AGILENT N5406A

Agilent Technologies InfiniiVision MSO
N5406A FPGA Dynamic Probe for Xilinx
Data Sheet
Figure 1. FPGA dynamic probe for Xilinx used in conjunction with an Agilent InfiniiVision
6000 or 7000 Series MSO provides an effective solution for simple through complex
debugging of systems incorporating Xilinx FPGAs.
The challenge
You rely on the insight a MSO
(mixed-signal oscilloscope)
provides to understand the
behavior of your FPGA in
the context of the surrounding
system. Design engineers
typically take advantage of the
programmability of the FPGA to
route internal nodes to a small
number of physical pins for
debugging. While this approach
is very useful, it has significant
limitations.
• Since pins on the FPGA
are typically an expensive
resource, there are a relatively
small number available for
debug. This limits internal
visibility (i.e. one pin is
required for each internal
signal to be probed).
• When you need to access
different internal signals,
you must change your design
to route these signals to the
available pins. This can be time
consuming and can affect the
timing of your FPGA design.
• Finally, the process required
to map the signal names from
your FPGA design to the
MSO digital channel labels is
manual and tedious.
When new signals are routed
out, you need to manually
update these signal names
on the MSO, which takes
additional time and is a
potential source of confusing
errors.
Debug your FPGAs faster and more effectively with a MSO
Make multiple measurements in
seconds – Moving probe points
internal to an FPGA used to be
time consuming. Now, in less than
a second, you can easily measure
different sets of internal signals
without design changes. FPGA
timing stays constant when you
select new sets of internal signals
for probing.
SW application can be
licensed to a particular
PC or particular MSO
SW application installed
on a PC connected to
6000 or 7000 Series MSOs
PC board
USB
LAN
GPIB
FPGA
ATC2
Parallel
or USB
JTAG
Insert ATC2 core with
Xilinx Core Inserter
Xilinx JTAG Cable
Figure 2. Create a timesaving FPGA measurement system. Insert an ATC2 (Agilent Trace
Core) core into your FPGA design. With the application running on your PC you control
which group of internal signals to measure via JTAG.
1-128
1-128
1-128
Selection MUX
View internal activity – With the
digital channels on your MSO, you
are normally limited to measuring
signals at the periphery of the
FPGA. With the FPGA dynamic
probe, you can now access signals
internal to the FPGA. You can
measure up to 64 internal signals
for each external pin dedicated
to debug, unlocking visibility into
your design that you never had
before.
Probe outputs
on FPGA pins
1-128
To FPGA pins
1-128
Select
A better way – Collaborative
development between Agilent and
Xilinx have produced a faster and
more effective way to use your
MSO to debug FPGAs and the
surrounding system. The Agilent
FPGA dynamic probe, used in
conjunction with an Agilent
MSO, provides the most effective
solution for simple through
complex debugging.
Change signal bank
selection via JTAG
JTAG
Leverage the work you did in your
design environment – The FPGA
dynamic probe maps internal
signal names from your FPGA
design tool to your Agilent MSO.
Eliminate unintentional mistakes
and save hours of time with this
automatic setup of signal and bus
names on your MSO.
2
Figure 3. Access up to 64 internal signals for each debug pin. Signal
banks all have identical width (1 to 128 signals wide) determined by
the number of device pins you devote for debug. Each pin provides
sequential access to one signal from every input bank.
A quick tour of the application
Design step 1: Create the ATC2 core
Use Xilinx Core Inserter or EDK
to select your ATC2 parameters
and to create a debug core that
best matches your development
needs. Parameters include
number of pins, number of signal
banks, the type of measurement
(state or timing), and other ATC2
attributes.
Design step 2: Select groups of
signals to probe
Specify banks of internal signals
that are potential candidates for
MSO measurements (using Xilinx
Core Inserter or EDK).
Activate FPGA dynamic probe for
Xilinx
The FPGA dynamic probe
application allows you to
control the ATC2 core and set
up the MSO for the desired
measurements. This application
runs on a PC.
3
A quick tour of the application (continued)
Connect your MSO to your PC
From FPGA dynamic probe
application software, specify the
communication link between your
PC and MSO.
Measurement setup step 1: Establish
a connection between the PC and the
ATC2 core
The FPGA dynamic probe
application establishes a
connection between the PC
and a Xilinx cable. It also
determines what devices are on
the JTAG scan chain and lets
you pick which one you wish to
communicate with. Core and
device names are user definable.
Measurement setup step 2: Map
FPGA pins
Quickly specify how the FPGA
pins (the signal outputs of ATC2)
are connected to your MSO. Select
your probe type and rapidly
provide the information needed
for the MSO to automatically
track names of signals routed
through the ATC2 core.
4
A quick tour of the application (continued)
For ATC2 cores with auto setup
enabled, each pin of the ATC2
core, one at a time, produces a
unique stimulus pattern. The
instrument looks for this unique
pattern on any of its acquisition
channels. When the instrument
finds the pattern, it associates
that instrument channel with
the ATC2 output pin producing
it. It then repeats the process for
each of the remaining output pins
eliminating the need to manually
enter probe layout information.
Measurement setup step 3: Import
signal names
Tired of manually entering
bus and signal names on your
MSO? The FPGA dynamic probe
application reads a .cdc file
produced by Xilinx Core Inserter.
The names of signals you measure
will now automatically show on
your MSO digital channel labels.
Setup complete: Make measurements
Quickly change which signal
bank is routed to the MSO. A
single mouse click tells the ATC2
core to switch to the newly
specified signal bank without
any impact to the timing of your
design. To make measurements
throughout your FPGA, change
signal banks as often as needed.
User-definable signal bank names
make it straight forward to select
a part of your design to measure.
5
A quick tour of the application (continued)
Triggering on valid states
MSOs incorporate logic state
triggering for triggering on
specific states. Set up a valid
state trigger by specifying the
clock edge and the desired bus/
signal pattern. Because the ATC2
core outputs both the clock signal
and bus values, triggering on the
combination ensures your state
trigger is valid—even though the
digital channels are sampling
asynchronously. Track valid
states by measuring the bus value
on each falling clock edge for
image shown.
Automatic bus groupings
InfiniiVision MSOs include up
to 2 bus groupings. Contiguous
signal names are automatically
grouped and displayed as buses.
Bus values can be displayed as
HEX or binary values. Additional
signals are shown using
independent waveforms.
Correlate internal FPGA activity with
external measurements
View internal FPGA activity and
time-correlate internal FPGA
measurements with external
analog and digital events in
the surrounding system. FPGA
Dynamic Probe unlocks the power
of the MSO for system-level debug
with FPGAs.
6
Agilent N5406A specifications and characteristics
Supported logic analyzers
Standalone oscilloscopes
InfiniiVision 6000 and 7000 Series MSOs
MSO Digital Channels
16
Bus groupings
Up to 2, each with 6 character labels
Triggering capabilities
Determined by MSO, all have state triggering
Supported Xilinx FPGA families
Virtex-5, Virtex-4, Virtex-II Pro series, Virtex-II series, Spartan-3 generation
Supported Xilinx cables (required)
Parallel 3 and 4, Platform Cable USB
Supported probing mechanisms
Soft touch (34-channel and 17-channel), Mictor, Samtec, Flying lead, 6000 and 7000 Series
MSOs come standard with a 40 pin probe cable and flying leads. Cables and probing for
Mictor, soft touch, or Samtec probing must be purchased separately.
Agilent trace core characteristics
Number of output signals
User definable: Clock line plus 4 to 128 signals in 1 signal increments
Signal banks
User definable: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64
Modes
State (synchronous) or timing (asynchronous) mode
FPGA Resource consumption
Approximately 1 slice required per input signal to ATC2 Core
Consumes no BUFGs, DCM or Block RAM resources.
See resource calculator at www.agilent.com/find/fpga
Compatible design tools
ChipScope Pro version
Agilent MSO FPGA dynamic probe SW version
Primary new features
6.2i, 6.3i
1.0 or higher
Mouse-click bank select, graphical pin mapping,
cdc signal name import
7.1i
2.03 or higher
8.2i
2.10 or higher
Plug & run (auto pin mapping), ATC2 “always on”
option, ATC2 width + 64 banks, Platform Cable
USB support, PRBS stimulus on test bank
Support for Virtex-5 devices, MSO bus groupings
EDK (Embedded Development Kit)
8.1i SP2
2.03 or higher
Synthesis
Support for ATC2 core using EDK flow
Core Inserter produces ATC2 cores postsynthesis (pre-place and route) making the cores
synthesis independent. ATC2 cores produced by
Core Generator are compatible with:
• Exemplar Leonardo Spectrum
• Synopsys Design Compiler
• Synopsys Design Compiler II
• Synopsys FPGA Express
• Synplicity Synplify
• Xilinx XST
Additional information available via the Internet: www.agilent.com/find/FPGA and www.agilent.com/find/6000-xilinx.
7
Ordering information
Ordering options for the Agilent N5405A FPGA dynamic probe for Xilinx
Option 001
• Entitlement certificate for perpetual node-locked license locked to oscilloscope (most common).
Option 002
• Entitlement certificate for PC locked license. PC and MSO must both connect to LAN.
USB, or GPIB
Related literature
Product Web site
Publication title
Publication type
Publication number
Frequently Asked Questions
MSO FPGA Dynamic Probe for Xilinx
Data Sheet
5989-5976EN
Agilent Technologies 6000 Series Oscilloscopes
Data Sheet
5989-2000EN
Agilent Technologies Infiniium MSO8000
N5397A FPGA Dynamic Probes for Xilinx
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5989-1848EN
Agilent Technologies InfiniiVision 7000 Series
Oscilloscopes
Data Sheet
5989-7736EN
8
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Revised: October 24, 2007
Product specifications and descriptions
in this document subject to change
without notice.
© Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2006, 2008
Printed in USA, March 7, 2008
5989-5965EN