A graphical programming and design environment for FPGA-based hardware

Abstract

In this paper we present a graphical programming environment for hardware designs targeted at FPGA devices. We first introduce LabVIEW™, a scientific software system, and its modular virtual instrumentation programming paradigm. Then, we discuss how LabVIEW FPGA enables application domain experts without prior knowledge of hardware description languages (HDLs) to program reconfigurable hardware devices. Initially many LabVIEW FPGA users were high-level (software centric) application domain experts in the area of control with prior knowledge of LabVIEW, where they benefited from a new fast and reliable target, namely FPGAs. Recently, we have found that system level integrators with lower level hardware design interest, but still no working experience in detailed HDL coding, have been able to use LabVIEW FPGA to successfully implement high-speed hardware designs. Here we focus on how LabVIEW facilitates reconfigurable hardware designs for applications of ultra-high speed control, complex timing and synchronization, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, etc. Specifically, we detail its modeling, simulation, and debugging capabilities as well as its rigorous semantics as a programming and deployment framework. Furthermore, we use application use cases to illustrate how LabVIEW FPGA can support a flexible, reliable and cost-effective hardware design.