Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC for the Software Developer

Software developers interested in understanding the OS and other capabilities of the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC device

• General understanding of embedded and real-time operating systems
• Familiarity with issues related to implementing a complex embedded system

• Vivado™ Design Suite
• Vitis™ unified software platform
• Hardware emulation environment:
  • VirtualBox
  • QEMU
  • Ubuntu desktop
  • PetaLinux

• Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZCU104 board*

* This course focuses on the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC architecture. Check with Doulos for the specifics of the in-class lab environment or other customizations.

After completing this comprehensive training, you will know how to:

• Distinguish between asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP) and symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) environments
• Identify situations when the Arm® TrustZone technology and/or a hypervisor should be used
• Effectively use power management strategies and leverage the capabilities of the platform management unit (PMU)
• Define the boot sequences appropriate to the needs of the system
• Define the underlying implementation of the application processing unit (APU) and real-time processing unit (RPU) to make best use of their capabilities

Day 1

• Application Processing Unit
  Introduction to the members of the APU, specifically the Cortex™-A53 processor and how the cluster is configured and managed. {Lecture, Lab}
• Real-Time Processing Unit
  Focuses on the real-time processing module (RPU) in the PS, which is comprised of a pair of Cortex processors and supporting elements. {Lectures, Demo, Lab}
• Arm TrustZone Technology
  Illustrates the use of the Arm® TrustZone technology. {Lecture} 
• QEMU
  Introduction to the Quick Emulator, which is the tool used to run software for the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC device when hardware is not available. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
• HW-SW Virtualization
  Covers the hardware and software elements of virtualization. The lab demonstrates how hypervisors can be used. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
• Multiprocessor Software Architecture
  Focuses on how multiple processors can communicate with each other using both software and hardware techniques. {Lecture}
• Xen Hypervisor
  Description of generic hypervisors and discussion of some of the details of implementing a hypervisor using Xen. {Lecture, Demo, Lab} (Pairs with OpenAMP, but not SMP)
• OpenAMP
  Discusses how the OpenAMP framework can be used to construct systems containing both Linux and Standalone applications within the APU. {Lecture, Lab} (Pairs with the Xen Hypervisor, but not SMP)
• Linux
  Describes how to configure Linux to manage multiple processors. {Lecture, Demo}

Day 2

• Yocto
  Compares and contrasts the kernel building methods between a "pure" Yocto build and the PetaLinux build (which uses Yocto "under-the-hood"). {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
• Open Source Library (Linux)
  Introduction to open-source Linux and the effort and risk-reducing PetaLinux tools. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
• FreeRTOS
  Overview of FreeRTOS with examples of how it can be used. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
• Software Stack
  Introduction to what a software stack is and a number of stacks used with the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC. {Lecture, Demo}
• PMU
  Introduction to the concepts of power requirements in embedded systems and the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC. {Lecture, Lab}
• Power Management
  Overview of the PMU and the power-saving features of the device. {Lecture, Lab}
• Booting
  How to implement the embedded system, including the boot process and boot image creation. Also how to detect a failed boot. {Lectures, Lab}
• First Stage Boot Loader
  Demonstrates the process of developing, customizing, and debugging this mandatory piece of code. {Lecture, Demo}