Main Content

FIL Simulation

Simulate HDL code on FPGA hardware from Simulink

expand all in page
  • FIL Simulation block

Libraries:
Generated

Description

The generated FPGA-in-the-loop (FIL) simulation block is the communication interface between the FPGA and your Simulink® model. It integrates the hardware into the simulation loop and allows it to participate in simulation as any other block.

You can generate a FIL Simulation block from existing HDL code using the FPGA-in-the-Loop Wizard, or, generate HDL code and an accompanying FIL Simulation block using HDL Workflow Advisor. Generating HDL code requires an HDL Coder™ license.

For the generation and simulation workflow, see Block Generation with the FIL Wizard. If you encounter any issues during FIL simulation, refer to Troubleshooting FIL for help in diagnosing the problem.

You can use the FIL Simulation block in models running in Normal, Accelerator, or Rapid Accelerator simulation modes. The FIL Simulation parameters are not tunable in any of the simulation modes. For more information about these modes, see How Acceleration Modes Work (Simulink).

Examples

Verify HDL Implementation of PID Controller Using FPGA-in-the-Loop

Verify HDL Implementation of PID Controller Using FPGA-in-the-Loop

Set up an FPGA-in-the-Loop (FIL) application using HDL Verifier™.

Ports

The ports of the block correspond to the interface of your HDL design running on your FPGA. You can configure the data types of the signals that the FIL Simulation block returns to Simulink.

Input

expand all

The ports on the block correspond with ports on your HDL design. You can configure the Sample time and Data type

Data Types: int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | Boolean | Fixed-point

Output

expand all

The ports on the block correspond with ports on your HDL design. You can configure the Sample time and Data type

Data Types: int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | Boolean | Fixed-point

Parameters

expand all

The parameters displayed in the Hardware Information section reflect your selections when you generated the FIL Simulation block from a subsystem. These parameters are informational only.

  • Connection: Either Ethernet or PCI Express®. Some boards can use only one connection type or the other; with other boards, you may have the option of using either connection. You configure the MAC address and IP address of the board when you generate the block.

  • Board: The make and model of FPGA board. For supported boards, see Supported FPGA Devices for FPGA Verification.

  • FPGA part: Chip identification number.

  • FPGA project file: The location of the FPGA project file generated for your design.

To download the generated FPGA programming file onto the FPGA, set the parameters in FPGA Programming File. This step is required before you can run a FIL simulation. See Load Programming File onto FPGA.

To configure data rate parameters, set options in the Runtime Options group.

On the Signal Attributes pane, you can configure Sample time and Data type for each output port. The direction and bit width of the signals, and the sample time and data type of the input ports, are informational only.

FPGA Programming File

Location of the FPGA programming file generated for your design. To load this design to the FPGA for simulation, click Load.

Runtime Options

Ratio of FPGA clock rate to the Simulink clock rate. The FPGA clock samples inputs to the FPGA this many times for each Simulink timestep.

Output signals are returned as Output frame size-by-1 column vectors. Increasing the frame size can speed up your simulation by reducing the communication time between Simulink and the FPGA board.

Note these limitations on the frame size :

  • The input frame size must be an integer multiple of the output frame size.

  • The output frame size must be less than the input frame size.

  • The input frame size and output frame size cannot vary during simulation.

Signal Attributes

Explicitly set sample times for the output signals, or use Inherit: Inherit via internal rule. The internal rule is to set the output sample times to the input base sample time divided by the scaling factor.

How Simulink interprets the bits in the output signal from the FPGA. You can explicitly set output data types, use the default unscaled and unsigned type, or specify Inherit: auto to inherit a data type from context.

Version History

Introduced in R2012b

See Also

Topics