Also known as C-based Design: High-Level Synthesis with the Vivado HLx Tool by Xilinx
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Course Description
The course provides a thorough introduction to Vivado® HLS (high-level synthesis). It covers:
- Synthesis strategies
- Features
- Improving throughput
- Area
- Interface creation
- Latency
- Testbench coding
- Coding tips
You will learn how to utilize Vivado HLS to optimize code for high-speed performance in an embedded environment and download for in-circuit validation.
New content (2020) on:
- Vitis™ HLS tool
- RTL Verification, IP packaging, and design analysis
- All labs now support the Zynq® UltraScale+™
ZCU104 board
Software and hardware engineers looking to utilize high-level synthesis.
- C, C++ or System C knowledge
- High-level synthesis for software engineers OR high-level synthesis for hardware engineers
After completing this comprehensive training, you will know how to:
- Enhance productivity using Vivado HLS (high-level synthesis)
- Describe the high-level synthesis flow
- Use Vivado HLS for a first project
- Identify the importance of the testbench
- Use directives to improve performance and area and select RTL interfaces
- Identify common coding pitfalls as well as methods for improving code for RTL/hardware
- Perform system-level integration of blocks generated by Vivado HLS
- Describe how to use OpenCV functions in the Vivado HLS tool
Day 1
- Introduction to High-Level Synthesis
Overview of the High-level Synthesis (HLS), Vivado HLS tool flow,
and the verification advantage. {Lecture}
- Vivado HLS Tool Flow
Explore the basics of high-level synthesis and the Vivado HLS
tool. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
- Design Exploration with Directives
Explore different optimization techniques that can improve the
design performance. {Lecture}
- Vivado HLS Tool Command Line Interface
Describes the Vivado HLS tool flow in command prompt mode.
{Lecture, Lab}
- Introduction to HLS UltraFast Design Methodology
Introduces the methodology guidelines covered in this course and
the HLS UltraFast Design Methodology steps. {Lecture}
- Introduction to I/O Interfaces
Explains interfaces such as block-level and port-level protocols
abstracted by the Vivado HLS tool from the C design. {Lecture}
- Block-Level I/O Protocols
Explains the different types of block-level protocols abstracted by
the Vivado HLS tool. {Lecture, Lab}
- Port-Level I/O Protocols
Describes the port-level interface protocols abstracted by the
Vivado HLS tool from the C design. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
- Port-Level I/O Protocols: AXI4 Interfaces
Explains the different AXI interfaces (such as AXI4-Master,
AXI4-Lite (Slave), and AXI4-Stream) supported by the Vivado
HLS tool. {Lecture, Demo}
- Port-Level I/O Protocols: Memory Interfaces
Describes the memory interface port-level protocols (such as
block RAM, FIFO) abstracted by the Vivado HLS tool from the C
design. {Lecture, Lab}
- Port-Level I/O Protocols: Bus Protocol
Explains the bus protocol supported by the Vivado HLS tool.
{Lecture}
- Pipeline for Performance: PIPELINE
Describes the PIPELINE directive for improving the throughput of
a design. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
Day 2
- Pipeline for Performance: DATAFLOW
Describes the DATAFLOW directive for improving the throughput
of a design by pipelining the functions to execute as soon as
possible. {Lecture, Lab}
- Optimizing Structures for Performance
Learn the performance limitations caused by arrays in your
design. You will also learn some optimization techniques to
handle arrays for improving performance. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
- Data Pack and Data Dependencies
Learn how to use DATA_PACK and DEPENDENCE directives to
overcome the limitations caused by structures and loops in the
design. {Lecture}
- Vivado HLS Tool Default Behavior: Latency
Describes the default behavior of the Vivado HLS tool on latency
and throughput. {Lecture}
- Reducing Latency
Describes how to optimize the C design to improve latency.
{Lecture}
- Improving Area and Resource Utilization
Describes different methods for improving resource utilization and
explains how some of the directives have impact on the area
utilization. {Lecture, Lab}
- HLx Design Flow – System Integration
Describes the traditional RTL flow versus the Vivado HLx design
flow. {Lecture, Lab}
- Vivado HLS Tool C Libraries: Arbitrary Precision
Describes the Vivado HLS tool support for the C/C++ languages,
as well as arbitrary precision data types. {Lecture, Lab}
- Hardware Modeling
Explains hardware modeling with streaming data types and shift
register implementation using the ap_shift_reg class. {Lecture}
- Using Pointers in the Vivado HLS Tool
Explains the use of pointers in the design and workarounds for
some of the limitations. {Lecture}
