Matlab, RS-232, Ethernet

Mar 11, 2008 8 Replies

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satyam 18 years ago

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

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Dave 18 years ago

These may help:

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All hail the power of google!

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sky465nm 18 years ago

Yes works.

1000Mbps depending on your ethernet chip(s).

C socket programming

If your ethernet PHY manages 100 Mbps in full duplex, then yes.

Do you need realtime or synchronous operation?

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

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StYm 18 years ago

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.

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lm317t 18 years ago

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.

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StYm 18 years ago

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

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lm317t 18 years ago

USB 1.1 PHY core in Verilog:

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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

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Libusb for the PC:

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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 writ> >

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jkljljklk 18 years ago

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

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sky465nm 18 years ago

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

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