Building a Vivado Project with a Processing System

In this note, we describe how create a skeleton Vivado project that targets a specific FPGA board. Each board used in this class has a MPSoC (Multiprocessor System-on-Chip), a powerful programmable device that combines multiple processing cores, programmable logic, and integrated peripherals on a single chip. Here, we will add the MPSoC block first, which includes ARM cores and essential interfaces. We will then add the Vitis IP later.

Directory structure

In the GitHub repo, there is one directory for each project, such as scalar_fun, vect_mult, etc. Within each project directory, we sub-folders as follows:

hwdesign/ 
├── scalar_fun                
│   ├── scalar_fun_vitis     # vitis folder
│   ├── scalar_fun_rfsoc42   # Vivado project for RFSoC4x2
│   └── scalar_fun_pynqz2     # Vivado project for Pynq-Z2
└── vector_mult
│   ├── vmult_vitis
│   ├── vmult_rfsoc42
│   └── vmult_pynqz2
...

The folders like scalar_fun_vitis are for the Vitis project and the folders like scalar_fun_rfsoc42 and scalar_fun_pynqz2 are for the Vivado projects. The Vivado projects are specific to the target board so we need separate projects.

Creating the Vivado project with an MPSOC

To create a Vivado project, say scalar_fun_pynqz2:

Launch Vivado
Select the menu option File->Project->New….
- For the project name, use scalar_fun_pynz2.
- In location, use the directory hwdesign/scalar_fun. The Vivado project will then be stored in scalar_fun/scalar_fun_pynqz2.
Select RTL project.
- Leave Do not specify sources at this time checked.
For Default part, select the Boards tab and then select:
- For the RFSoC 4x2, select Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC 4x2 Development Board.
- For the PYNQ-Z2 board, select pynq-z2 or something similar
The Vivado window should now open with a blank project.
You will see a number of files including the project directory, scalar_fun\scalar_fun_pynqz2.

You have now created a blank project with a processing system. We will show how to add items, your Vitis IP.