Matlab, RS-232, Ethernet

Hi,

I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
in matlab.

Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
answers and suggestions on following:

1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
2). What can be the maximum speed ?
3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?

Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.

Thank You.

StYm

On Mar 11, 9:49 am, satyam <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
> is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
> in matlab.
>
> Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
> order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
> inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
> seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
> answers and suggestions on following:
>
> 1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
> 2). What can be the maximum speed ?
> 3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
> 4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
> FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?
>
> Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
>
> Thank You.
>
> StYm

These may help:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/loadFile.do?objectId=345&objectType=File
http://www.mathworks.com/products/instrument/supportedio13782.html

All hail the power of google!

satyam <satyam.dwivedi@gmail.com> wrote:

>I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
>is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
>in matlab.

>Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
>order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
>inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
>seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
>answers and suggestions on following:

>1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
Yes works.

>2). What can be the maximum speed ?
1000Mbps depending on your ethernet chip(s).

>3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
C socket programming

>4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
>FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?
If your ethernet PHY manages 100 Mbps in full duplex, then yes.

>Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
Do you need realtime or synchronous operation?

Btw, there's lots of good stuff to be found via the google force luke ;)

On Mar 12, 2:34 am, sky46...@trline4.org wrote:
> satyam <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
> >is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
> >in matlab.
> >Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
> >order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
> >inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
> >seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
> >answers and suggestions on following:
> >1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
>
> Yes works.
>
> >2). What can be the maximum speed ?
>
> 1000Mbps depending on your ethernet chip(s).
>
> >3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
>
> C socket programming
>
> >4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
> >FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?
>
> If your ethernet PHY manages 100 Mbps in full duplex, then yes.
>
> >Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
>
> Do you need realtime or synchronous operation?
>
> Btw, there's lots of good stuff to be found via the google force luke ;)


Dear Dave and sky46, thank you for responding.

Seems Matlab has something in intrument control toolbox. I need to
explore this.
How about ethernet core for FPGA. The core provided by xilinx is too
expensive to buy. Have  found an ethernet from opencore website.
Trying to make it work.

On Mar 12, 4:27 am, StYm <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 12, 2:34 am, sky46...@trline4.org wrote:
>
>
>
> > satyam <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
> > >is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
> > >in matlab.
> > >Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
> > >order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
> > >inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
> > >seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
> > >answers and suggestions on following:
> > >1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
>
> > Yes works.
>
> > >2). What can be the maximum speed ?
>
> > 1000Mbps depending on your ethernet chip(s).
>
> > >3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
>
> > C socket programming
>
> > >4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
> > >FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?
>
> > If your ethernet PHY manages 100 Mbps in full duplex, then yes.
Ethernet is a complex and expensive protocol (in terms of time) to
implement.  How about the opencores  USB 1.1 PHY/IP and using libusb
on the PC side?  It seems to me this would be much less time consuming
than ethernet.
>
> > >Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
>
> > Do you need realtime or synchronous operation?
>
> > Btw, there's lots of good stuff to be found via the google force luke ;)
>
> Dear Dave and sky46, thank you for responding.
>
> Seems Matlab has something in intrument control toolbox. I need to
> explore this.
> How about ethernet core for FPGA. The core provided by xilinx is too
> expensive to buy. Have  found an ethernet from opencore website.
> Trying to make it work.

On Mar 13, 2:31 am, lm317t <lm3...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 12, 4:27 am, StYm <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Mar 12, 2:34 am, sky46...@trline4.org wrote:
>
> > > satyam <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
> > > >is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
> > > >in matlab.
> > > >Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
> > > >order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
> > > >inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
> > > >seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
> > > >answers and suggestions on following:
> > > >1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
>
> > > Yes works.
>
> > > >2). What can be the maximum speed ?
>
> > > 1000Mbps depending on your ethernet chip(s).
>
> > > >3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
>
> > > C socket programming
>
> > > >4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
> > > >FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?
>
> > > If your ethernet PHY manages 100 Mbps in full duplex, then yes.
>
> Ethernet is a complex and expensive protocol (in terms of time) to
> implement.  How about the opencores  USB 1.1 PHY/IP and using libusb
> on the PC side?  It seems to me this would be much less time consuming
> than ethernet.
>
>
Dear lm317t,

can you give me instructions as to how to setup USB 1.1 PHY/IP ? What
files to download, from where ?? and how to make it work ?

Thank you in advance.
StYm


> > > >Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
>
> > > Do you need realtime or synchronous operation?
>
> > > Btw, there's lots of good stuff to be found via the google force luke ;)
>
> > Dear Dave and sky46, thank you for responding.
>
> > Seems Matlab has something in intrument control toolbox. I need to
> > explore this.
> > How about ethernet core for FPGA. The core provided by xilinx is too
> > expensive to buy. Have  found an ethernet from opencore website.
> > Trying to make it work.

USB 1.1 PHY core in Verilog:
http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/usb_phy/overview
You can do your own IP from usb specs or use the USB 1.1 IP on
opencores.org.

How to use an AVR to implement USB gives lots of helpful info on USB
protocol
http://www.obdev.at/products/avrusb/index.html

Libusb for the PC:
http://sf.net/projects/libusb

Libusb doesn't run on windows, just mac, linux, bsd

Also the super simple route is to use a USB-UART chip like the ft232rl
from digikey.  They go up to 3 Mbps.  No driver writing for you if you
go this route.

On Mar 13, 3:24 am, StYm <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 13, 2:31 am, lm317t <lm3...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Mar 12, 4:27 am, StYm <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > On Mar 12, 2:34 am, sky46...@trline4.org wrote:
>
> > > > satyam <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > >I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
> > > > >is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
> > > > >in matlab.
> > > > >Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
> > > > >order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
> > > > >inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
> > > > >seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
> > > > >answers and suggestions on following:
> > > > >1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
>
> > > > Yes works.
>
> > > > >2). What can be the maximum speed ?
>
> > > > 1000Mbps depending on your ethernet chip(s).
>
> > > > >3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
>
> > > > C socket programming
>
> > > > >4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
> > > > >FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?
>
> > > > If your ethernet PHY manages 100 Mbps in full duplex, then yes.
>
> > Ethernet is a complex and expensive protocol (in terms of time) to
> > implement.  How about the opencores  USB 1.1 PHY/IP and using libusb
> > on the PC side?  It seems to me this would be much less time consuming
> > than ethernet.
>
> Dear lm317t,
>
> can you give me instructions as to how to setup USB 1.1 PHY/IP ? What
> files to download, from where ?? and how to make it work ?
>
> Thank you in advance.
> StYm
>
> > > > >Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
>
> > > > Do you need realtime or synchronous operation?
>
> > > > Btw, there's lots of good stuff to be found via the google force luke ;)
>
> > > Dear Dave and sky46, thank you for responding.
>
> > > Seems Matlab has something in intrument control toolbox. I need to
> > > explore this.
> > > How about ethernet core for FPGA. The core provided by xilinx is too
> > > expensive to buy. Have  found an ethernet from opencore website.
> > > Trying to make it work.

On Mar 11, 9:49 am, satyam <satyam.dwiv...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I want to interface matlab with the Xilinx Virtex-II pro board. Intent
> is to give input from matlab to the FPGA and to read the ouput of FPGA
> in matlab.
>
> Problem is in interfacing speed. I need high speed interface, of the
> order of 2 mega bits per second (Mbps). Seems RS-232 will be
> inadequate for my purpose. From Documents interface through ethernet
> seems to be a viable option but I am not sure. To summarize I want
> answers and suggestions on following:
>
> 1). FPGA to PC communication by ethernet ?
> 2). What can be the maximum speed ?
> 3). How to transfer data on ethernet by matlab ?
> 4). Is it possible to write inputs (60 Mega bits) to some memory on
> FPGA board and then read it from there to do the computation ?

60Mbits is not a problem for Xilinx Virtex 4, I am using it do acquire
data synchronously at that rate, 8 inputs in parallel, do some
computation on them and write to the memory at the same clock cycle.

I do not need real time download from this memory, I use VGA to see
the real time data from the memory. For downloading the FPGA's memory
content I use ChipScope.

Dan


>
> Please let me know if you have any suggestion for me.
>
> Thank You.
>
> StYm

>Ethernet is a complex and expensive protocol (in terms of time) to
>implement.  How about the opencores  USB 1.1 PHY/IP and using libusb
>on the PC side?  It seems to me this would be much less time consuming
>than ethernet.

What do you base your statement that ethernet is hard to deal with..?