Set Up AXI Manager

Note

MATLAB^® AXI master has been renamed to AXI manager. In the software and documentation, the terms "manager" and "subordinate" replace "master" and "slave," respectively.

To access on-board memory locations from MATLAB or Simulink^®, you must include the AXI manager IP in your FPGA design. This IP connects to subordinate memory locations on the board. The IP also responds to read and write commands from MATLAB or Simulink, over JTAG, PCI Express^®, or Ethernet cable.

Integrate AXI Manager IP in FPGA Design

To set up the AXI manager IP for access from MATLAB or Simulink, follow these setup steps:

Add the path for the AXI manager IP files to your project using the setupAXIManagerForQuartus function.
Open Quartus^®, and from the IP Catalog select the AXI manager IP in your FPGA design.
- When using JTAG as a physical connection, select AXI Manager.
- When using Ethernet as a physical connection, select UDP AXI Manager and Ethernet MAC Hub and add them to your project.
- When using PCIe as a physical connection, select PCIe AXI Manager and add it to your project.
In your FPGA project, specify which addresses the AXI manager IP is allowed to access.

Note
The AXI manager IP supports AXI4 Lite, AXI4, and Altera^® Avalon slave memory locations. The FPGA interconnect automatically converts AXI4 transactions to the protocol of each address.
Compile your FPGA project, including the AXI manager IP.
Connect your FPGA board to your host computer using a physical cable (JTAG, PCI Express, or Ethernet cable).
Program the FPGA with your compiled design.

Note

Alternatively, you can perform these steps in the HDL Coder™ guided workflow by using a sample reference design, such as the one included in this example: Access DUT Registers on Intel Pure FPGA Board Using IP Core Generation Workflow.

After loading the design on your FPGA, you can access memory-mapped locations on the board.

To access the board from MATLAB, create an aximanager object and use the readmemory and writememory methods to read and write memory-mapped locations on the board.

To access the board from Simulink, create a Simulink model and include AXI Manager Write and AXI Manager Read in it. Configure the blocks to read and write memory-mapped locations on the board. For more information, see Use Simulink to Access FPGA Locations.

JTAG Considerations

When using JTAG as a physical connection to your board, you might have additional IPs that use the same JTAG connection. Such IPs include Intel^® SignalTap II or Xilinx^® Vivado^® Logic Analyzer cores. However, only one of these applications can use the JTAG cable at a time. You must release the aximanager object to return the JTAG resource for use by other applications.

However, the nonblocking capture mode enables you to simultaneously use FPGA data capture and AXI manager, which share a common JTAG interface. In this capture mode, you do not need to close or release the JTAG resource to switch between FPGA data capture and AXI manager. For more information, see Simultaneous Use of FPGA Data Capture and AXI Manager.

The most common conflicting use of the JTAG cable is to reprogram the FPGA. You must stop any FPGA data capture or AXI manager JTAG connection before you can use the cable to program the FPGA.

The maximum data rate between host computer and FPGA is limited by the JTAG clock frequency. For Intel boards, the JTAG clock frequency is 12 MHz or 24 MHz. For Xilinx boards, the JTAG clock frequency is 33 MHz or 66 MHz. The JTAG frequency depends on the type of cable and the maximum clock frequency supported by the FPGA board.