Virtex-5 FPGA Application Notes

This application note demonstrates how to run a simulation of an EDK system containing the PLBv46 Endpoint Bridge for PCI Express® core. C code running on the PowerPC® 440 drives the EDK system.

Design File(s):

• Design file for XAPP1111

This application note demonstrates how to run a simulation of an EDK system containing the PLBv46 Endpoint Bridge for PCI Express®.

Design File(s):

• Design file for XAPP1110

This application note describes how to use the Virtex®-5 FPGA input/output delay (IODELAY) primitive as a means to create a high-precision adjustable oscillator with a wide tuning range. Three different use models are described for the adjustable oscillator:

Design File(s):

• xapp872.zip

This application note outlines the techniques for debugging PowerPC® 440 processor systems in hardware and simulation.

Design File(s):

• xapp1060.zip

The Xilinx high-performance CPLD, FPGA, and configuration PROM families provide in-system programmability, reliable pin locking, and JTAG boundary-scan test capability. This powerful combination of features allows designers to make significant changes and still keep the original device pin-outs, which eliminates the need to re-tool PC boards.

Design File(s):

• xapp058.zip

This application note covers the details (both hardware and software) of setting up successful configuration and reconfiguration of Virtex®-5 FPGAs from Platform Flash XL.

Design File(s):

• xapp1100.zip

This application note provides an overview of the architecture and function of avionics full-duplex switched Ethernet (AFDX) as defined in the ARINC Specification 664, Part 7. It also describes how to map various functional blocks required for an AFDX end system to the Virtex®-4 and Virtex-5 architectures.

The application discusses the use of the Xilinx® Microprocessor Debugger (XMD) and the GNU software debugger (GDB) to debug software defects.

Design File(s):

• xapp1117.zip

This application note provides a reference design for endpoint-initiated Direct Memory Access (DMA) data transfers using the LogiCORE™ Endpoint Block Plus for Virtex®-5 FPGAs.

Design File(s):

• xapp859.zip

This application note discusses Linux Operating System debugging techniques. Debugging boot issues, kernel panics, software and hardware debuggers, driver <-> application interaction, and various other tools are discussed.

Design File(s):

• Design Files for XAPP1137

This application note describes the controller and the data capture technique for high-performance DDR3 SDRAM interfaces. This data capture technique uses the Input Double Data Rate (IDDR) and Output Double Data Rate (ODDR) features available in every Virtex®-5 FPGA I/O.

Design File(s):

• xapp867.zip

Previous generations of Xilinx® FPGAs supported a Master Parallel Configuration Mode which allowed the FPGA to configure itself directly from a parallel (byte wide) PROM. The Virtex® family of Xilinx FPGAs does not utilize a Master Parallel mode. This application note describes a simple interface design to configure a Virtex device from a parallel EPROM using the SelectMAP configuration mode.

Design File(s):

• xapp137.zip

In embedded systems, designers can reduce component count and increase flexibility by using a microprocessor to configure an FPGA. C code illustrates the use of either Slave Serial or SelectMAP mode. CPLD design files illustrate a synchronous interface between processor and FPGA.

Design File(s):

• xapp502.zip

This application note discusses using the provided Memory Endpoint Test (MET) demonstration driver to exercise the Programmed Input/Output (PIO) design that is delivered with all Xilinx solutions for PCI Express®.

Design File(s):

• xapp1022.zip

This application note describes how to use a Virtex®-5 device to interface to Common I/O(CIO) Double Data Rate (DDR) Reduced Latency DRAM (RLDRAM II) devices.

Design File(s):

• xapp852.zip

This application note describes the implementation of SerDes Framer Interface Level 4 Phase 2 (SFI4.2) in a Virtex®-5 FPGA XC5VFX70T.

Design File(s):

• xapp877.zip

This Virtex™-5 application note describes an SFI-4.1 interface, a 16-channel, source-synchronous LVDS interface operating at SDR. The transmitter requires 16 LVDS pairs for data and one LVDS pair for the forwarded clock. The receiver also requires 16 LVDS pairs for data and one LVDS pair for the source-synchronous clock input.The timing of the receiver is described in depth and characterized in hardware.

Design File(s):

• xapp856.zip

This application note describes how to indirectly program select BPI PROMs through the JTAG interface of a Virtex®-5 FPGA using iMPACT. The required hardware setup, BPI-UP PROM file generation, and the indirect programming flow are described.

This application note provides a discussion of strategies and representative calculations for handling single event upsets (SEUs) with an emphasis on reliability when addressing these low probability events. This application note also introduces an SEU controller macro that can be included in any Virtex®-5 FPGA design to implement an SEU detection and correction scheme.

This reference system demonstrates the functionality of the PLBv46 Endpoint Bridge for PCI Express® used in the Xilinx ML507 Embedded Development Platform.

Design File(s):

• xapp1040.zip

This application note provides background on NSEUs in SRAM-based FPGAs, mitigation techniques (with a focus on configuration memory) suggested by Xilinx, and an overview of calculating projected failures-in-time (FIT) rates at altitude.

This application note describes the implementation and timing details of a four-word burst Quad Data Rate (QDR II) SRAM interface for Virtex®-5 devices.

This application note describes how to interface a Fujitsu MB86064 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with parallel low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) inputs to a Virtex®-5 FPGA utilizing the dedicated I/O functions of the FPGA family.

Design File(s):

• xapp873.zip

This application note demonstrates how to efficiently implement Digitial Up and Down Converters(DUC/DDC) by leveraging the Xilinx® DSP IP portfolio. Two example DUC/DDC designs are provided for UMTS and CDMA2000 in both Spartan®-3A DSP and Virtex®-5 FPGAs.

Design File(s):

• xapp1018_cdma2000.zip
• xapp1018_wcdma.zip

The non-integer data recovery unit (NI-DRU) presented in this application note is specifically designed for RocketIO™ GTP and GTX transceivers in Virtex®-5 LXT, SXT, TXT, and FXT platforms and consists of look-up tables (LUTs) and flip-flops. The NI-DRU extends the lower data rate limit to 0 Mb/s and the upper limit to 1,250 Mb/s, making embedded high-speed transceivers the ideal solution for true multi-rate serial interfaces.

Design File(s):

• xapp875.zip

This application note is a collection of audio and video connectivity solutions for the broadcast industry. It describes how to use Virtex®-5 FPGAs to implement serial digital video and audio interfaces commonly used in the professional video broadcast industry. The associated reference designs support many video rates and standards, and provide for embedded audio.

Design File(s):

• xapp1014.zip

This application note describes the controller and data capture technique for high-performance DDR2 SDRAM interfaces. This data capture technique uses the Input Serializer/Deserializer (ISERDES) and Output Double Data Rate (ODDR) features available in every Virtex®-5 I/O.

This application note describes how to interface a Texas Instruments analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with serial low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) outputs to Virtex®-4 or Virtex-5 FPGAs, utilizing the dedicated deserializer functions of both FPGA families.

Design File(s):

• xapp866.zip

This application note describes a data integrity controller for partial reconfiguration (PRC) that can be included in any partially reconfigurable FPGA design to process partial bitstreams for data integrity.

Design File(s):

• xapp887_PRC_EPRC.zip

The USR_ACCESS register, present in the Virtex®-5, Virtex-6, and all 7 series FPGAs, provides the ability to embed version information into a 32-bit fabric-accessible register at the bitstream generation phase, allowing for the best balance of flexibility for the user with minimal impact to the design and implementation time.

This application note discusses how to design and implement a Bus Master design using Xilinx® Endpoint PCI Express® solutions. A performance demonstration reference design using Bus Mastering is included with this application note. The reference design can be used to gauge achievable performance in various systems and act as a starting point for an application-specific Bus Master Direct Memory Access (DMA). The reference design includes all files necessary to target the Integrated Blocks for PCI Express on the Virtex®-6 and Spartan®-6 FPGAs, the Endpoint Block Plus Wrapper Core for PCI Express using the Virtex-5 FPGA Integrated Block for PCI Express, and the Endpoint PIPE for PCI Express targeting the Xilinx Spartan®-3 family of devices.

Design File(s):

• xapp1052.zip

This application note describes a system using the Virtex™-5 Embedded Tri-Mode Ethernet MAC (Ethernet MAC) Wrapper core on a Xilinx® Virtex-5 ML505 development board.

Design File(s):

• xapp957.zip

Describes the hardware accelerator for RAID6 parity generation / data recovery controller with ECC and MIG DDR2 controller.

Design File(s):

• xapp865.zip

Hot-swapping or hot insertion describes a potentially dangerous method of inserting an unpowered board into a power-on (hot) running system. There are several concerns: the insertion must not cause physical harm or permanent damage to the system or the inserted board, and the insertion must not cause data corruption or any transient system upsets. This application note describes the physical aspects of hot-inserting a Virtex™-II based card into a system or system backplane, using sequenced connectors, where VCC and GND mate well before any signal pins can mate. The dangers of using normal non-sequenced connectors are described in Hot Plug-In. Not addressed in this application note are system issues including detecting the presence or absence of a card, or how the card is accepted in the system.

On-die termination (ODT) promises higher signaling rates for printed circuit board (PCB) inter-chip interfaces through improved signal integrity. However, when using ODT, there is sometimes an associated power penalty. This application note explains the reason for the power penalty and suggests a simulation technique for comparing the signal integrity and power dissipation of internally and externally terminated versions of an interface.

Design File(s):

• xapp863.zip

Virtex™-5 devices have a high-precision programmable delay element (IDELAY) associated with every input pin. This application note shows how to implement 8X oversampling of many data streams using a single DCM, two global clock resources, and minimal FPGA logic resources. This solution provides better jitter tolerance than techniques using multiple DCMs. When paired with a suitable data recovery scheme, this oversampling technique can be used with many different data protocols up to 550 Mb/s. A reference design is included that implements a SD-SDI (SMPTE 259M) receiver running at 270 Mb/s.

Design File(s):

• xapp861.zip

This application note describes a 16-channel, source-synchronous DDR LVDS interface. The receiver operates at 1:6 deserialization on each of the 16 data channels. Similar to XAPP855, the design also includes a real-time window monitoring circuit for added performance. This reference design calibrates and compensates for skews associated with process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) at initialization and dynamically during operation.

Design File(s):

• xapp860.zip

This application note discusses dynamic bus mode reconfiguration of PCI-X designs using LogiCORE™ solutions. It shows how to dynamically reload a Virtex™-4 and Virtex-5 FPGA after power-up using a CPLD to dynamically reconfigure the FPGA supporting PCI-X and PCI compatibility.

Design File(s):

• xapp938.zip

This application note focuses on the baseband demodulation of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) signals and, more specifically, on the use of a fractional rate decimator block. This application note also reviews polyphase decimating filter architectures and discusses the fractional rate decimator, its Xilinx System Generator 8.1i implementation, and its results.

Design File(s):

• xapp936.zip

This application note describes a 16-channel, source-synchronous DDR LVDS interface. The design takes advantage of the Virtex™-5 I/O ChipSync™ features ability to adjust the delay of the receiver datapaths creating dynamic setup/hold timing for each device at initialization, compensating for skews associated with the manufacturing process. The receiver operates at 1:8 deserialization on each of the 16 data channels.

Design File(s):

• xapp855.zip

This application note describes a 200-MHz DDR SDRAM memory controller implemented in a Virtex™-5 device. This reference design uses the Virtex-5 ChipSync features to calibrate and adjust read data timing. A straightforward backend user interface is provided to allow integration into a complete FPGA design.

Design File(s):

• xapp851.zip

This application note discusses the use of Partitions in the Incremental Design Flow. It is recommended that module instances with high logic density, timing critical paths, or timing critical module instances be designated Partitions.

Describes the 3.3V PCI solution for the Virtex®-II Pro, Virtex-4, and Virtex-5 FPGA families.

This application note describes the implementation of an Error Correction Control (ECC) module in a Virtex™-II, Virtex-II Pro, Virtex-4, and Virtex-5 device. The design can detect and correct all single bit errors (in a code word consisting of either 64-bit data and 8 parity bits, or 32-bit data and 7 parity bits), and it can detect double bit errors in the data. This design utilizes Hamming code, a simple yet powerful method for ECC operations. As a result, this design offers exceptional performance and resource utilization.

Design File(s):

• xapp645.zip
• xapp645.zip

This application note provides a reference design for point-to-point (FPGA to FPGA) high-speed serial packet transfer functionality using the integrated Endpoint block for PCI Express® designs in a Virtex™-5 LXT FPGA.

Design File(s):

• xapp869.zip

This document provides information for debugging board level problems by using ChipScope™ Pro with Endpoint for PCI Express designs using Virtex™-4, Virtex-5, Virtex-II Pro FPGAs, the Endpoint PIPE for PCIe core using Spartan™-3/-3E/-3A FPGAs, and in the Endpoint Block Plus for PCIe core with Virtex-5 devices.

Design File(s):

• xapp1002.zip

This application note describes difference-based partial reconfiguration. This type of reconfiguration is used when making small changes to design parameters including logic equations, filter parameters, and I/O standards.

The ITU-G.709 standard for error correction is examined and implemented in both the Virtex™-4 and Virtex-5 Platform FPGA families using the LogiCORE™ Reed-Solomon (RS) Encoder and Decoder cores.

Design File(s):

• xapp952.zip

This application note explains the techniques to support SATA initialization in the GTP transceiver of the Virtex®-5 LXT platform.

Design File(s):

• xapp870.zip

This application note describes how to interface 3.3V differential Low-Voltage Positive Emitter Coupled Logic (LVPECL) drivers with Xilinx® 2.5V differential receivers, including Virtex®-II Pro, Virtex-II Pro X, Virtex-4, Virtex-5, Spartan®-3E, and Spartan-3 FPGA 2.5V LVPECL and Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS). Several interface modifications are presented with supporting IBIS simulation results.

This document details the design aspects of digital PLLs implemented in Virtex® and Spartan® FPGAs for telecommunications applications. PLL performance and loop stability are evaluated.

Design File(s):

• xapp868.zip