Integrate IP into your FPGA application by importing IP descriptions from an IP-XACT XML file into an EIP document, declaring
IP files in a project for use as component-level IP (CLIP) or the 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).
IP-XACT XML files, such as those created by Xilinx Vivado, describe IP blocks used in electronic system design. Import IP
descriptions from an IP-XACT file in place of manually selecting IP files for inclusion into the EIP document. After importing
IP descriptions into the EIP document editor, you can configure and edit component definitions from the IP source files and
save them as an EIP file. The EIP document conforms to the IP-XACT standard (IEEE 1685). For more information about the IP-XACT XML schema, visit the IP-XACT Working Group page at accellera.org.
Ensure that the IP your IP-XACT file describes 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.
|

Note
The EIP document supports IP-XACT files exported from Xilinx Vivado, but you may have varying results when importing files
from other vendors.
-
Open the Application document for your FPGA target and click
to create an External FPGA IP document. Double-click the new EIP document to open it.
-
Click the
Import button and select an IP-XACT XML file.
-
Inspect the EIP document to verify that it imported the information from the IP-XACT file correctly.

Note
By default, the EIP document sets the signal
Type to
Data for all signals imported from an IP-XACT file. You will need to perform additional configuration of the EIP document to make
the import successful.
-
Configure signals, generics, and clocks.
-
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.
|
-
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.
-
In the
Clock configuration table, click on the name of a clock to configure it on the
Item tab.
-
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.
-
Save the EIP document.

Note
The EIP document does not overwrite the original IP-XACT file.
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.