A LAN(Local Area Network) DataFeeder for FPGA/embedded Debugging

Preface

I am learning FPGA developing for data processing of mmW radar(77GHz or higher) for my master degree. And I need a simple tool as a radar simulator, which could send data to my FPGA board periodically, and other utility to help debugging.

I want to make it as a general-purpose tool, with LAN interface. And more feature is on the road.

Design Principles

• Easy to Use
• Performance
• Cross-Platform

Features

Long-Term Goals

• IPv6 support
• data transfer over the UDP
• configurable Timer with 0.5 micro-second precision
• extensible data frame definitions
• provide the pure-header library for embedded client
• provide protocol layer implementation for FPGA use Verilog HDL or SystemVerilog(with public Ethernet interface, e.g. W5300/RTL8211)
• auto-detect slave boards
• Performance
• graphics UI(low-priority)

Short-Term Goals

• Fast Prototype
• IPv4 support
• data transfer over the TCP

Implementation

not cleared for now, but I will push code as soon as I can.

Build

Use vcpkg for managing dependencies for all platforms. Dependencies would be installed as declared in vcpkg.json by vcpkg.

Mac OS Ventura(Apple Silicon)

The prototype is being built on Mac OS with M1 pro. Use homebrew to install dependencies.

brew install pkg-config vcpkg
git clone [email protected]:microsoft/vcpkg.git --depth 1 <vcpkg_root>

Then use following command to build all targets(under the root of the repo):

mkdir build
cmake -B build -S ./ -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=<vcpkg_root>/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake # configure the project with vcpkg
cmake --build build  # build all targets

And the executable file could be found as build/src/ipdf and build/src/ipdf_test.

Windows 11 x64

Install vcpkg into your PC as you like.

If the visual studio is preferred, follow these commands:

mkdir build
cmake -B build -S ./ -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=<vcpkg_root>/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -DUSE_MSVC=on # configure the project with vcpkg
cmake --build build  # build all targets

vcpkg will install dependencies with triplet x64-windows if the USE_MSVC is true. Or dependencies will be installed with triplet x64-mingw-static. Run vcpkg help triplet to get more information.

Not supported: cygwin/mingw64/msys2.

Known issue on windows:

• ctest cannot find test targets after building.