Workflow accelerates algorithmic designs in SoCs

Algorithms that target both the FPGA and ARM processors integrated in Altera SoC FPGAs can be simulated, prototyped, verified and implemented using the hardware/software workflow. The interfaces between the FPGA, the processor system and the software drivers, are automatically generated by the design flow. The HDL Coder and Embedded Coder tools provide targeted support for SoCs. The HDL Coder generates custom IP cores and configures the programmable logic portion of the SoC, while the Embedded Coder generates C/C++ code that runs on the ARM-based hard processor system.

A model-based design environment allows designers to remain in a familiar design environments without needing to be experienced hardware engineers, accelerating the design process. The Release 2014b allows designers leveraging Altera SoCs to accelerate their algorithms in the FPGA portion of the device while running the rest of their design in the ARM processors. Automated support for Altera’s Cyclone V SoCs, including automatic programming of Cyclone V SoC development boards, is provided by the workflow.

“Today’s announcement is a significant extension to our partnership with Altera, enabling our customers to quickly and easily leverage the performance and system-level benefits that Altera SoCs provide,” commented Ken Karnofsky, Senior Strategist for signal processing applications, MathWorks. “Engineers now have a highly-automated SoC workflow for modelling algorithms in MATLAB and Simulink, simulating with system test benches, partitioning into hardware and software subsystems, generating C and HDL code, and prototyping with Altera design tools and development kits.”

Joerg Bertholdt, Director of embedded software marketing, Altera, said: “We are very excited about this level of design support provided by MathWorks for our SoCs. Our SoCs are built on a solid foundation that is based on a superior architecture, industry-standard development tools and broad operating system support. The addition of a MathWorks-offered model-based design flow to our SoC ecosystem makes it much easier for designers to adopt and benefit from the performance and power savings this class of device offers.”

The R2014b is available now.