Step 4: Test the Platform

Test 1: Read Platform Info

With Vitis environment setup, platforminfo tool can report XPFM platform information.

Click for detailed logs 
# in zcu104_custom_pkg directory
platforminfo ./zcu104_custom/export/zcu104_custom/zcu104_custom.xpfm
==========================
Basic Platform Information
==========================
Platform:           zcu104_custom_platform
File:               <your path to>/zcu104_custom_platform.xpfm
Description:        
A custom platform ZCU104 platform

=====================================
Hardware Platform (Shell) Information
=====================================
Vendor:                           xilinx
Board:                            ZCU104_Custom_Platform
Name:                             ZCU104_Custom_Platform
Version:                          0.0
Generated Version:                2021.1
Hardware:                         1
Software Emulation:               1
Hardware Emulation:               1
Hardware Emulation Platform:      0
FPGA Family:                      zynquplus
FPGA Device:                      xczu7ev
Board Vendor:                     xilinx.com
Board Name:                       xilinx.com:zcu104:1.1
Board Part:                       xczu7ev-ffvc1156-2-e

=================
Clock Information
=================
  Default Clock Index: 2
  Clock Index:         1
    Frequency:         100.000000
  Clock Index:         2
    Frequency:         200.000000
  Clock Index:         3
    Frequency:         400.000000

==================
Memory Information
==================
  Bus SP Tag: HP0
  Bus SP Tag: HP1
  Bus SP Tag: HP2
  Bus SP Tag: HP3
  Bus SP Tag: HPC0
  Bus SP Tag: HPC1

=============================
Software Platform Information
=============================
Number of Runtimes:            1
Default System Configuration:  zcu104_custom_platform
System Configurations:
  System Config Name:                      zcu104_custom_platform
  System Config Description:               zcu104_custom_platform
  System Config Default Processor Group:   xrt
  System Config Default Boot Image:        standard
  System Config Is QEMU Supported:         1
  System Config Processor Groups:
    Processor Group Name:      xrt
    Processor Group CPU Type:  cortex-a53
    Processor Group OS Name:   linux
  System Config Boot Images:
    Boot Image Name:           standard
    Boot Image Type:
    Boot Image BIF:            zcu104_custom_platform/boot/linux.bif
    Boot Image Data:           zcu104_custom_platform/xrt/image
    Boot Image Boot Mode:      sd
    Boot Image RootFileSystem:
    Boot Image Mount Path:     /mnt
    Boot Image Read Me:        zcu104_custom_platform/boot/generic.readme
    Boot Image QEMU Args:      zcu104_custom_platform/qemu/pmu_args.txt:zcu104_custom_platform/qemu/qemu_args.txt
    Boot Image QEMU Boot:
    Boot Image QEMU Dev Tree:
Supported Runtimes:
  Runtime: OpenCL

We can verify clock information and memory information are set as expected.

Test 2: Run Vector Addition Application

Vector addition is the simplest acceleration PL kernel. Vitis can create this application automatically. Running this test can check the AXI control bus, memory interface and interrupt setting in platform are working properly.

  1. Creating Vector Addition Application

    • Open Vitis workspace you were using before.

    • Select File -> New -> Application Project.

    • Click next

    • Select zcu104_custom as platform, click next.

    • Name the project vadd, click next.

    • Set Domain to linux on psu_cortexa53, set Sys_root path to <full_pathname_to_zcu104_custom_pkg>/pfm/sysroots/aarch64-xilinx-linux(as you created by running sdk.sh). Set the Root FS to rootfs.ext4 and Kernel Image to Image. These files are located in zcu104_custom_plnx/images directory, which are generated in Step 2. click next.

    • Select System Optimization Examples -> Vector Addition and click finish to generate the application.

    • In the Explorer window double click the vadd.prj file to open it, change the Active Build configuration from Emulation-SW to Hardware.

    • Select vadd_system in Explorer window and Click Build icon in toolbar.

    Note: If you cannot see the zcu104_custom platform we created, we can add it to platform list of New Project Wizard by selecting the add button and point to zcu104_custom_pkg/zcu104_custom directory.

    Note: If you’d like to test this application in emulation mode, plese change Active Build configuration from Emulation-SW to Emulation-HW on Step 8.

  2. Running Vector Addition Application on the Board

    • Copy zcu104_custom_pkg/vadd_system/Hardware/package/sd_card.img to local if Vitis is running on a remote server.

    • Write sd_card.img into SD Card with SD Card image writer applications like Etcher on Windows or dd on Linux.

    • Boot ZCU104 board with the SD card in SD boot mode.

    • Go to auto mounted FAT32 partition

    cd /mnt/sd-mmcblk0p1

    • Run vadd application

    ./vadd binary_container_1.xclbin

    • It should show program prints and XRT debug info.

    TEST PASSED

  3. Test Vector Addition Application in Emulation Mode (Optional)

    • Use Vitis menu -> Xilinx -> Start/Stop Emulator to launch QEMU. Project is vadd, configuration is Emulation-HW. Click Start. Wait for Linux to boot. Log in with root/root.

    • Right click vadd project (not the vadd_system system project), select Run as -> Launch on Emulator

    The result will show on Console tab.

    Loading: './binary_container_1.xclbin'
TEST PASSED

Fast Track for Vector Addtion

Scripts are provided to create the test applications on the custom platform we created. To use these scripts, please run the following steps.

  1. Run build

    # cd to the step directory, e.g.
cd step4_validate
make all

    The default verification uses hardware emulation. If you’d like to verify vadd application on hardware board, please run the following command to generate the SD card image.

    cd step4_validate
make vadd_hw

  2. To clean the generated files, please run

    make clean

Test 3: Run a Vitis-AI Demo

This test will run a Vitis-AI test application in DPU-TRD to verify DPU function on our custom platform. The most instructions below follows Vitis-AI DPU-TRD document.

Create the design

  1. Add Vitis-AI repository into Vitis IDE

    • Launch Vitis IDE if you have not. We can reuse the workspace of vadd application.

    • Open menu Window -> Preferences

    • Go to Library Repository tab

    • Add Vitis-AI:

      • Click Add button

      • Input ID: vitis-ai

      • Name: Vitis AI

      • Location: assign a target download directory or keep empty. Vitis will use default path ~/.Xilinx if this field is empty.

      • Git URL: https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis-AI.git

      • Branch: The branch you’d like to verify with your platform. Use master for the latest version.

    missing image

  2. Download the Vitis-AI library

    • Open menu Xilinx -> Libraries

    • Find the Vitis-AI entry we just added. Click the Download button on it.

    • Wait until the download of Vitis-AI repository completes

    • Click OK to close this window.

    Vitis IDE will check the upstream status of each repository. If there are updates, it will allow users to download the updates if the source URL is a remote Git repository.

  3. Download Vitis-AI specific sysroot

    Since Vitis-AI has a different release cycle with PetaLinux, Vitis-AI related PetaLinux recipes are released later than PetaLinux release. At the time that this tutorial releases, Vitis-AI related recipes are not released yet. We cannot build PetaLinux sysroot/sdk with Vitis-AI dependencies. We need to use pre-built Vitis-AI sdk.

    • Download the Vitis-AI cross compile environment setup script: wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Xilinx/Vitis-AI/master/setup/mpsoc/VART/host_cross_compiler_setup.sh

    • Update the script for installation area if necessary. The default install path is install_path=~/petalinux_sdk_2021.1

    • Run the script to setup cross compile environment: ./host_cross_compiler_setup.sh

    Once Vitis-AI recipes are released, this tutorial will update the steps for building Vitis-AI dependencies to the sysroot using PetaLinux.

  4. Create a Vitis-AI design on our zcu104_custom_platform

    • Go to menu File -> New -> Application Project

    • Click Next in Welcome page

    • Select platform zcu104_custom_platform. Click Next.

    • Name the project dpu_trd, click next.

    • Set Domain to linux on psu_cortexa53, set Sys_root path to sysroot installation path in previous step, e.g. ~/petalinux_sdk_2021.1/sysroots/cortexa72-cortexa53-xilinx-linux/.

    • Set the Root FS to rootfs.ext4 and Kernel Image to Image. These files are located in zcu104_custom_plnx/images directory, which are generated in Step 2. click next.

    • Select dsa -> DPU Kernel (RTL Kernel) and click Finish to generate the application. missing image

  5. Update Build Target

    • Double click the system project file dpu_trd_system.sprj

    • Change Active Build Configuration to Hardware

  6. Review and update DPU settings for ZCU104. The default created design has the DPU settings for ZCU102.

    • Open dpu_conf.vh from dpu_trd_kernels/src/prj/Vitis directory

    • Update line 37 from URAM_DISABLE to URAM_ENABLE

    • Press Ctrl+S to save the changes.

    Note: ZCU104 has ZU7EV device on board. It has less BRAM than ZU9EG on ZCU102 but it has URAM. Turning on URAM support can fulfill the on chip memory requirement by DPU.

  7. Update system_hw_link for proper kernel instantiation

    Since ZCU104 has less LUT resources than ZCU102, it’s hard to meet timing closure target if we include the softmax IP in PL like ZCU102. The implementation would take quite a long time. The Vitis-AI DPU-TRD design removes the softmax IP in hardware for ZCU104. When the host application detects no softmax IP in hardware, it will calculate softmax with software. The result will be identical but the calculation time will be different. Since our target is to verify the platform, we will remove the softmax kernel in our test application.

    • Double click dpu_trd_system_hw_link.prj.

    • In Hardware Functions window, remove sfm_xrt_top instance by right clicking it and select Remove.

    • After removing the sfx_xrt_top instance, the remaining instances in Hardware Functions window is DPUCZDX8G with Compute Units = 2.

  8. Review system_hw_link v++ for proper kernel instantiation

    The DPU kernel requires two phase aligned clocks, 1x clock and 2x clock. The configuration is stored in the example design. It sets up clock and AXI interface connections between the DPU kernel to the platform.

    Here’s how to review the setup in the project.

    • Go to Assistant View

    • Double click dpu_trd_system [System]

    • Expand the left tree panel and find dpu_trd_system -> dpu_trd_system_hw_link -> Hardware -> dpu

    missing image

    • Click ... button on the line of V++ Configuration Settings, it shows the configuration like this:

      [clock]
freqHz=300000000:DPUCZDX8G_1.aclk
freqHz=600000000:DPUCZDX8G_1.ap_clk_2
freqHz=300000000:DPUCZDX8G_2.aclk
freqHz=600000000:DPUCZDX8G_2.ap_clk_2

[connectivity]
sp=DPUCZDX8G_1.M_AXI_GP0:HPC0
sp=DPUCZDX8G_1.M_AXI_HP0:HP0
sp=DPUCZDX8G_1.M_AXI_HP2:HP1
sp=DPUCZDX8G_2.M_AXI_GP0:HPC0
sp=DPUCZDX8G_2.M_AXI_HP0:HP2
sp=DPUCZDX8G_2.M_AXI_HP2:HP3

    Note: the contents will be written to dpu-link.cfg during build time and pass to v++ Linker command line.

    Note: To customize the v++ link configuration, you can add contents in V++ configuration settings, or create your own configuration file and add --config <your_config_file.cfg> to V++ Command Line Options field. If you need to use relative path for the configuration file, the base location is dpu_trd_system_hw_link/Hardware directory.

  9. Update package options to add dependency models into SD Card

  • Double click dpu_trd_system.sprj

  • Click … button on Package options

  • Input --package.sd_dir=../../dpu_trd/src/app

  • Click OK

All contents in the --package.sd_dir assigned directory will be added to the FAT32 partition of the sd_card.img. We package samples and models for verification.

The dpu_trd in the path name is the application project name in this example. If your project name is different, please update the project name accordingly.

  1. Build the hardware design

  • Select the dpu_trd_system system project

  • Click the hammer button to build the system project

  • The generated SD card image is located at dpu_trd_system/Hardware/package/sd_card.img.

Note: Please refer to Vitis-AI document for details about Vitis-AI project creation flow.

Run Application on Board

  1. Write image to SD

    • Copy the sd_card.img to a local workstation or laptop with SD card readers.

    • Write the image to SD card with balena Etcher or similar tools

  2. Boot the board

    • Insert the SD card to ZCU104

    • Set boot mode to SD boot

    • Connect USB UART cable

    • Power on the board. It should boot Linux properly in a minute.

  3. Resize ext4 partition

    • Connect UART console if it’s not connected.

    • On the ZCU104 board UART console, run df . to check current available disk size

    root@petalinux:~# df .
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root               564048    398340    122364  77% /

    • Run resize-part /dev/mmcblk0p2 to resize the ext4 partition. You need to input Yes and **100% **for confirming the resize to utilize full of the rest of SD card.

    root@petalinux:~# resize-part /dev/mmcblk0p2
/dev/mmcblk0p2
Warning: Partition /dev/mmcblk0p2 is being used. Are you sure you want to continue?
parted: invalid token: 100%
Yes/No? yes
End?  [2147MB]? 100%
Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.

resize2fs 1.45.3 (14-Jul-2019)
Filesystem at /dev/mmcblk0p2 is mounted on /media/sd-mmcblk0p2; o[   72.751329] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): resizing filesystem from 154804 to 1695488 blocks
n-line resizing required
old_desc_blocks = 1, new_desc_blocks = 1
[   75.325525] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): resized filesystem to 1695488
The filesystem on /dev/mmcblk0p2 is now 1695488 (4k) blocks long.

    • Check available size again to verify that the ext4 partition size is enlarged.

    root@petalinux:~# df . -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 6.1G    390.8M      5.4G   7% /

    Note: The available size would be different according to your SD card size.

    Note: resize-part is a script we added in Step 2. It calls Linux utilities parted and resize2fs to extend the ext4 partition to take the rest of the SD card.

  4. Copy dependency files to home folder

    # Libraries
root@petalinux:~# cp -r /mnt/sd-mmcblk0p1/app/samples/ ~
# Model
root@petalinux:~# cp /mnt/sd-mmcblk0p1/app/model/resnet50.xmodel ~
# Host app
root@petalinux:~# cp /mnt/sd-mmcblk0p1/dpu_trd ~
# Image to test
root@petalinux:~# cp /mnt/sd-mmcblk0p1/app/img/bellpeppe-994958.JPEG ~

  5. Run the application

    root@petalinux:~# env LD_LIBRARY_PATH=samples/lib XLNX_VART_FIRMWARE=/mnt/sd-mmcblk0p1/dpu.xclbin ./dpu_trd bellpeppe-994958.JPEG

    It would show bell pepper has the highest possibility.

    score[945]  =  0.992235     text: bell pepper,
score[941]  =  0.00315807   text: acorn squash,
score[943]  =  0.00191546   text: cucumber, cuke,
score[939]  =  0.000904801  text: zucchini, courgette,
score[949]  =  0.00054879   text: strawberry,
Here's the detailed prints 
[  196.247066] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.250926] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.254833] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.258679] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.269515] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.273384] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.277243] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.281076] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.285073] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.288984] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.293230] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.297096] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.300963] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.307660] [drm] zocl_xclbin_read_axlf The XCLBIN already loaded
[  196.307672] [drm] zocl_xclbin_read_axlf 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 ret: 0
[  196.317747] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 locked, ref=1
[  196.325431] [drm] Reconfiguration not supported
[  196.337206] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 unlocked, ref=0
[  196.337361] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.348581] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.352580] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.356638] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 locked, ref=1
[  196.356659] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.367712] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.371560] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.375507] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 locked, ref=2
[  196.375539] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.386590] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.390439] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.394331] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 locked, ref=3
[  196.394822] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
[  196.405867] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  196.409717] [drm] Pid 948 opened device
score[945]  =  0.992235     text: bell pepper,
score[941]  =  0.00315807   text: acorn squash,
score[943]  =  0.00191546   text:[  196.413579] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 locked, ref=4
cucumber, cuke,
score[939]  =  0.000904801  text: zucchini, co[  197.997865] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 unlocked, ref=3
urgette,
score[949]  =  0.00054879   text: strawberry,
[  198.010569] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  198.032534] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 unlocked, ref=2
[  198.032546] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  198.229797] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 unlocked, ref=0
[  198.229803] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  198.241056] [drm] bitstream 1cdede23-0755-458e-8dac-7ef1b3845fa4 unlocked, ref=0
[  198.241059] [drm] Pid 948 closed device
[  198.252434] [drm] Pid 948 closed device

The XRT prints can be eliminated by running echo 6 > /proc/sys/kernel/printk before launching the application.

Known Issues

  1. The default setting of PMIC (irps5401) on ZCU104 can’t afford DPU running on heavy loading. You may see crash or hang on heavy loading.

Congratulations

We have completed creating a custom platform from scratch and verifying it with a simple vadd application and a relatively complex Vitis-AI use cases.

Please feel free to check more tutorials in this repository.

Copyright© 2021 Xilinx