Integrate JTAG-SMT2 module onto custom board

[beamer]

Hi,

I'm brand new this forum but I have some questions about integrating the JTAG-SMT2 module onto a custom board.

I'm interested in adding this module onto a custom board that is being developed that will utilize a Xilinx UltraScale FPGA.  I would like to be able to configure this FPGA using this module over from a USB host port from a on-board microcontroller that will be running embedded Linux.  I would also like to configure the GPIO lines as a SPI port to be able to communicate with some SPI-based peripherals.

Here a few questions I have after doing a little research about this module:

1) Are there any reference designs / examples or reference documentation on how to integrate both the JTAG-SMT2 hardware module and the associated software onto a custom hardware and Linux-based software platform?

2) Can I use this module to communicate over JTAG and SPI simultaneously or can only communication type be used at a time?

3) Can I use the software provided in the Adept 2 SDK to run on the embedded microcontroller that is running embedded Linux to communicate with the FPGA and/or SPI peripherals?

4) Besides the Adept runtime software, is there any additional software I would need to run on my embedded microcontroller to support the communication to the FPGA and/or SPI peripherals via the JTAG-SMT2 module?

5) Is the 30 MHz / 30 Mbits/sec. speed supported for both the USB-JTAG and USB-SPI communication ports?

Please let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to your response.

[NAEastland]

Hey Beamer,

Sounds like a pretty cool project you're working on! I have spoken to one of our engineers for some clarification on a couple of your questions. So to answer your questions:

1. The short answer is no, unfortunately. There may be some type of example project in the future, but at the moment I am not aware of any that will be available soon.
2. As for simultaneous communication with SPI and JTAG, this specific module does not support that. I have been told that we do have a chip on certain products that is capable of supporting both simultaneously (on the Nexys Video for instance), but this one cannot.
3. There are a couple points for your question here. First, depending on the Linux distro you are using, you could possibly be able to use Adept 2 SDK, however there are many varieties for which it will not work. I am not intimately familiar with all of its dependencies so I can't really speak to what you should look for to determine compatibility. Second, after asking the engineer who wrote Adept, it seems that it was only written to support a specific subset of Xilinx FPGAs, so it will not be able to program something like an UltraScale chip.
4. I don't believe there would be any other software you would need, provided the prior answers don't render this question a nonissue.
5. Yes, the 30 MHz speed is supported for both communication ports.

Sorry for not having a whole lot of optimistic answers for you. If you are set on using a microcontroller to configure an FPGA you may look into the Slave Serial Mode for configuration of 7 series FPGAs. This is a mode that supports direct configuration from a microcontroller, and while I am not sure this configuration option is supported with the specific chip you are planning to use, it is worth looking into. I found the configuration document for the standard 7 series chips here. Also, if you are not totally set on this particular chip set, I might suggest looking into the Zynq UltraScale+ chips if you need a processing system and FPGA component to your project. I hope this helps!

-Nate