MicroBlaze Processor Quick Start Guide

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Quick Start Guide:
MicroBlaze Soft Processor Presets
INTRODUCTION

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

This Quick Start Guide will walk you through creating a basic
MicroBlaze™ processor system using processor preset designs.
Additional resources and information can be found on the reverse
side to help you tailor a MicroBlaze processor system to your exact
design specifications. Features include:
- Royalty Free
- Low Power
- Highly Configurable
- Linux and RTOS support
- High Performance
- Free Development Tools

This Quick Start Guide assumes you will be targeting an FPGA
development board. If this board comes from one of Xilinx board
partners, you will need to download and install a preset package.
See the FAQ (next page) for links to some of our partners.

HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT
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What is the MicroBlaze Processor?

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MicroBlaze is Xilinx’s 32-bit RISC soft processor core, optimized for
embedded applications on Xilinx devices. The MicroBlaze processor
is easy to use and delivers the flexibility to select the combination of
peripherals, memory, and interfaces as needed.

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Start Vivado® Design Suite.
Choose Create Project.
When Wizard opens, read information text and click Next.
Enter a project name and location for project files (if you enter a
directory that doesn’t exist, it will ask if you want to create it).
Choose Example Project.
From the templates, choose one of the preset designs that works
with your development board.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
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Click the
New drop-down arrow and select Application Project.
Set project name to Hello_world with no spaces.
Select Target Hardware Platform. This is populated with the
Hardware Platform built in the previous section. Alternatively,
choose a pre-built Hardware Platform from the drop-down list.
Keep all other defaults. Click Next.
Select Hello World from the templates and click Finish.
You will see three folders in Project Explorer:
Hello_world contains all binaries, .C, and .H (Header) files
Hello_world_bsp is the board support package folder
 contains information about the target hardware,
which includes the memory map for the system.
System.mss tab lists peripheral driver information and examples.

The MicroBlaze processor is commonly used in one of three preset
configurations as shown in the table below: a simple microcontroller running bare-metal applications; a real-time processor
featuring cache and a memory protection unit interfacing to tightly
coupled on-chip memory running FreeRTOS; and finally, an
application processor with a memory management unit running
Linux. The table (below) shows performance and utilization
estimates for these configurations on an Artix®-7 device.
MHz
Logic Cells
% Utilization

Microcontroller Real-Time
220
180
1900
4000
1%
2%

Application
150
7000
4%

*Based on XC7A200T -3 speed grade devices

MicroBlaze can be used as a stand-alone processor in all Xilinx
FPGAs or as a co-processor in a Zynq®-7000 SoC system. It can also
be configured to add tamper protection and fault protection by
configuring in lock-step mode as well as providing single-event
upset mitigation with Triple Modular Redundancy. Designs with
multiple processors can be debugged simultaneously using the
Xilinx Software Development Kit (SDK).

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Choose the target board, and click Finish to create the project.
In Flow Navigator pane, click Open Block Design to view design.
Click Address Editor tab to view peripheral addresses.
Next, to generate the bitstream, which contains configuration data
for the FPGA, choose Generate Bitstream.
To launch Synthesis and Implementation runs, click Yes.
When completed, click OK to Open Implemented Design.
From the main toolbar, click File and select Export→Export.
Hardware. Check the box to Include Bitstream and click OK.
To start software development with this MicroBlaze processor,
select File → Launch SDK from the main toolbar. Click OK. SDK will
open and import the hardware platform, including the MicroBlaze
processor.

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Make sure your target board is turned on and connected to the host
PC via the USB-JTAG port - this port also serves as the USB-UART
connection to the MicroBlaze processor.
On the top toolbar, click the
Program FPGA button.
Click Program to program your FPGA with your hardware design.

https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/quick_start/microblaze-quick-start-guide.pdf

XMP423 (v1.1)

Quick Start Guide:
MicroBlaze Soft Processor Presets
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT (cont’d)

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Set up the UART terminal by clicking the SDK Terminal tab, then
clicking the
to configure the correct COM Port, use settings:
Baud Rate: 115200
Data Bits: 8
Stop Bits: 1
Parity: None
Flow Control: None
Timeout(sec): [Blank]
Now download the application by right-clicking on your
Hello_world project and choosing Run As… Select Launch on
Hardware (System Debugger), then click OK.
Your program will run and you should see “Hello World” pop up
inside of your Serial Terminal.

FAQs and ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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How do I load third-party boards into Vivado example designs?
Quick Start Instructions for Digilent ARTY A7/S7 boards

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Where should I start to learn more about the MicroBlaze processor?
Visit the MicroBlaze Design Hub. It contains links to documentation,
wikis, and video tutorials that provide lots of information. Most of the
document links in this FAQ can also be found there.

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Where can I find specific details about the MicroBlaze processor?
Go to: UG984 - MicroBlaze Processor Reference Guide.

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How can I estimate the size and performance for my configured
MicroBlaze processor?
Go to: MicroBlaze Performance Metrics as a starting point.

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Where can I find a more comprehensive tutorial?
Go to: UG940 - Lab 3: Using the Embedded MicroBlaze Processor.

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Where do I go for more details about creating a Vivado tool design?
Visit our Vivado Design Hubs.

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Congratulations! You have created your first MicroBlaze
processor application.
Now you can try building and running other example
applications, like the ones provided:

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Do I need to be in the Vivado tools to start SDK?
No. SDK is an independent tool that can be started from the Xilinx
Design Tools. However, you’ll need a MicroBlaze processor hardware
design file (.hdf) file to target for your software development.
What do I do if the board I’m targeting is not on the list?
Many board vendors provide board files that can be added to Vivado
and SDK. Contact the specific manufacturer for these files.
Digilent Reference Guide for ARTY S7
Avnet Reference Designs & Tutorials for MiniZed
What if I need to make changes to my hardware design?
Close the SDK window and make the required HW design edits in the
Vivado tools, then follow the sequence for bit file generation. This
updated hardware design must then be exported from the Vivado
tools and imported into SDK.
How do I expand the capability of my evaluation board?
PMODs, Arduino shields, and FMC cards can be used to expand the
capabilities of our evaluation boards.
How do I create a bootable flash image that contains my bitstream
and application?
See chapter 7 of UG898. In Vivado, Tools → Associate ELF files.
In SDK, Xilinx Tools → Program FPGA (select ELF for MicroBlaze).

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What happens when I export hardware and launch SDK?
A file called system.hdf is created. This hardware definition file
contains HW specifications, IP interfaces, external signal information,
and local memory address information. This is used by SDK for
application development and debug.

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How do I communicate between Zynq-7000 SoC and MicroBlaze?
See this QTV on YouTube: Zynq and MicroBlaze IOP Block, OCM, and
Memory Resource Sharing.

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How do I debug multiple processors in a single system?
Heterogeneous Multicore Debugging with Xilinx SDK.

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How much FPGA memory can the MicroBlaze processor access?
MicroBlaze systems can be created that access all the available
memory on an FPGA. But this comes at the cost of lower FMAX. Typical
MicroBlaze implementations use 128KB or less.

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What OS & libraries are supported in SDK for MicroBlaze?
See Supported Operating Systems & UG643 - OS and Libraries Guide.

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Can I run Linux or other OSs on the MicroBlaze processor?
Yes. For best performance with Linux, you need to configure the
MicroBlaze processor like a standard applications processor.

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How do I create a Linux bootloader for the MicroBlaze processor?
Go to: Build U-Boot for MicroBlaze.

Resources
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MicroBlaze Documentation Design Hub
MicroBlaze Getting Started Wiki
MicroBlaze Soft Processor Core Product Page
Using the MicroBlaze Processor to Accelerate Cost-Sensitive Embedded
System Development
Document Navigator Embedded Hub
Vivado Tutorials
Xilinx SDK Tools Help
Knowledge Base Answer Records
Zedboard.org
Digilient.com



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Title                           : MicroBlaze Processor Quick Start Guide
Author                          : Xilinx, Inc.
Subject                         : MicroBlaze Processor Quick Start Guide
Keywords                        : Public;xmp423;MicroBlaze, Public;Spartan-6;Spartan-7, Public
Create Date                     : 2018:03:01 10:16:21-08:00
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Creator                         : Microsoft® PowerPoint® 2013
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