FPGA Data Capture

Capture data from live FPGA into MATLAB workspace interactively

Description

The FPGA Data Capture tool captures data from a design running on an FPGA and returns it to the MATLAB^® workspace. You can configure the data types of the returned values, specify the number of capture windows and number of trigger stages, set up a trigger condition to control when the data is captured, and set up a capture condition to control which data to capture.

Before using this tool, you must have generated the customized data capture components using the FPGA Data Capture Component Generator tool. You must also integrate the generated IP code into your project and deploy it to the FPGA. The tool communicates with the FPGA over a JTAG or Ethernet cable. Make sure that the required cable is connected between the board and the host computer.

The tool is a wrapper over your generated hdlverifier.FPGADataReader System object™. The FPGA Data Capture tool defines the variable, fpgadc_obj in the workspace. If this variable already exists, the tool opens using the existing object, and saves modifications to that object.

For a workflow overview, see Data Capture Workflow.

Open the FPGA Data Capture

• MATLAB command prompt: Enter launchDataCaptureApp. This function is a generated script in the same folder as your other generated data capture components.

Examples

• Capture Audio Signal from Intel FPGA Board Using FPGA Data Capture
• Capture Temperature Sensor Data from Xilinx FPGA Board Using FPGA Data Capture

Parameters

Capture Data — When to capture data

Immediately (default) | On trigger

The default setting, capture Immediately, ignores any trigger condition and captures the buffer of data when you click Capture Data. To capture data that includes a particular event in the FPGA logic, configure a trigger condition and select On trigger. In this case, the data capture logic waits until the trigger condition is true, then captures the buffer of data.

When you click Capture Data, a window with a Stop button opens. If you want to cancel the capture attempt (for example, if the trigger condition does not occur), click Stop to return control to the tool. When you abort a capture attempt, no data is returned to MATLAB.

Output

Output variable name — Name of structure in which to return captured data

dataCaptureOut (default) | character vector

The captured data is returned to a structure variable in the base MATLAB workspace. The data returned from each signal is a vector of Sample depth values. Each signal becomes a field in the structure. The field name in the structure is the same as the Signal Name.

Display data with Logic Analyzer — Automatically display data in Logic Analyzer

on (default) | off

This option appears if you have a DSP System Toolbox™ license. When you select this option, after data capture is complete, the tool opens the Logic Analyzer window to display the captured data. The time axes is measured in samples. The cursor location indicates the time the trigger was detected.

Trigger

Sample depth — Number of samples captured for each signal

integer power of two

This parameter is read-only. It reflects the value you specified at generation time.

Number of capture windows — Number of data capture recurrences

1 (default) | integer power of two

Specify the number of recurrences to capture. This value must be a power of two, and cannot be greater than Sample depth. When specifying the sample depth, consider the number of windows you plan to configure when reading the data, because together they impact the window depth of each capture window. The window depth is the Sample depth divided by the Number of capture windows. Specify Sample depth in the FPGA Data Capture Component Generator tool.

For example: If Sample depth is 4096 and Number of capture windows is 4, then each capture window has a window depth of 1024.

Number of trigger stages — Number of trigger stages for providing trigger conditions

M (default) | integer from 1 to M

Specify the number of trigger stages. This value must be an integer from 1 to M, where M is set by the Max trigger stages parameter of the FPGA Data Capture Component Generator tool. When you specify the Max trigger stages parameter, consider the maximum number of trigger stages in which you plan to configure the trigger conditions to capture data.

For example, if Max trigger stages is 4, then Number of trigger stages can be 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Trigger position — Position of the trigger detection cycle within the capture buffer

0 (default) | integer up to window depth—1

By default, the clock cycle when the trigger is detected is the first sample of the capture buffer. You can change the relative position of the trigger detection cycle within the capture buffer. A nondefault trigger position means that some samples are captured before the trigger occurs. You can set this parameter to any number from 0 to window depth—1, inclusive. When the trigger position is equal to the window depth—1, the last sample corresponds to the cycle when the trigger occurs. If Number of capture windows is greater than one, the same trigger position applies to all windows. For more information, see Triggers.

Signal — Trigger component signal name

character vector

This parameter is read-only. The signal names you specified at generation time are listed in the drop-down menu at the bottom. Click the + button to add a signal to the trigger condition.

Operator — Operator to compare signals within trigger condition

== | != | < | > | <= | >=

To compare signals, select one of these operators: ==, !=, <, >, <=, or >=. To compare signals containing X or x (don't-care value), specify either == or != operator.

Value — Value to compare signal to as part of overall trigger condition

decimal | binary | hexadecimal | Low | High | Falling edge | Rising edge | Both edges

The trigger condition can be composed of value comparisons of one or more signals. This parameter specifies the value to match for each signal.

For a multibit signal, specify a decimal, binary, or a hexadecimal value within the range of the data type associated with the signal. While providing hexadecimal or binary values, you can provide values with a combination of X or x (don't care value) to enable bit masking. While comparing the values, the trigger condition discards place values with X or x and provides the output.

To separate a group of bits for better readability, you can use _ between bits. For example, you can represent a 32-bit binary value as 0b1010_XXXX_1011_XXXX_1110_XXXX_1111XXXX and a 32-bit hexadecimal value as 0xAB_CDEXFX.

For boolean signals, select a level or edge condition. For more information, see Triggers.

Trigger combination operator — Logical operator for creating trigger condition

AND (default) | OR

This parameter is indicated by the logic gate icon. Click the Change operator button to toggle between AND and OR.

The trigger condition can be composed of value comparisons of one or more signals. Combine these value comparisons with only one type of logical operator. Suppose three signals, A, B, and C, make up the trigger condition. The options are:

A == 10 AND B == 'Falling edge' AND C == 0

or

A == 10 OR B == 'Falling edge' OR C == 0

You cannot mix and match the combination operators. For more information, see Triggers.

Trigger time out — Maximum number of data capture IP core clock cycles within which trigger condition must occur in a trigger stage

1 (default) | integer from 1 to 65,536

Within this many data capture IP core clock cycles, the trigger condition must occur in a trigger stage in which you are enabling this parameter. You can specify any integer value from 1 to 65,536 according to your requirements. Select this parameter to enable trigger time out in a trigger stage. A trigger time out is not allowed in Trigger Stage 1.

Capture Condition

Enable capture condition logic — Option to enable capture condition logic

off (default) | on

Select this parameter to enable capture condition logic in the data capture IP core. Enable capture condition logic to use a capture condition to control which data to capture from the FPGA. The data capture IP core evaluates the capture condition at each clock cycle and captures only the data that satisfies the capture condition. For more information on capture conditions, see Capture Conditions.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, in the FPGA Data Capture Component Generator tool, select Include capture condition logic.

Signal — Capture component signal name

character vector

This parameter is read-only. The signal names you specified as triggers at generation time are listed in the drop-down menu at the bottom. Click the + button to add a signal to the capture condition.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Enable capture condition logic.

Operator — Operator to compare signals within capture condition

== | != | < | > | <= | >=

To compare signals, select one of these operators: ==, !=, <, >, <=, or >=. To compare signals containing X or x (don't-care value), specify either == or != operator.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Enable capture condition logic.

Value — Value to compare signal to as part of overall capture condition

decimal | binary | hexadecimal | Low | High | Falling edge | Rising edge | Both edges

The capture condition can be composed of value comparisons of one or more signals. This parameter specifies the value to match for each signal.

For a multibit signal, specify a decimal, binary, or a hexadecimal value within the range of the data type associated with the signal. While providing hexadecimal or binary values, you can provide values with a combination of X or x (don't care value) to enable bit masking. While comparing the values, the capture condition discards place values with X or x and provides the output.

To separate a group of bits for better readability, you can use _ between bits. For example, you can represent a 32-bit binary value as 0b1010_XXXX_1011_XXXX_1110_XXXX_1111XXXX and a 32-bit hexadecimal value as 0xAB_CDEXFX.

For boolean signals, select a level or edge condition. For more information, see Capture Conditions.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Enable capture condition logic.

Capture condition combination operator — Logical operator for creating capture condition

AND (default) | OR

This parameter is indicated by the logic gate icon. Click the Change operator button to toggle between AND and OR.

The capture condition can be composed of value comparisons of one or more signals. Combine these value comparisons with only one type of logical operator. You cannot mix and match the combination operators. For more information, see Capture Conditions.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Enable capture condition logic.

Data Types

Signal Name — Captured signal name

character vector

This parameter is read-only. It reflects the value you specified at generation time. This name is the name of the field in the structure variable.

Bit Width — Number of bits in the signal

positive integer

This parameter is read-only. It reflects the value you specified at generation time.

Data Type — Data type for captured data

built-in type | numerictype

The Data Type menu provides data type suggestions that match the bit width of the captured signal. This size is the width you specified for the port on the generated IP. You can type in this field to specify a custom data type. If the signal is 8, 16, or 32 bits, the default is uint. If the signal has one bit, the default is boolean. If the signal is a different width, the default is numerictype(0,bitWidth,0).

The tool supports these data types, depending on the signal bit width: boolean, uint8, int8, uint16, int16, half, uint32, int32, single, uint64, int64, double, and numerictype.

Version History

Introduced in R2017a