Multi-Cable and Multi-Device Support

This feature of the Vitis environment allows you to run and debug application projects, program the bitstream/PDI, and program the flash using multiple JTAG cables or multiple devices on a single JTAG chain. The main use cases are as follows:

Multi-cable
You have more than one board connected to the system and you want to work on all of the boards.
Multi-device
You have multiple devices in a JTAG chain and you want to work all of the devices.

In the Vitis tool, the following operations are relevant to these use cases:

  • Target connection (view only)
  • Debugging applications using System Debugger (you can also program the FPGA during debug)
  • Programming the FPGA
  • Programming the flash

Viewing Target Connections

The following snapshots have been achieved with the help of the Xilinx SDK tool and a board setup in which one Zynq® ZC702 device and one Zynq ZC706 device are connected to the host machine using two Xilinx platform USB II cables.

Figure 1: Multi-Cable Target Connections View
Figure 2: Multi-Device Target Connections View

Debugging an Application Using a Multi-Cable/Multi-Device Setup

  1. Create the application project and build the application (see the Applications section for more details).
  2. Right-click the application project you created and select Debug As > Debug Configuration.
  3. Double-click Single Application Debug to create the new configuration.
  4. Go to the Target Setup tab.

  5. There are two options in the target setup: PL Device and PS Device. Because this is a multi-cable/multi-device setup, you need to select the PL and PS devices to program by clicking the Select button next to each field.
    1. In the case of a multi-device setup, the selection of PL and PS device looks like the following.

    2. In the case of a multi-cable setup, the selection of PL and PS device looks like the following.

      Note: If the device status is Auto Detect, the Vitis tool automatically picks up the first device or cable from the list.
  6. Click Debug to proceed further with the debugging of the application.

Programming a Device Using a Multi-Device/Multi-Cable Setup

  1. Go to the Xilinx menu and select Program Device.
  2. To select a device from the multiple cable or multiple device setup, click the Select button to the right of the Device field to open the device selection window.
  3. Choose the appropriate device or cable from the dropdown menu and click Program to program the FPGA/PDI file.
    Note: If the device status is Auto Detect, the Vitis tool automatically picks up the first device or cable from the list.

Programming the Flash Using a Multi-Device/Multi-Cable Setup

  1. Go to the Xilinx menu and select Select the Program Flash.
  2. To select a device from the multiple cable or multiple device setup, click the Select button to the right of the Device field to open the device selection window.
  3. Choose the appropriate device or cable from the dropdown menu and click Program to flash the image onto the selected device.
    Note: If the device status is Auto Detect, the Vitis tool automatically picks up the first device or cable from the list.