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MIMO signal transmission using ZCU208

ahershko

Hi.

I just received the ZCU208 and I want to use it for a demo transmitting a MIMO signal from DDR using the 8 DACs synchronously.

As I understand, RFSoC Explorer does not support this, but from the Matlab FileExchange page I was referred to HDL Coder: https://rfsoc-hdlcoder.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

Some questions regarding the HDL coder:

1. According to the docs, it requires RFSoC Explorer version 2.0.2, though the latest released version is 2.0.1 - how come?

     1.1. It also says: "There is a bug in the MathWorks installer which caused v2.0.1 to add invalid support package paths"

          Is this why I cant install "HDL Coder Support Package for Xilinx RFSoC Devices"?

          since I cant get version 2.0.2 - is there a way to overcome this?

2. I see that the HDL coder for ZCU208 is a work-in-progress. Is this the right tool for the job for me at the moment?

 

Thanks,

Almog.

Parents

  • Hi Almog,

     

    With MATLAB R2021a, the following support packages cannot coexist:

    • SoC Blockset Support Package for Xilinx Devices
    • Embedded Coder Support Package for Xilinx Zynq Platform

    I'm not aware of any related issue with installing HDL Coder Support Package for Xilinx RFSoC Devices.

     

    The invalid support package path issue can be resolved by removing all paths that contain the following:

     

         <appAddonsDir>\AvnetRFSoCExplorer\ProgramData

     

    MATLAB's 'pathtool' utility makes this easy:

         image

     

    This will be performed automatically in the next release, which should be out next week. We are likely skipping 2.0.2 as we have added a few features to the next release, so 2.1.0 is more appropriate.

     

    Thanks,

    /Matt

  • in reply to mbrown

    Hi .

    Thanks for the reply. In the readthedocs page (https://rfsoc-hdlcoder.readthedocs.io/en/latest/zcu208.html ) it says I need these add-ons:

    • HDL Coder Support Package for Xilinx RFSoC Devices (July 14th, 2021 or newer)
    • HDL Coder Support Package for Zynq (April, 2021 or newer)

    I installed the first one, but the second one fails during installation:

    image

    This was tested on 2 PCs on 2 different networks.

     

    1. Is there a way to overcome this installation problem?

    2. must I work with Vivado 2020.2? can I work with Vivado 2021.2?

    3. must I work with Matlab R2021a? can I work with R2021b?

    4. I want to use the ZCU208 to transmit a MIMO signal from files. This means that I need to transfer the 8 waveforms to the DDR/BRAM (depends if the DDR can handle the rates I need), and read each waveform to it's matching DAC, doing this synchronously between the 8 DACs and in the maximal sample rate possible (10GSps for each DAC).

         - can I build this system using the HDL coder? if not at the moment, I will not try to install it and save this time.

         - can you give some detail about the new features in the upcoming 2.1.0 version? perhaps it will be adequate for my needs.

     

    Thanks a lot Matt,

    Almog.

  • in reply to ahershko

    Hi Almog,

     

    1) Yes: please keep trying to download the MathWork's support package.  Sometimes MathWork's servers get busy.

    2) You must work with 2020.2, all the underlying foundation and source relies on Vivado 2020.2.

    3) You should work with R2021a, R2021b works to at least some degree but make sure you have downloaded the SD image and examples .zip file per the instructions at least last week.  The example files had to have an RTL generation flag turned on to be compatible with R2021b.  Again, though if there are other troubles with R2021b, there is nothing that can be done to fix it at this time.

    4a) The DDR does not have the bandwidth to read samples & 80Gsps.  You could do lower rates, study the PL DDR capabilities of the ZCU208 dev board.

    4b) Sorry I do not know the answer to that question.

     

    Thanks

Reply
  • in reply to ahershko

    Hi Almog,

     

    1) Yes: please keep trying to download the MathWork's support package.  Sometimes MathWork's servers get busy.

    2) You must work with 2020.2, all the underlying foundation and source relies on Vivado 2020.2.

    3) You should work with R2021a, R2021b works to at least some degree but make sure you have downloaded the SD image and examples .zip file per the instructions at least last week.  The example files had to have an RTL generation flag turned on to be compatible with R2021b.  Again, though if there are other troubles with R2021b, there is nothing that can be done to fix it at this time.

    4a) The DDR does not have the bandwidth to read samples & 80Gsps.  You could do lower rates, study the PL DDR capabilities of the ZCU208 dev board.

    4b) Sorry I do not know the answer to that question.

     

    Thanks

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