinx's documentation]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2019_2/vitis_doc/Chunk373975992.html#wxe1570652701297
  [Configuring Platform Interface Properties]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2019_2/vitis_doc/Chunk440719349.html#phl1512685419302
  [PetaLinux]: https://www.xilinx.com/products/design-tools/embedded-software/petalinux-sdk.html
  [1]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2019_2/vitis_doc/Chunk1468064742.html#ariaid-title2
  [meta-petalinux]: https://github.com/Xilinx/meta-petalinux
  [AR\# 69143]: https://www.xilinx.com/support/answers/69143.html
  [Vitis Github page]: https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis_Embedded_Platform_Source/tree/master/Xilinx_Official_Platforms/zcu102_base/vivado/src/qemu/lnx
  [2]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2019_2/vitis_doc/Chunk468473335.html#ariaid-title2
  [3]: https://www.xilinx.com/html_docs/xilinx2019_2/vitis_doc/Chunk1193338764.html#wrj1504034328013
  [example]: https://github.com/gpanders/vitis_example/blob/master/src/host/host.cpp
  [4]: https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenCL/sdk/1.2/docs/man/xhtml/
  [contact me]: mailto:contact@gpanders.com