First Designs on Zynq

Introduction

This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a first Zynq design using the Vivado™ Integrated Development Environment (IDE), and introduce the IP Integrator environment for the generation of a simple Zynq processor design to be implemented on the ZedBoard. The Software Development Kit (SDK) will then be used to create a simple software application which will run on the Zynq’s ARM Processing System (PS) to control the hardware that is implemented in the Programmable Logic (PL).

The tutorial is split into three exercises, and is organised as follows:

Exercise 1A - This exercise will guide you through the process of launching Vivado IDE and creating a project for the first time. The various stages of the New Project Wizard will be introduced.

Exercise 1B - In this exercise, we will use the project that was created in Exercise 1A to build a simple Zynq embedded system with the graphical tool, IP Integrator, and incorporating existing IP from the Vivado IP Catalog. A number of design aids will be used throughout this exercise, such as the Board Automation feature which automates the customisation of IP modules for a specified device or board; in this case we will be using the ZedBoard Zynq Evaluation and Development Kit. The Designer Assistance feature, which assists with the connections between the Zynq PS and the IP modules in the PL will also be demonstrated.

Once the design is finished, a number of stages will be undertaken to complete the hardware system and generate a bitstream for implementation in the PL. The completed hardware design will then be exported to the Software Development Kit (SDK) for the development of a simple software application in Exercise 1C.

Exercise 1C - In this short third exercise, the SDK will be introduced, and a short software application will be created to allow the Zynq processor to interact with the IP implemented in the PL. A connection to the hardware server that allows the SDK to communicate with the Zynq processors will be established. The software drivers that are automatically created by the Vivado IDE for IP modules will be explored and integrated into the software application, before finally building and executing the software application on the ZedBoard.

NOTE: Throughout all of the practical tutorial exercise we will be using C:\Zynq_Book as the working directory. If this is not suitable, you can substitute it for a directory of your choice, but you should be aware that you will be required to make alterations to some source files in order for exercises to complete successfully.