Download HUNT ENGINEERING HERON

example can be built, and a new bitstream generated.
In this way, you can use example1 to check your understanding of how the module works,
and you can also use the example as a sanity check that your hardware is functioning
correctly.
Working through Example 1
All HERON modules that have FPGAs have an “Example1” provided for them. It is a
simple example that connects data from the input FIFO interface to the output FIFO
interface, and also exercises the HSB interface.
This example is fully described in the “Starting your FPGA development” tutorial on the
HUNT ENGINEERING CD.
The tutorial works through running the example and then modifying and re-building it. The
tutorial assumes that you are using the latest version of the ISE Foundation tool-set from
Xilinx. If you are using a different version of ISE Foundation, you will simply need to
convert the project as described in the application note provided by HUNT
ENGINEERING titled ‘Using Different Versions of ISE’. There is also an application note
on the HUNT ENGINEERING CD that describes using design flows that are different
from ISE, titled ‘Using VHDL tools other than ISE’.
The example is quite simple but demonstrates the use of the interfaces found in the
Hardware Interface Layer supplied with the module. The example is supplied in two ways.
Firstly, there is a ready-to-load bitstream, supplied in the Hunt Compressed Bitstream file
format, or ‘.hcb’ format. This is the file format used by the HUNT ENGINEERING
configuration tool. Secondly, there is an example1 project supplied for ISE, enabling the
design to be rebuilt and a new bitstream downloaded.
The bitstream file is provided to allow you to load the example1 onto the hardware without
having to re-build it. This is a useful confidence check to see if any problems you are
experiencing are due to changes you have made, or the way you have built the design. If the
bitstream from the CD fails to behave then the problem is more fundamental.
To make things easier, we have created the proper ISE project files for the examples.
Using these projects will allow you to run the complete design flow, from RTL-VHDL
source files to the proper bitstream, ready to download on your Heron FPGA board.
No special skills are required to do this.
However, if you want to write your own code and start designing your own application, you
must make sure that you have acquired the proper level of expertise in:
*VHDL language,
*Digital Design
*Xilinx FPGAs
*ISE environment and design flow
Proper training courses exist which can help you acquire quickly the required skills and
techniques. Search locally for courses in your local language.
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HUNT ENGINEERING HERON-IO2 USER MANUAL