Embedded Systems Software Design
Course Description
his course introduces the concepts, tools, and techniques required for software design and development for the AMD Zynq™ System on a Chip (SoC), Zynq UltraScale+™ MPSoC, and Versal™ adaptive SoC architectures using the AMD Vitis™ Unified IDE.
The focus is on:
- Reviewing the basics of Vitis Unified IDE
- Customizing board support packages (BSPs) for resource access and management of the Xilinx Standalone library
- Utilizing device drivers effectively
- Developing software applications for the available processors
- Debugging and integrating user applications
- Employing best practices to enable good design decisions
What's New for 2023.2
- All labs have been updated to the latest software versions
Level
Embedded Software 3
Course Duration
3 days
Audience
Software design engineers interested in system design and implementation and software application development and debugging using the AMD Xilinx Standalone library.
Prerequisites
- C or C++ programming experience, including general debugging techniques
- Conceptual understanding of embedded processing systems including device drivers, interrupt routines, writing / modifying scripts, user applications, and boot loader operation.
Software Tools
- Vitis Unified IDE 2023.2
- Vivado™ Design Suite 2023.2
Hardware
- Architectures: Zynq-7000 SoC (Cortex-A9 processor) and Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC (Cortex-A53 and Cortex-R5 processor)*
- Demo board: Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZCU104 or Versal adaptive SoC VCK190 board*
* This course focuses on the Zynq-7000 SoC and the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC architectures. Check with your local Authorized Training Provider for the specifics of the in-class lab board or other customizations.
Skills Gained
After completing this comprehensive training, you will have the necessary skills to:
- Implement an effective software design environment for a Xilinx embedded system using the Xilinx SDK tools
- Write a basic user application (under Standalone or Linux) using the Xilinx Software Development Kit (SDK) and run it on an embedded system platform
- Use AMD Xilinx debugger tools to troubleshoot user applications
- Apply software techniques to improve operability
- Maintain and update software projects with changing hardware
Course Outline
Day 1
- Overview of Embedded Software Development - Overview of the process for building a user application. {Lecture}
- Embedded UltraFast Design Methodology - Outlines the different elements that comprise the Embedded Design Methodology. {Lecture, Demo}
- Zynq-7000 SoC Architecture Overview - Overview of the Zynq-7000 SoC architecture. {Lecture, Lab, Demo}
- Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC Architecture Overview - Overview of the Zynq UltraScale+™ MPSoC architecture. {Lecture, Lab, Demo}
- Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC Software Environments - Describes the software development environments for Zynq UltraScale+™ MPSoCs. {Lecture}
- Driving the AMD Vitis Unified IDE - ntroduces the terminology and features of the Vitis Unified IDE and talks about the basic behaviors required to drive the Vitis Unified IDE to generate a C/C++ application. {Lecture, Lab}
- Debugging Using the AMD Vitis Unified IDE - Describes the basics of actually running the Vitis Unified IDE system debugger and illustrates the debugging process. {Lecture, Lab}
Day 2
- Bare-metal Application Development - Covers the various software components, or layers, supplied by AMD that aid in the creation of low-level software. The basic bare-metal application development flow is also discussed. {Lecture, Demo, Lab}
- FAT File System for Standalone - Introduces the FAT file system (FFS) from the Standalone/Bare-metal library. The FFS provides drivers and utilities for effectively converting a region of memory into a file system. {Lecture, Lab}
- Using Linker Scripts - Overview of the purpose and typical use of a linker script. {Lecture, Lab}
- Introduction to Interrupts - Introduces the concept of interrupts, basic terminology, and genericimplementation. {Lecture}
- Software Interrupts: Writing - Describes many of the considerations that a software coder must take into account when supporting interrupts. {Lecture, Lab}
Day 3
- Operating Systems: Introduction and Concepts - Introduces the concept of the operating system and provides a simplified view into the generic way that operating systems work. {Lecture}
- Linux: A High-Level Introduction - Introduces the Linux operating system, a brief history, and how to use it. {Lecture}
- Linux Software Application Development Overview - Highlights important parts of the underlying Linux system as it pertains to applications. {Lecture, Lab, Demo}
- Driving the PetaLinux Tool - Introduces the basic concepts required to build an application using the PetaLinux tool. {Lab}
- Booting Overview - Describes the main points to how booting a processor is handled for Zynq SoC devices and MicroBlaze processors. {Lecture, Lab}
- Software Profiling Overview - Introduces the purpose and techniques for profiling a user application. {Lecture, Lab, Demo}
- Understanding Device Drivers - Explains the concept of a device driver and how it is used by embedded systems. {Lecture, Demo}
- Custom Device Drivers - Describes how to successfully write a custom device driver. {Lecture, Lab}
- Debugging Using Cross-Triggering - Illustrates how hardware-software cross-triggering techniques can uncover issues. {Lecture, Lab}