RFSoC ZCU208 HDL Coder Support in MATLAB/Simulink

Question

I have an RFSoC ZCU208 board. I went through the example found here: 
 
 Getting started with HDL Coder for the Xilinx ZCU208 RFSoC Gen 3 development board &mdash; hdlcoder-docs v1.0.0 documentation (rfsoc-hdlcoder.readthedocs.io) 
 
 I was able to successfully complete steps 1 - 10 and program the fpga with the example bitstream (from the adcdemo example) generated from the attached MATLAB/Simulink files. I then proceeded to try and rebuild the adcdemo example using the "HDL Workflow Advisor" in Simulink so that I can see the process from start to finish. While in the tool, on the step "Set Target Device and Synthesis Tool", I set "Target Workflow" to "IP Core Generation" but when I went to set "Target Platform", it did not give me the option for "Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ RFSoC ZCU208 Evaluation Board" like it does in the example. I am wondering why that is. The only boards that are available of the " Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ RFSoC" type are the ZCU111 and ZCU216. 
 
 Has anyone else experienced this? I am wondering if the ZCU208 support was removed from the Support Packages for whatever reason? I downloaded the correct support packages, which include the "HDL Coder Support Package for Xilinx RFSoC Devices" and the "HDL Coder Support Package for Zynq." If anyone has any suggestions or insights, it would be greatly appreciated. 
 
 Thank you.

lightcollector · Answer

Hi, Thanks for the info, I have a theory now why it is not working for you. By the way, MathWorks does not directly support the ZCU208 board, that is correct. However MathWorks does authorize Avnet to provide the ZCU208 support. And so, Avnet provides the plugin code, examples for the ZCU208 and distributes it through the RFSoC Explorer add-on. 
 I suspect the issue may be because 2.3.1 RFSoC Explorer is not compatible with R2023b (it works and installs properly only with R2022a/b). This makes me think you didn't really run through the parts of the instructions about installing RFSoC Explorer and it's unique FPGA bitstream first. No problem with not doing that, it's just that it should have given you some warnings about not being compatible with R2023a/b. Also know that RFSoC Explorer because of the limited privileges that MathWorks gives add-ons; it has to not only be installed but also run/opened at least one time. Running it executes code that adds itself to the path, installing it without running it will not complete the setup of it and the hdl coder for zcu208 code. 
 The installhdl208.m script does attempt to check for RFSoC Explorer and outputs a warning if not found. Not sure why exactly you aren't seeing a warning. Here's a bit of the code from install208.m: 
 try newPath = fileparts(which('Avnet_RFSoC_Explorer')); if ~isempty(newPath) newPath = fullfile(newPath, 'avnet_hdlcoder/zcu208'); addpath(newPath); savepath; else disp('Warning: Avnet RFSoC Explorer path is empty or not installed, installation is incomplete.'); end catch disp('Error: Avnet RFSoC Explorer is not installed, installation is incomplete.'); end 
 Also, when I mentioned I tested this on R2023b I just realized I was not clear. I did use it successfully but I had access to the next version of RFSoC Explorer which is supposed to be released any day now (there are some other brand new features coming in the next release that are not quite ready yet). The next release will be compatible with R2023a/b. 
 So in the meantime, the easiest thing to do might be to use R2022a/b for a while until the next version of RFSoC Explorer is released? 
 Otherwise you can see in the install script above that it just needs to add the contents of the folder 'zcu208' found under the install location of RFSoC Explorer. There isn't anything else needed from RFSoC Explorer to make HDL Coder for the ZCU208 work. Matlab add-ons installation path depends on the OS and can also be customized, so your PC may be different than mine as far as what it's root path is. After installing RFSoC Explorer add-on, you could try to search for the folder avnet_hdlcoder/zcu208 on your system and locate it that way, then try to addpath(..). Do note that you must addpath then savepath, otherwise it will not be persistent. After you do this, you can double check that Matlab has this new path in its master path setting. If this doesn't just work for you, it will be a bit awkward to try to solve it in this forum and it is just a hack to try to get you moving forward. Again, I think if you can, until the next verson of RFSoC Explorer comes out use R2022b? 
 Kind regards

forche · Answer

I had the same issue and I was able to solve that. I am also using Matlab R2023b version. 
 First you have to install Avnet RFSoC Explorer latest version from chrome (download it as Toolbox) and from Matlab access the toolbox, double click and install. After that if you navigate to Matlab Add-ons folder from file explorer, MATLAB Add-Ons>Toolboxes>Avnet RFSoC Explorer Toolbox>avnet_hdlcoder>zcu208, there you can find +ZCU208 add that to ProgramData> MATLAB> SupportPackages> R2022b> toolbox> shared> supportpackages> rfsoc_shared> boards> +ZynqRFSoC where you can find other RFSoC devices. If MATLAB is already open close it and reopen. Then you can find ZCU208 device listed in Target Platform selection. 
 Hope it helps, it worked for me.

RFSoC ZCU208 HDL Coder Support in MATLAB/Simulink

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