Course Description
This course teaches hardware designers who are new to high-speed memory I/O to design a memory interface in Xilinx FPGAs. It introduces designers to the basic concepts of high-speed memory I/O design, implementation, and debugging using Spartan®-6 and Virtex®-6 FPGAs.
Additionally, students will learn about the tools available for high-speed memory interface design, debug, and implementation of high-speed memory interfaces.
The major memory types covered are DDR, DDR2, and DDR3. The following memory types are covered on demand: RLDRAMII, LPDDR, QDRII, and QDRII+. Labs are available for DDR3 on the Virtex-6 FPGA ML605 board (also available are DDR2 on the Spartan-6 FPGA SP601 board or DDR3 on the Spartan-6 FPGA SP605 board).
Release Date
September 2011
Level
Connectivity 3
Training Duration
2 days
Who Should Attend?
- FPGA designers and logic designers
Prerequisites
- VHDL or Verilog experience or Designing with VHDL or Designing with Verilog course
- Familiarity with logic design: state machines and synchronous design
- Very helpful to have:
- Basic knowledge of FPGA architecture
- Familiarity with Xilinx implementation tools
- Nice to have:
- Familiarity with I/O basics
- Familiarity with high-speed I/O standard
Software Tools
- Xilinx ISE® Design Suite: Logic or System Edition 13.2
- Mentor HyperLynx SI
Hardware
- Architecture: Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 FPGAs*
- Demo board: Spartan-6 FPGA SP601/SP605 or Virtex-6 FPGA ML605 board*
* This course focuses on the Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 architectures. Check with your local Authorized Training Provider for the specifics of the in-class lab board or other customizations.
Skills Gained
After completing this comprehensive training, you will know how to:
- Identify the FPGA resources required for memory interfaces
- Describe different types of memories
- Utilize the Xilinx tools to generate memory interface designs
- Simulate memory interfaces with the Xilinx ISim simulator
- Implement memory interfaces
- Identify the board design options for the realization of memory interfaces
- Describe PCB-level simulation
- Test and debug your memory interface design
Course Outline
Day 1
- Introduction
- Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 Family Overview
- Memory Devices
- Spartan-6 FPGA Memory Resources and Signals
- Virtex-6 FPGA Memory Resources and Signals
- MIG Design Generation
- Lab 1: MIG Core Generation
Day 2
- MIG Design Simulation
- Lab 2: MIG Design Simulation
- MIG Design Implementation
- Lab 3: MIG Design Implementation
- Memory Interface Board-Level Design
- Memory Interface Test and Debugging
- Lab 4: MIG Design Debugging
Lab Descriptions
- Lab 1: MIG Core Generation – Create a DDR2 or DDR3 memory controller using the Memory Interface Generator (MIG) CORE Generator™ interface. For Spartan-6 devices, customize the hard Memory Controller Block (MCB) targeting the SP601 or SP605 board. For Virtex-6 devices, customize the soft core memory controller for the ML605 board.
- Lab 2: MIG Design Simulation – Simulate the memory controller created in Lab 1 using ISim.
- Lab 3: MIG Design Implementation – Implement the memory controller created in the previous labs. Modify constraints, synthesize, implement, create the bitstream, program the FPGA, and check the functionality.
- Lab 4: MIG Design Debugging – Debug the memory interface design utilizing the ChipScope Pro™ tool.
Customer Reviews
- This is a new course; reviews will be posted as they are submitted