System-on-Chip (SoC) Design

Instructor 

Dr. Christophe Bobda is a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Florida and director of the Smart Systems lab. He also serves as associate chair for education for the department.

Learning Objectives

Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) are advanced devices that integrate hardware and software into a single chip, providing increased performance, reduced power consumption, and faster time to market. SoCs are commonplace in many domains, including robotics, the Internet of Things, consumer electronics, automotive systems, and more. However, the complexity of SoC design and performing hardware/software co-design can make these devices challenging to work with. Designing an SoC involves coding with hardware description languages like VHDL or Verilog to create Intellectual Property (IP) blocks, designing a system architecture using Vivado to interconnect these IPs, and writing C code in environments like Vitis to enable communication between components. Learning to use these tools can be daunting and quite complicated, which is why this micro-certificate course aims to provide a clear and structured introduction to the concepts and tools required for SoC design.

Welcome to the MEST’s System-on-Chip Design micro-certificate course! This course is designed to equip students with foundational knowledge in System-on-Chip (SoC) architecture, design, and the use of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools such as Vivado, Vitis, and Synopsys Platform Architect.

The micro-certificate course is organized into several units, which are detailed as follows:

• Unit 1: Basic System-on-Chip Architecture:  In this unit, you will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of SoC architecture and design. You will learn how to utilize Vivado and Vitis for SoC design and implementation.
• Unit 2: Interconnection and System Integration: This unit covers the creation of custom IPs (Intellectual Property blocks) using Vivado. You will learn to navigate the AXI and APB system buses and develop custom C code to interface with these components.
• Unit 3: Modeling with Platform Architect: Here, you will learn about Transaction-Level Modeling (TLM) and gain practical skills using the Synopsys Platform Architect tool to model and analyze SoCs.
• Unit 4: Introduction to PetaLinux: This unit introduces PetaLinux, a customizable Linux operating system for Xilinx SoCs. You will learn about the importance of operating systems in SoCs, build a PetaLinux image, and deploy it onto a hardware platform.
• Unit 5: Multi-Processor Integration: In this unit, you will explore the communication mechanisms between processors within System-on-Chip (SoC) designs. You will gain hands-on experience in implementing and integrating ZYNQ and MicroBlaze processors and utilize the AXI Mailbox IP to enable communication between these processors.

Learning Outcomes:

This micro-certificate introduces the basics of SoC architecture, hardware/software system integration, and the use of tools like Vivado, Vitis, and Synopsys Platform Architect. By the end of this course, you will have gained the knowledge and skills necessary to design, implement, and optimize your own SoC designs.

Prerequisites:

• A background in VHDL, Verilog, Vivado, or Vitis is desirable but not required.

Biography

Prof. Bobda is with the University of Florida as a Professor of Computer Engineering, leader of the lab smart systems, and Associate ECE Chair for Education. Prof. Christophe Bobda is an expert in embedded systems, reconfigurable systems, and system-on-chip with applications in IoT, cybersecurity, and is-situ image analysis, particularly hardware/software reconfigurable architectures for acceleration of video processing applications, at the edged and in the cloud. Professor Bobda is a Senior Member of the ACM and IEEE. He is also on the program committee of several conferences like DAC, CODES+ISSS, FCCM, FPL, and FPT and was ACM ACM Distinguished Speaker from 2016 – 2020. Dr. Bobda has authored more than 200 journal and conference publications in computer architecture, embedded systems, system-on-chip, embedded imaging, robotics, and cybersecurity. He received multiple conference awards, including the FCCM Best Short Paper and the SBCCI Test of Time Awards.