Embedded hardware components

Xilinx® EDK provides great flexibility regarding the kinds of embedded hardware that can be created. Typically, an embedded platform created using Xilinx EDK contains:

One or more PowerPC® 405, PowerPC 440, or MicroBlaze™ processors
Volatile memory internal to the FPGA
Volatile (DDR, SDRAM, etc) and/or non-volatile memory (Flash) external to the FPGA
IP controlling external interfaces, such as GPIOs, UARTs, or Ethernet MACs
Debug IP such as JTAG connections or processor trace signals
Other custom IP created by the hardware developer

The task of the software developer is to write software that would run on the processors present in the hardware platform to perform application specific tasks. Xilinx provides drivers for Xilinx IP and some basic software components to help accelerate such software development.

FPGA Bitstream

A Xilinx FPGA device must be programmed with a specific bitstream for it to behave like an embedded hardware platform. This bitstream is typically provided by the hardware designer who creates the embedded platform.

During development phase, the FPGA device is programmed with the bitstream via utilities such as iMPACT or using menu options in SDK. These tools transfer the bitstream through JTAG connections to the board. In production hardware, the bitstream is usually placed in non-volatile memory, and the hardware is configured to load the bitstream to the FPGA when powered on.

JTAG settings

Configuring the JTAG settings
Programming the FPGA

Configure JTAG Settings dialog box
Program FPGA dialog box