Introducing Dyplo Middleware for Zynq Developers
New tool makes short work of Software/Hardware interfacing
Dyplo is a software system for Zynq users which distributes tasks to the ARM Cortex-A9 processor system (PS) and the programmable-logic (PL) fabric, linking scalable data streams via standard AXI interfaces between individual FPGA processes and processor-executed software processes.
Process communication can be between software processes individually, hardware processes individually and combined hardware/software processes. With Dyplo, you can define the hardware processes in reconfigurable partitions. To enable a given hardware function, you have to activate it on one of those reconfigurable partitions. Then, you initialize the input and output streams to and from that partition and connect those streams to your software processes or other hardware processes. Apart from data stream synchronization, it is also possible to synchronize processes on events such as framing boundaries, discrete sample moments and software task alignments
Dyplo handles the process communication and synchronization by means of a hardware and software communication backplane with scalable performance. For example, the default configuration allows four HDMI video streams to be active simultaneously while maintaining full data-exchange capabilities with the processor. The Dyplo infrastructure, the functionality mapped on the reconfigurable partitions as well as the generation of a full Linux distribution are realized using a graphical tool flow that is compatible with the standard Vivado Design Suite project flow.
The Dyplo approach allows teams to isolate software functions for hardware implementation, prototype them in software and then transform them into hardware to accelerate performance while maintaining the same interface behavior. Different functions can share the same FPGA fabric under software control—akin to software threading but targeting hardware—which can pack more capabilities into a specific Zynq device or reduce component cost.
Dyplo, along with a range of development kits, and a sister product range of Zynq-based system-on-modules called Miami, is available in the UK and France from sole distributor Direct Insight. Visit our Dyplo Zynq Tool page for further information.
