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Reconfiguration (on the fly) using SPARTAN 3A

Started by Unknown ●February 21, 2008
Hi all,

I want to know whether it is possible to program Spartan 3a for a run
time partial reconfiguration.
If yes are there any detailed demo programs available?

Regards,
Parunoy
Reply by austin ●February 21, 20082008-02-21
Parunoy,

What you describe is not supported in Spartan 3A.

Austin
Reply by Antti ●February 21, 20082008-02-21
On 21 Feb., 18:27, austin <aus...@xilinx.com> wrote:

> Parunoy,
>
> What you describe is not supported in Spartan 3A.
>
> Austin


I did think s3a ICAP has access to FPGA configuration ?
I know there are no demos available, but to say that S3a is totally
incapable of runtime reconfig?
or I have i missed something?
the lack of tools, demos and documentation doesnt always mean that the
feature itself is missing, only that is harder to use.

Antti
Reply by austin ●February 21, 20082008-02-21
Antti,

The 3A configuration bits have potential to "glitch" when reconfigured,
so one has to carefully select what to reconfigure, and then make sure
it works as desired.

So, yes, you can physically do it, but it may not perform as desired.

This is different in Virtex devices, where it is fully supported (or a
full as we can be right now).

Austin
Reply by Antti ●February 21, 20082008-02-21
On 21 Feb., 20:00, austin <aus...@xilinx.com> wrote:

> Antti,
>
> The 3A configuration bits have potential to "glitch" when reconfigured,
> so one has to carefully select what to reconfigure, and then make sure
> it works as desired.
>
> So, yes, you can physically do it, but it may not perform as desired.
>
> This is different in Virtex devices, where it is fully supported (or a
> full as we can be right now).
>
> Austin


kill the glitch-bitch!

ok, things there are things potentially doabl (but not recommended)
and things really doable and working ,

Antti
Reply by austin ●February 21, 20082008-02-21
Antti,

Yes.  For example, if you stopped the system clock, reconfigured, and
started the clock again, that would probably work just fine.

It was decided (long ago) that some features were more important to some
customers, and since Spartan parts are concerned with: cost, cost, cost
(in order of importance), things like reconfigurability are reserved for
the Virtex line (where we are not so greatly constrained).

Austin
Reply by ●February 22, 20082008-02-22
On Feb 22, 2:17 am, austin <aus...@xilinx.com> wrote:

> Antti,
>
> Yes.  For example, if you stopped the system clock, reconfigured, and
> started the clock again, that would probably work just fine.
>
> It was decided (long ago) that some features were more important to some
> customers, and since Spartan parts are concerned with: cost, cost, cost
> (in order of importance), things like reconfigurability are reserved for
> the Virtex line (where we are not so greatly constrained).
>
> Austin


Hi.

Thanks for replying so soon.
Is there a detailed explanation for the demo (OUT-OF-BOX)  as I think
that demo program uses the reconfigurability of s3a by accessing the
on board  PROMs? The demo uses a Picoblaze controller to select the
confign from the specific PROM. Does the FPGA reset everytime it is
configured from the PROM?

Parunoy
Reply by ●February 22, 20082008-02-22
Hi again,

Actually what i currently want to do is:
1. divide the fpga into 2 parts
      a) one part will have picoblaze controller.
      b) other will have an up counter.
2. Save a partial file for down counter (generated from difference
based partial reconfiguration option) in one of the ROMs.
3. Run the up counter initially and then using picoblaze call the
partial file from the ROM to reconfigure the UP counter to a DOWN one.
Now the BIG question:Is it possible using Spartan 3a? Can multiboot
option be used for it or any other way possible?
Or should i go for Virtex??]

Regards,
Parunoy.
Reply by Antti ●February 22, 20082008-02-22
On 22 Feb., 10:01, puneetjamr...@gmail.com wrote:

> On Feb 22, 2:17 am, austin <aus...@xilinx.com> wrote:
>
> > Antti,
>
> > Yes.  For example, if you stopped the system clock, reconfigured, and
> > started the clock again, that would probably work just fine.
>
> > It was decided (long ago) that some features were more important to some
> > customers, and since Spartan parts are concerned with: cost, cost, cost
> > (in order of importance), things like reconfigurability are reserved for
> > the Virtex line (where we are not so greatly constrained).
>
> > Austin
>
> Hi.
>
> Thanks for replying so soon.
> Is there a detailed explanation for the demo (OUT-OF-BOX)  as I think
> that demo program uses the reconfigurability of s3a by accessing the
> on board  PROMs? The demo uses a Picoblaze controller to select the
> confign from the specific PROM. Does the FPGA reset everytime it is
> configured from the PROM?
>
> Parunoy


yes, the FPGA will go FULL reset and re-configuration cycle during
triggered multi-boot

Antti
Reply by Andreas Ehliar ●February 22, 20082008-02-22
On 2008-02-22, Antti <Antti.Lukats@googlemail.com> wrote:

> whatever the supported features of Spartan3A-ICAP are, no other
> spartan family has anything related to self-reconfig at all, there is
> no ICAP.


As a footnote I could add that I've seen a paper on a Spartan-3 based
system which reconfigured itself by using the external configuration
interface:
http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~listarch/microblaze-uclinux/archive/2006/01/pdfgKQFmBlaJb.pdf

/Andreas