Abstract

Circuit designs for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are typically compiled by FPGA vendor tools, such as Xilinx's Vivado Design Suite. In recent years, partial reconfiguration (PR) has emerged as a popular technique that allows portions of an FPGA to be dynamically reconfigured after the complete device has been configured with an initial bitstream. However, the nature of current FPGA vendor tools limits further innovation and possible usage models of PR.This thesis presents Maverick, an open-source proof-of-concept computer-aided design (CAD) flow for generating reconfigurable modules (RMs) which target PR regions in FPGA designs. Maverick builds upon existing open source tools (Yosys, RapidSmith2, and Project X-Ray) to form an end-to-end compilation flow. After an initial static design and PR region are created with Xilinx's Vivado PR flow, Maverick can then compile and configure RMs onto that PR region-without the use of vendor tools. In addition, this work enables users to import and export RMs between Vivado and RapidSmith2.Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates Maverick compiling RMs on both a desktop computer and on the embedded PYNQ-Z1 board, which contains a Zynq 7020 system on chip (SoC). Maverick runs on the ARM processor embedded within the processing system (PS) of the Zynq device, generating partial bitstreams which can then be configured onto a PR region within the programmable logic (PL) fabric of the same Zynq device. This unique case, not possible with current vendor tools like Vivado, demonstrates the feasibility of a single-chip embedded system which can both compile HDL designs to bitstreams and then configure them onto its own programmable fabric.

Degree

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Electrical and Computer Engineering

Rights

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