Creating an External FPGA IP Document from IP Source Files

Integrate IP into your FPGA application by creating an External FPGA IP document that declares IP files in a project for instantiation as component-level IP (CLIP) or an External FPGA IP Node.

Creating an External FPGA IP (EIP) document is a prerequisite step for integrating IP into your FPGA code. The EIP document catalogs port definitions from FPGA IP and then makes those port definitions available for use as palette items. After you create an EIP document, you can instantiate your IP resources in your FPGA code using the External FPGA IP Node or component-level IP (CLIP). The EIP document conforms to the IP-XACT standard (IEEE 1685).

Ensure that the IP for integration is any of the following supported file types:

File Type	File Extension	Top-Level Synthesis	Additional Synthesis	Top-Level Simulation	Additional Simulation
VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL)	.vhd	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Xilinx Synthesis Technology (XST) Netlist Note XST Netlist files are supported only on Xilinx 7-series FPGA chips.	.ngc	Yes	Yes	No	No
Electronic Data Interchange Format (EDIF) Netlist	.edif, .edf, .edn	Yes	Yes	No	No
Design Checkpoint (DCP)	.dcp	Yes	Yes	No	No
Xilinx Core Instance (XCI)	.xci	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Data	.data	No	Yes	No	No
Coefficient	.coe	No	Yes	No	No
Block RAM Memory Map (BMM)	.bmm	No	Yes	No	No
Xilinx Design Constraints (XDC)	.xdc	No	Yes	No	No
Memory Initialization File (MIF)	.mif	No	No	No	Yes
Configuration	.cfg	No	No	No	Yes
Verilog	.v	The FPGA compile server does not support Verilog files. Synthesize Verilog files to a Netlist before importing.

1. Open the Application document for your FPGA target and click New» External FPGA IP to create an External FPGA IP document. Double-click the new EIP document to open it.
2. In the Main Synthesis Entity section, click the Browse button to select the top-level source file for deployment on an FPGA.
3. In the Main Simulation Entity section, click the Browse button to select the top-level source file for simulation on a host computer. If the Main Synthesis Entity is a VHDL source file, the EIP document populates the Main Simulation Entity text box with the same file you specify for Main Synthesis Entity. The EIP document does not automatically populate files that are not VHDL. You can use different IP files for Main Synthesis Entity and Main Simulation Entity, but the IP files must share the same port and generic definitions.
   

   Note

   CLIP does not support simulation. Your selection of a file for Main Simulation Entity will apply only to External FPGA IP Node instances derived from this EIP document.

4. In the Additional Resources section, click the + button to add supplementary IP files as required by your application.
5. Click the Parse and Verify button to populate the EIP document with the ports and signals defined in your IP.
6. Modify configuration of each port in the Signal configuration, Generics, and Clock configuration tables. The Signal configuration, Generics, and Clock configuration tables in the EIP document display ports and generics defined in IP. When you click on a port, the Item tab displays settings you can configure for each port.
   1. In the Signal Configuration table, click the name of a signal to configure it on the Item tab.
      Refer to the following table for information regarding signal configuration options:

      Signal configuration option	Description
      LabVIEW name	The LabVIEW name for each signal must be unique. By default, the LabVIEW name for a signal matches the name specified in the IP source file.
      Type	The default is Data. When the signal Type is set to Clock, the EIP document adds that signal to the Clock configuration table for additional configuration. Note If you change a signal Type in the EIP document after creating an External FPGA IP Node instance, the change propagates to each External FPGA IP Node instance.
      Data type	These data type definitions can be overridden within each External FPGA IP Node or CLIP instance. Note If you change the Data type of a signal in the EIP document after creating an External FPGA IP Node instance, the corresponding input/output of the External FPGA IP Node instance does not change.
      Active low/Active high	This option is available only when the signal Type is set to reset. The default is active high.
      Associated clock	The Associated Clock menu behaves differently depending on which Type setting you select for a signal. Data: the selected signal will work only in the clock domain selected in Associated Clock. Clock: When you place the External FPGA IP Node in Clock-Driven Logic, you must wire the clock input of the Clock-Driven Loop to the FPGA base clock you select for Associated Clock. When you create a CLIP instance, you must map the CLIP clock to the same FPGA base clock that you select for Associated Clock. When you select an input clock within the same EIP document from the Associated Clock menu, the currently selected clock will be phase aligned to that input clock. You can set the ratio between these two clocks in the Clock configuration table. Reset: this signal type is not affected by the Associated Clock menu. Enable: the selected signal will only work in the clock domain selected in Associated Clock.

   2. In the Generics table, click on the name of a generic to configure it on the Item tab.
      The EIP document imports the Default Value from the IP source file, but you can modify it by entering any string value that corresponds to the generic type specified in the source file. For example, enter a string of True or False for a boolean generic.
      

      Note

      If you change the Default Value of a generic, you must click Parse and Verify to apply your changes.

   3. In the Clock configuration table, click on the name of a clock to configure it on the Item tab.
      
   4. In the MMCMs required and BUFGs required text boxes, declare the number of mixed-mode clock managers and global buffers the IP will consume.
      The application will compare your input for MMCMs required and BUFGs required with the maximum number of MMCMs and BUFGs allowed on your FPGA target. If your input exceeds the number of MMCMs and BUFGs allowed, the application will prevent you from compiling a bitfile.
      

      Note

      Consult the documentation for your FPGA target to determine how many MMCMs and BUFGs are available. The IP you catalog in the EIP document will consume physical resources on the FPGA, and you will need to configure these text boxes according to the specifications of your specific FPGA target.

7. Save the EIP document.

After creating the EIP document, instantiate IP in your application by adding the External FPGA IP Node to your FPGA VI diagram or creating and adding a CLIP instance to your application.