FPGA comms using Kernel Device Driver

[edinsofty1]

Hi,

I am currently scratching my head thinking about how to achieve the following :

1. Test GUI in CVI to test multiple interfaces including PCIe to an FPGA

2. I have a basic Kernel Device Driver from XILINX to achieve this, which is designed in the following way

       Application GUI (Visual Basic)

                   I

                   l

        Driver Manager (Visual C++)

                   I

                   I

         Kernel Driver (C)

3. The Driver Manager acts a buffer between the GUI and the low level driver.

My problem is how I can replace the Visual Basic GUI with CVI as the VB creates a instance to the driver using the following code :

   Dim WithEvents driverMgr As driverClass

and the driver functions are then accessed in the following format :

   driverMgr.Functionname;

Has anyone used the example code from XILINX to achieve this in CVI or written software in CVI to talk to a Kernel Driver in this way?

Regards

Stuart

[rsw]

Hi Stuart,

I've never personally dealt directly with the kernel driver for XLINX but if you are looking to communicate the with FPGA I/O from an NI card programmed with LabVIEW FPGA then the RIO driver offers functionality to communicate with the FPGA layer via a C API that also integrates into the CVI environment, providing you with a CVI GUI.

How this operates is discussed in more details here

[edinsofty1]

Thanks for the reply.

I am now looking at using the VISA Driver Development Wizard to try and communicate with the XILINX FPGA. Does this seem a viable solution, as it seems to suggest this is an easier way of communicating with PCI devices without having to write Kernel Device Drivers. Will this work just the same with PCI Express devices?

Cheers

Stuart