FPGA Reference in Workspace Tool

[chigi22]

Question: I am working on developing a workspace tool that needs to retrieve data from an FPGA (already running) using a DMA FIFO. In the code for the workspace tool, I have placed an Open FPGA Reference vi and configured it to point to an existing bitfile. When I build the tool, the bitfile is not included in the LLB that is generated, which is understandable since it is not a .vi. I was wondering if this will cause problems with the NIVS engine not knowing how to locate the bitfile.

Alternatively, I could put the workspace tool code in the same project as the FPGA code and point the Open FPGA Reference to the FPGA vi, but I was under the impression that this would then require the end user of the tool to have LabVIEW FPGA installed on their machine. Is this true?

Anyone have any experience using FPGA references in workspace tools? What is the best way to go about this?

Thanks!

Ross

[StephenB]

Hey Ross,

LabVIEW actually embeds the entire bifile into the VI that calls open FPGA VI reference. If you look at the vi size on disk it will be huge. So you don't need the .lvbitx file.

however if you ever change the bit file you will have to rebuild to tool since the VI inside the LLB will now have an old bitfile embedded.

if that is a problem, in LV 2013 you can use "open dynamic bitfile reference" to open a ref with a bitfile specified by a path at run time. You can also do this (and more) in previous versions of LV if you use the advanced interface posted on NI Labs: https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-17185

happy new year!

[Jiri_K]

Hi Ross,

1) what is your target? If Real-Time, than you cannot access FPGA data from Workspace tool directly anyhow.

2) If the FPGA is already running, than you cannot use standard Open FPGA Reference, but you have to go through LabVIEW FPGA Advanced Interface Tools library.

Regards,

Jiri K

[chigi22]

SB,

I thought this was the case, I just wanted to make sure. It seems odd that the build operation would view the bitfile as a dependent file that needs to be dealt with if its content is already embedded in the host vi!

I did forget about the advanced interface. I'll give it a look if I have issues, but I'll plan on going the embedded bitfile route if I can.

Thanks!

Ross