Companies Currently Using Xilinx Vivado
| Company Name | Website | Sub Level Industry |
|---|
| Raytheon | rtx.com | Software Development & Technical Consulting |
| BAE Systems | baesystems.com | Aerospace & Defense |
| Southwest Research Institute | swri.org | Aerospace & Defense |
| Microchip Technology | microchip.com | Semiconductor & Semiconductor Equipment |
The Xilinx acquisition points to a recognition that there is going to be more fragmentation in the microprocessor market of the future, with FPGA technology relieving many product designers from the constraints imposed by standard products.
programmable logic devices
FPGAs are particularly useful for prototyping application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or processors. An FPGA can be reprogrammed until the ASIC or processor design is final and bug-free and the actual manufacturing of the final ASIC begins. Intel itself uses FPGAs to prototype new chips.
Xilinx is just one of the more than 100 semiconductor companies that do not own their own fabrication facility, and use independent silicon “foundries” for fabrication services. Being fabless allows Xilinx to concentrate on what we do best—the design and marketing of programmable logic devices.
The Zynq®-7000 SoC family integrates the software programmability of an ARM®-based processor with the hardware programmability of an FPGA, enabling key analytics and hardware acceleration while integrating CPU, DSP, ASSP, and mixed signal functionality on a single device.
Among the newest improvements in the FPGA world are System on a Chip (SoC) FPGA devices. A SoC FPGA integrates a hard processor core and programmable logic on the same die. The number of commercially available SoC FPGA devices is continuously increasing, giving a large variety of configurations to choose between.
Xilinx System Generator is an FPGA programming tool provided by Xilinx. It is specifically focussed on Xilinx FPGAs, enabling the developers to work in Simulink environment and to generate parametrized cores particularly optimized for Xilinx FPGAs.
PetaLinux is an embedded Linux development solution for Xilinx Zynq chips (an ARM processor with FPGA material, like the ones used here and here) as well as for MicroBlaze designs implemented in fully FPGA chips.
The Zynq®-7000 All Programmable SoC redefines possibilities for embedded systems, giving system architects and software developers a flexible platform to launch new solutions, while providing traditional ASIC and SoC users a fully programmable alternative.
Abstract: Xitinx ZYNQ-7000 AP SoC consists of a Programmable Logic (PL)(FPGA) and Processing Subsystem(PS) (ARM Cortex-A9). The communication logic/interface between the PL and PS is an essential component of ZYNQ Architecture for data transfer.
The Web Edition is the free version of Xilinx ISE, that can be downloaded and used for no charge. It provides synthesis and programming for a limited number of Xilinx devices.
Base heavily on the programming language Ada, VHDL is a text language which has been very successful and popular for many years in programming FPGAs. Verilog: Verilog was the first form of hardware description language to be developed.
Free and open-source simulators
| Simulator name | License | Supported languages |
|---|
| FreeHDL | GPL2+ | VHDL-1987, VHDL-1993 |
| GHDL | GPL2+ | VHDL-1987, VHDL-1993, VHDL-2002, partial VHDL-2008 |
| Icarus Verilog | GPL2+ | |
| nvc | GPL3 | VHDL-1993 |
FPGA advantages
- Long-term availability.
- Updating and adaptation at the customer.
- Very short time-to-market.
- Fast and efficient systems.
- Acceleration of software.
- Real-time applications.
- Massively parallel data processing.
VHSIC Hardware Description Language
Like the later versions of ISE, Vivado includes the in-built logic simulator ISIM. Vivado also introduces high-level synthesis, with a toolchain that converts C code into programmable logic. Replacing the 15 year old ISE with Vivado Design Suite took 1000 person-years and cost US$200 million.
Xilinx provides Open Source QEMU system model for running and debugging the software, without requiring a hardware. Apart from the open source Linux mailing lists, Xilinx also provides forums to discuss and collaborate on Linux solutions for Xilinx embedded processing platforms.
Xilinx doesn't officially support Windows 10 but with a simple work around it should run just fine. They recently released a "Windows 10" version that is really just the Linux version bundled with a virtual machine to run on Windows. First click here to go to the Xilinx downloads page.
