User guide

20 www.xilinx.com System Generator for DSP User Guide
UG640 (v 12.2) July 23, 2010
Chapter 1: Hardware Design Using System Generator
System-Level Modeling in System Generator
System Generator allows device-specific hardware designs to be constructed directly in a
flexible high-level system modeling environment. In a System Generator design, signals
are not just bits. They can be signed and unsigned fixed-point numbers, and changes to the
design automatically translate into appropriate changes in signal types. Blocks are not just
stand-ins for hardware. They respond to their surroundings, automatically adjusting the
results they produce and the hardware they become.
System Generator allows designs to be composed from a variety of ingredients. Data flow
models, traditional hardware design languages (VHDL, Verilog, and EDIF), and functions
derived from the MATLAB programming language, can be used side-by-side, simulated
together, and synthesized into working hardware. System Generator simulation results are
bit and cycle-accurate. This means results seen in simulation exactly match the results that
are seen in hardware. System Generator simulations are considerably faster than those
from traditional HDL simulators, and results are easier to analyze.
System Generator Blocksets Describes how System Generator's blocks are
organized in libraries, and how the blocks can be
parameterized and used.
Signal Types Describes the data types used by System Generator
and ways in which data types can be automatically
assigned by the tool.
Bit-True and Cycle-True
Modeling
Specifies the relationship between the Simulink-based
simulation of a System Generator model and the
behavior of the hardware that can be generated from
it.
Timing and Clocking Describes how clocks are implemented in hardware,
and how their implementation is controlled inside
System Generator. Explains how System Generator
translates a multirate Simulink model into working
clock-synchronous hardware.
Synchronization Mechanisms Describes mechanisms that can be used to
synchronize data flow across the data path elements
in a high-level System Generator design, and
describes how control path functions can be
implemented.
Block Masks and Parameter
Passing
Explains how parameterized systems and subsystems
are created in Simulink.
Resource Estimation Describes how to generate estimates of the hardware
needed to implement a System Generator design.