Data Transfer Performance Analysis From Programmable Logic to Processing System of ZYNQ 7000

Tilottoma Barua, Purdue University

Abstract

Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) were invented in the 1980s. Since then the use of FPGAs in many fields has been growing rapidly. Due to the inherent reconfigurability and relatively low development cost FPGA technology has become one of the important components in data processing and communication systems. The recent development of computing technology affects not only the software but also requires integrating and utilizing a custom logic design on a dedicated hardware platform. In this context, this research work analyses and compares on-chip interfaces for hardware/software communications in the Zynq-7000 all programmable SoC-based platform. Several experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of data communication between the processing system and the programmable logic through general-purpose (GP), highperformance ports (HP), and accelerator coherency port (ACP); the experiments were conducted for bare-metal standalone applications. The results identified the most effective interfaces for transferring data from the PL to PS and store the data to DRAM memory. The Xilinx Software Development Kit (SDK) and Vivado Design Suite together provide hardware/software development platform to evaluate their performance. One conclusion of this work is that the selection of suitable ports depends on application requirements. For low-bandwidth applications the GP port is appropriate. For high-speed applications, the High Performance (HP) port and Accelerator Coherence Port (ACP) are suitable and work better. The results of this thesis are useful in high-performance embedded systems design.

Degree

M.Sc.

Advisors

Cooklev, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Computer Engineering|Computer science|Electrical engineering|Energy

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