Accelerating Applications with Vitis Unified Software Environment

AI-ACCEL

Course Description


Learn how to develop, debug, and profile new or existing C/C++ and RTL applications in the Vitis™ unified software environment targeting both data center (DC) and embedded applications.
The emphasis of this course is on:
▪ Building a software application using the OpenCL™ API to run hardware kernels on Alveo™ accelerator cards
▪ Building a software application using the OpenCL API and the Linux-based Xilinx runtime (XRT) to schedule the hardware kernels and control data movement on an embedded processor platform
▪ Demonstrating the Vitis environment GUI flow and makefile flow for both DC and embedded applications
▪ Describing the Vitis platform execution model and XRT
▪ Describing kernel development using C/C++ and RTL
▪ Utilizing the Vitis analyzer tool to analyze reports
▪ Explaining the design methodology to optimize a design

What's New for 2022.1

▪ Xilinx Runtime Library (XRT) Native APIs: Added new module and lab to describe the XRT native APIs—the lab also supports the Versal™ ACAP
▪ Xilinx Card Utilities: Added details on how the xbutil and xbmgmt utilities have been improved for this release
▪ Profiling: Updated the xrt.ini switches for profiling and debugging
▪ Optimization Methodology & C/C++ based Kernel Optimization: Updated the key techniques necessary to develop a high-performance C/C++ kernel
▪ Vitis Accelerated Libraries: Added information on the AI Engine DSP library, which is now part of the Vitis Libraries and is
available from GitHub
▪ All labs have been updated to the latest software versions


Level: AI 3
Course Duration: 3 days
Course Part Number: AI-ACCEL
Who Should Attend?: Anyone who needs to accelerate their software applications using FPGAs, SoCs (such as  Zynq®-7000 SoCs, Zynq UltraScale+™ MPSoCs), and Versal™ ACAPs


Registration: Register online in our secure store

Prerequisites
•Basic knowledge of Xilinx FPGA architecture
•Comfort with the C/C++ programming language
•Software development flow
Software Tools
• Vitis unified software environment 2022.1
Hardware
•Architecture: Xilinx Alveo accelerator cards, SoCs, and ACAPs
▪ Demo boards: Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZCU104 board

After completing this comprehensive training, you will have the
necessary skills to:
▪ Describe how the FPGA architecture lends itself to parallel computing
▪ Explain how the Vitis unified software environment helps software developers to focus on applications
▪ Describe the Vitis (OpenCL API) execution model and XRT native APIs
▪ Analyze the OpenCL API memory model
▪ Create kernels from C, C++, or RTL IP using the RTL Kernel Wizard
▪ Apply host code optimization and kernel optimization techniques
▪ Move data efficiently between kernel and global memory
▪ Profile the design using the Vitis analyzer tool


Course Outline
Day 1

Vitis Tool Flow
▪ Introduction to the Vitis Unified Software Platform

Explains how software/hardware engineers and application developers can benefit from the Vitis unified software environment and OpenCL framework. {Lecture}
Vitis IDE Tool Overview
Describes the elements of the development flow, such as software emulation, hardware emulation, and system run as well as debugging support for the host code and kernel code. {Lecture, Labs}
▪ Vitis Command Line Flow
Introduces the Vitis environment makefile flow where the user manages the compilation of host code and kernels. {Lecture, Labs}
Basics of Hardware Acceleration
▪ Introduction to Hardware Acceleration

Outlines the fundamental aspects of FPGAs, SoCs, and ACAPs that are required to guide the Vitis tool to the best computational architecture for any algorithm.{Lecture}
Alveo Data Center Accelerator Cards
▪ Alveo Data Center Accelerator Cards Overview

Describes the Alveo Data Center accelerator cards and lists the advantages of these cards and the available software solutions stack. {Lecture}
Getting Started with Alveo Data Center Accelerator Cards
Describes the hardware and software installation procedures for
the Alveo Data Center accelerator cards. {Lecture}

Day 2

Vitis Execution Model and XRT
▪ Vitis Execution Model and XRT

Describes the XRT and the OpenCL APIs used for setting up the platform, executing the target device, and post-processing. {Lecture, Lab}
Xilinx Runtime Library (XRT) Native APIs
Describes the XRT native APIs used for opening a device, loading XCLBIN, creating buffers, executing a kernel, and controlling a graph. {Lecture, Lab}
▪ Synchronization
Describes OpenCL synchronization techniques such as events, barriers, blocking write/read, and the benefit of using out-of-order execution. {Lecture, Lab}
Xilinx Card Utilities
Describes the various tool utilities available with the Xilinx Runtime (XRT), such as the Xilinx board, board management, and xclbin utilities. The various commands and usage of these utilities are also covered. {Lecture}
NDRange (Optional)
▪ Introduction to NDRanges
Explains the basics of NDRange (N dimensional range) and the OpenCL execution model that defines how kernels execute with the NDRange definition. {Lecture}
Working with NDRanges
Outlines the host code and kernel code changes with respect to NDRange. Also explains how NDRange works and the best way to represent the work-group size for the FPGA architecture. {Lecture}
Design Analysis
▪ Profiling

Describes the different reports generated by the tool and how to view the reports that help to optimize data transfer and kernel optimization using the Vitis analyzer tool. {Lecture}
Debugging
Explains the support for debugging host code and kernel code as well as tips to debug the system. {Lecture}
Kernel Development
▪ Introduction to C/C++ based Kernels

Describes the trade-offs between C/C++, OpenCL, and RTL applications and the benefits of C-based kernels. {Lecture, Lab}

Day 3

Kernel Development
Using the RTL Kernel Wizard to Reuse Existing IP as
Accelerators

Describes how the Vitis unified software development provides RTL kernel developers with a framework to integrate their hardware functions into an application running on a host PC connected to an FPGA via a PCIe® interface. {Lecture, Lab}
Optimization Methodology Guide
▪ Optimization Methodology

Describes the recommended flow for optimizing an application in the Vitis unified software development environment. {Lecture}
C/C++ based Kernel Optimization
Reviews different techniques such as loop unrolling, pipelining, and DATAFLOW. {Lecture}
Host Code Optimization
Describes various optimization techniques, such as reducing the overhead of kernel enqueing and optimizing the data transfer between kernels and global memory. {Lecture}
Optimizing the Performance of the Design
Illustrates various optimization techniques, such as optimizing the host code and data transfer between kernels and global memory, to improve kernel performance. {Lab}
Libraries
▪ Vitis Accelerated Libraries

Describes the Vitis accelerated libraries that are available for domain-specific and common libraries. These libraries are open-source, performance-optimized libraries that offer out-of-the-box acceleration. {Lecture}
Platform Creation
▪ Creating a Vitis Embedded Acceleration Platform (Edge)

Describes the Vitis embedded acceleration platform, which provides product developers an environment for creating embedded software and accelerated applications on heterogeneous platforms based on FPGAs, Zynq SoCs, and
Alveo data center cards. {Lecture}
Appendix
Alveo Data Center Accelerator Cards
▪ Alveo Accelerator Card Ecosystem Partner Solutions
(Optional)

Outlines the partner solutions available in the cloud and on premises for Alveo Data Center accelerator cards. {Lecture}
Xilinx Real-Time Video Server Appliance (Optional)
Describes the Xilinx Real-Time Video Server appliance reference architectures, the optimized software solution stack for video applications, and various features offered by Alveo card live transcoding. {Lecture}

PDF version of this page.

Enroll Now.

Scheduled Embedded Courses

No courses of this type are currently scheduled

No events found.

Alternative Dates and Locations

Faster Technology is able to deliver both private classes at client sites and also public classes at alternate locations and dates.  If there are no currently scheduled classes listed above or if none of the classes are convenient, please tell us what dates and locations will meet your needs.  No obligation necessary.