Forum Discussion

NSuku's avatar
NSuku
Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
7 years ago

Synchronization between Processor and external FPGA

I am trying to implement control mode switching in a motion control application. The processor will swap data sets in the memory and use it for some calculation. The FPGA is supposed to swap the data sets and use it for calculation in parallel. This has to be synchronized i.e in a single sample (time frame of 10 microseconds) where both the external processor and the Arria 10 FPGA Soc has to synchronize the switch. Can you give some ideas on how to achieve this?

Processor : PowerPC

FPGA : Arria 10 FPGA SoC

Interface : Serial Rapid IO

Thanks in advance!

Nivetha

3 Replies

  • FawazJ_Altera's avatar
    FawazJ_Altera
    Icon for Frequent Contributor rankFrequent Contributor
    7 years ago

    Hello,

    The best approach to sync data in this case would be the On chip FIFO with dual clock support.

    In this IP, you can set 2 different clocks for data in and data out, with the flexibility of setting the FIFO depth.

    Furthermore, if you can export a clock signal from this processor, you can feed it to a PLL, and this PLL will feed the FPGA. Also, you can do it in reverse, if this processor accepts external clock signal, you can use FPGA PLL to feed both FPGA design and external processor.

    Thanks

  • NSuku's avatar
    NSuku
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    7 years ago

    Hi!

    Thank you for your response. I will be using just an Arria 10 FPGA which does not have the hard processor.

    Does the same method still applies ?

    Thanks,

    Nivetha

  • FawazJ_Altera's avatar
    FawazJ_Altera
    Icon for Frequent Contributor rankFrequent Contributor
    7 years ago

    Hello,

    Yes it is,

    the On chip FIFO is a soft-core IP where you can use it with any Intel FPGA device.

    Thanks