Familiar Development Tools Support SoC FPGAs

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　Familiar Development Tools Support SoC FPGAs [Copy link]

A new class of SoC devices that integrate leading-edge ARM application processors and FPGA architectures is opening up new applications by enabling the rapid implementation of low-power electronics at lower costs. However, along with hardware innovations, there should also be innovations in FPGA tools, on-chip debugging, software debugging, and analysis tools. Software ultimately determines whether designers can successfully use these devices. To achieve a wider range of applications, software developers must find the right SoC FPGA, master its features, and use them as easily and efficiently as standalone processor software development. SoC FPGAs from Altera are supported by the SoC Embedded Design Suite (EDS), which includes a full set of ARM-compatible toolkits to support embedded software development on Altera SoC devices. It includes development tools, utility programs, runtime software, and application examples to help you quickly get started with firmware and application software development for SoC embedded systems. This important relationship between Altera and ARM has resulted in the unique Altera Edition ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5) toolkit provided by SoC EDS. Combining the advanced multicore debugging capabilities of ARM DS-5 with FPGA adaptability—the ability to immediately see changes in FPGA hardware—and seamlessly linking to Altera’s SignalTap logic analyzer, the SoC EDS tool suite gives embedded software developers unprecedented full-chip visibility and control. When debugging a problem, the development team must be able to determine whether it is a hardware or software issue. Tools supporting Altera SoC FPGAs enable cross-triggering of code and waveforms between the processor subsystem and the FPGA subsystem, or triggering from waveforms to code, making it easy to find the cause of these problems. As a result, the development team can find and track how and why a state in the system occurred. Cross-triggering, tracing, and global timestamping are very important features for IP verification, custom driver development, and the system integration portion of an engineering project. In addition to finding the location of a fault, SoC EDS helps embedded system developers understand why and how the system entered the faulty state. The ARM System Trace Module (STM) supports tracing of CPU-based software events. As the system executes, application software can issue hardware and software event "probes" to monitor system behavior and gain insight into its operation. In an "FPGA-adaptive" debug environment, STM supports event monitoring in both the CPU and FPGA domains without requiring the system to stop operating. Future SoC FPGA Roadmap When selecting an SoC FPGA, it is important to determine the vendor's product roadmap. As shown in Figure 4, this will keep your system competitive in the long run and support software forward migration. Initially, the foundation of all silicon development roadmaps is silicon process technology. Currently, Altera's Cyclone V and Arria V SoCs are manufactured in a 28 nm low-power process to help reduce power consumption in power-sensitive applications such as industrial, automotive, medical, and communications. Altera's next-generation Arria 10 SoC optimizes performance for mid-range applications, improves power efficiency, and reduces form factor and cost for a variety of mid-range wireless infrastructure, broadcast, military, and computer and storage applications. Arria 10 SoCs are based on TSMC's 20 nm process technology and combine a dual-core Cortex-A9 processor system with industry-leading programmable logic technology. Implementing a dual-core Cortex-A9 processor system simplifies software migration from first-generation SoC FPGAs, and the smaller process technology boosts performance to 1.5 GHz. The third-generation Stratix 10 SoC will further break through performance and bandwidth in advanced communications, military, and data center applications. The Stratix 10 SoC is based on Intel's 14nm Tri-Gate process technology and features a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor. The Cortex-A53 supports 32-bit compatibility mode, making it easy to migrate existing software if needed.