Implementation Software - RTI FPGA Programming Blockset

Integrating FPGA models in dSPACE systems

The RTI FPGA Programming Blockset is a Simulink blockset for using an FPGA model created with a dSPACE system using the Xilinx® System Generator Blockset.

Application Areas
The RTI FPGA Programming Blockset is a Simulink blockset for using an FPGA model created with a dSPACE system using the Xilinx® System Generator Blockset. It provides RTI blocks for implementing the interface between the FPGA mounted on a dSPACE board and its I/O, and the interface between the dSPACE FPGA board and its computation node.

The blockset can be used with the following dSPACE FPGA platforms, which provide user-programmable FPGAs:

DS5203 FPGA Board and its I/O modules.
DS2655 FPGA Base Board and its I/O modules.
DS6601/DS6602 FPGA Base Boards and their I/O modules.
MicroAutoBox II 1401/1511/1514 and 1401/1513/1514 extended with I/O modules.
MicroAutoBox III 1403/1511/1514 and 1403/1513/1514 extended with I/O modules.
MicroLabBox.

Typical application scenarios for rapid control prototyping (RCP) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation are:

Projects in the automotives, industrial automation, medical engineering and aerospace industries
Signal preprocessing, adapting new interfaces, very fast control loops, designing and testing new concepts for electrified powertrains

Key Benefits
The dSPACE FPGA platforms provide a Xilinx® FPGA for which you can implement an application graphically by using Xilinx® System Generator in Simulink. The RTI FPGA Programming Blockset lets you integrate the resulting FPGA model in a Simulink model that runs on dSPACE hardware. The RTI FPGA Programming Blockset gives you a convenient way to connect the I/O board’s I/O driver components and to model the connection to a processor-based computation node (DS1006 or DS1007, SCALEXIO processing hardware, MicroLabBox or MicroAutoBox). The data exchange supports fixed-point data types as well as floating-point data types. Thus, FPGA programming is seamlessly integrated into the Simulink environment. With the FPGA blockset, you can synthesize, build and program the FPGA or processor directly from Simulink for optimal convenience. During run time, you can access variables to trace or modify them, without having to modify the model.

Alternatively, the handcode interface lets you program the FPGA boards in VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) or Verilog.

Functionality Overview

Functionality	Description
General	Integrating an FPGA model on a dSPACE FPGA platform I/O configuration Automatic generation of a processor model template on the basis of an FPGA application
FPGA interface	Programming the FPGA with the Xilinx^® System Generator Integrating an FPGA model created with the Xilinx^® System Generator Offline simulation in Simulink
Handcode interface	Programming the FPGA in VHDL or Verilog
I/O access	Connecting the FPGA model with analog and digital input and output signals with the RTI FPGA Blockset
Processor-FPGA communication	Connecting the FPGA model with the processor model running on the computation node (DS1006 or DS1007, SCALEXIO processing hardware, MicroLabBox or MicroAutoBox) Access types for system bus communication with the dSPACE FPGA platforms: register, register groups, buffer
Inter-FPGA communication between SCALEXIO FPGA base boards	Via I/O Module Slots offers lowest latencies Via MGT Module provide highest bandwidth Via IOCNET offers highest flexibility
Asynchronous tasks	Implementing interrupt-driven tasks in the processor model triggered from the FPGA model
Variable access¹⁾	Tracing of register values, e.g., dSPACE in ControlDesk directly without model changes Changing constant values during run time of the FPGA application without modeling
Remote FPGA build	Support of separate PCs for performing the FPGA build so that the PC used for modeling is not blocked The build process can be observed using an extra tool

Product Info