FPGA AI Suite: Design Examples User Guide

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ID 848957
Date 4/22/2025
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. FPGA AI Suite Design Examples User Guide 2. FPGA AI Suite Design Examples 3. [PCIE] Getting Started with the FPGA AI Suite PCIe* -based Design Example 4. [PCIE] Building the FPGA AI Suite Runtime 5. [PCIE] Running the Design Example Demonstration Applications 6. [PCIE] Design Example Components 7. [PCIE] Design Example System Architecture for the Agilex™ 7 FPGA 8. [OFS-PCIE] Getting Started with Open FPGA Stack (OFS) for PCIe* Attach Design Examples 9. [OFS-PCIE] Design Example Components 10. [HL-NO-DDR] Getting Started with the FPGA AI Suite DDR-Free Design Example 11. [HL-NO-DDR] Running the Hostless DDR-Free Design Example 12. [HL-NO-DDR] Design Example System Architecture 13. [HL-NO-DDR] Quartus® Prime System Console 14. [HL-NO-DDR] JTAG to Avalon MM Host Register Map 15. [HL-NO-DDR] Updating MIF Files 16. [HL-JTAG] Getting Started 17. [HL-JTAG] Design Example Components 18. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Prerequisites 19. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Quick Start Tutorial 20. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Run Process 21. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Build Process 22. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Quartus® Prime System Architecture 23. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Software Components 24. [SOC] Streaming-to-Memory (S2M) Streaming Demonstration A. FPGA AI Suite Example Designs User Guide Archives B. FPGA AI Suite Example Designs User Guide Revision History
2. FPGA AI Suite Design Examples x
2.1. About the PCIe* -Based Design Example 2.2. About the Open FPGA Stack (OFS) for PCIe* Attach Design Examples 2.3. About the Hostless DDR-Free Design Example 2.4. About the Hostless JTAG Design Example 2.5. About the SoC Design Example
4. [PCIE] Building the FPGA AI Suite Runtime x
4.1. [PCIE] CMake Targets 4.2. [PCIE] Build Options
5. [PCIE] Running the Design Example Demonstration Applications x
5.1. [PCIE] Exporting Trained Graphs from Source Frameworks 5.2. [PCIE] Compiling Exported Graphs Through the FPGA AI Suite 5.3. [PCIE] Compiling the PCIe* -based Example Design 5.4. [PCIE] Programming the FPGA Device ( Agilex™ 7) 5.5. [PCIE] Performing Accelerated Inference with the dla_benchmark Application 5.6. [PCIE] Running the Ported OpenVINO™ Demonstration Applications
5.5. [PCIE] Performing Accelerated Inference with the dla_benchmark Application x
5.5.1. [PCIE] Inference on Image Classification Graphs 5.5.2. [PCIE] Inference on Object Detection Graphs 5.5.3. [PCIE] Additional dla_benchmark Options 5.5.4. [PCIE] The dla_benchmark Performance Metrics
5.5.2. [PCIE] Inference on Object Detection Graphs x
5.5.2.1. [PCIE] The mAP and COCO AP Metrics 5.5.2.2. [PCIE] Specifying Ground Truth 5.5.2.3. [PCIE] Example of Inference on Object Detection Graphs
5.5.4. [PCIE] The dla_benchmark Performance Metrics x
5.5.4.1. [PCIE] Interpreting System Throughput and Latency Metrics
5.6. [PCIE] Running the Ported OpenVINO™ Demonstration Applications x
5.6.1. [PCIE] Example Running the Object Detection Demonstration Application
6. [PCIE] Design Example Components x
6.1. [PCIE] Build Script 6.2. [PCIE] Example Architecture Bitstream Files 6.3. [PCIE] Software Components
6.1. [PCIE] Build Script x
6.1.1. [PCIE] Build Script Options 6.1.2. [PCIE] Script Flow
6.3. [PCIE] Software Components x
6.3.1. [PCIE] OpenVINO™ FPGA Runtime Plugin 6.3.2. [PCIE] FPGA AI Suite Runtime 6.3.3. [PCIE] BSP Driver 6.3.4. [PCIE] Software Interface to the BSP
7. [PCIE] Design Example System Architecture for the Agilex™ 7 FPGA x
7.1. [PCIE] System Overview 7.2. [PCIE] Hardware
7.2. [PCIE] Hardware x
7.2.1. [PCIE] PLL Adjustment
8. [OFS-PCIE] Getting Started with Open FPGA Stack (OFS) for PCIe* Attach Design Examples x
8.1. [OFS-PCIE] Building the FPGA AI Suite Runtime 8.2. [OFS-PCIE] Running the Design Example Demonstration Applications
8.1. [OFS-PCIE] Building the FPGA AI Suite Runtime x
8.1.1. [OFS-PCIE] CMake Targets 8.1.2. [OFS-PCIE] Build Options
8.2. [OFS-PCIE] Running the Design Example Demonstration Applications x
8.2.1. [OFS-PCIE] Setup the OFS Environment for the FPGA Device 8.2.2. [OFS-PCIE] Exporting Trained Graphs from Source Frameworks. 8.2.3. [OFS-PCIE] Compiling Exported Graphs Through the FPGA AI Suite 8.2.4. [OFS-PCIE] Compiling the OFS for PCIe* Attach Design Example 8.2.5. [OFS-PCIE] Programming the FPGA Green Bitstream 8.2.6. [OFS-PCIE] Performing Accelerated Inference with the dla_benchmark application
8.2.6. [OFS-PCIE] Performing Accelerated Inference with the dla_benchmark application x
8.2.6.1. [OFS-PCIE] Inference on Image Classification Graphs 8.2.6.2. [OFS-PCIE] Inference on Object Detection Graphs 8.2.6.3. [OFS-PCIE] Additional dla_benchmark Options 8.2.6.4. [OFS-PCIE] The dla_benchmark Performance Metrics
8.2.6.2. [OFS-PCIE] Inference on Object Detection Graphs x
8.2.6.2.1. [OFS-PCIE] The mAP and COCO AP Metrics 8.2.6.2.2. [OFS-PCIE] Specifying Ground Truth 8.2.6.2.3. [OFS-PCIE] Example of Inference on Object Detection Graphs
8.2.6.4. [OFS-PCIE] The dla_benchmark Performance Metrics x
8.2.6.4.1. [OFS-PCIE] Interpreting System Throughput and Latency Metrics
9. [OFS-PCIE] Design Example Components x
9.1. [OFS-PCIE] Hardware Components 9.2. [OFS-PCIE] Software Components
9.2. [OFS-PCIE] Software Components x
9.2.1. [OFS-PCIE] OpenVINO™ FPGA Runtime Plugin 9.2.2. [OFS-PCIE] FPGA AI Suite Runtime 9.2.3. [OFS-PCIE] BSP Driver 9.2.4. [OFS-PCIE] Software Interface to the BSP
10. [HL-NO-DDR] Getting Started with the FPGA AI Suite DDR-Free Design Example x
10.1. [HL-NO-DDR] Hardware Requirements 10.2. [HL-NO-DDR] Software Requirements
12. [HL-NO-DDR] Design Example System Architecture x
12.1. [HL-NO-DDR] System Overview 12.2. [HL-NO-DDR] Hardware
12.2. [HL-NO-DDR] Hardware x
12.2.1. [HL-NO-DDR] The Modular Scatter-Gather DMA (mSGDMA) Engines 12.2.2. [HL-NO-DDR] On-Chip Memory Modules 12.2.3. [HL-NO-DDR] Platform Designer System 12.2.4. [HL-NO-DDR] PLL Adjustment
13. [HL-NO-DDR] Quartus® Prime System Console x
13.1. [HL-NO-DDR] Functionality 13.2. [HL-NO-DDR] System Reset 13.3. [HL-NO-DDR] Input Data Conversion 13.4. [HL-NO-DDR] Quartus® Prime System Console Performance Script
16. [HL-JTAG] Getting Started x
16.1. [HL-JTAG] Prerequisites 16.2. [HL-JTAG] Building the FPGA AI Suite Runtime 16.3. [HL-JTAG] Building an FPGA Bitstream for the JTAG Design Examples 16.4. [HL-JTAG] Programming the FPGA Device 16.5. [HL-JTAG] Preparing Graphs for Inference with FPGA AI Suite 16.6. [HL-JTAG] Performing Inference on the Agilex™ 5 FPGA E-Series 065B Premium Development Kit 16.7. [HL-JTAG] Inference Performance Measurement 16.8. [HL-JTAG] Known Issues and Limitations
16.1. [HL-JTAG] Prerequisites x
16.1.1. [HL-JTAG] Software Requirements 16.1.2. [HL-JTAG] Hardware Requirements
17. [HL-JTAG] Design Example Components x
17.1. [HL-JTAG] Hardware Components 17.2. [HL-JTAG] Software Components
18. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Prerequisites x
18.1. [SOC] Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Transceiver-SoC Development Kit Hardware Requirements
19. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Quick Start Tutorial x
19.1. [SOC] Initial Setup 19.2. [SOC] Initializing a Work Directory 19.3. [SOC] (Optional) Create an SD Card Image (.wic) 19.4. [SOC] Writing the SD Card Image (.wic) to an SD Card 19.5. [SOC] Preparing SoC FPGA Development Kits for the FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example 19.6. [SOC] Adding Compiled Graphs (AOT files) to the SD Card 19.7. [SOC] Verifying FPGA Device Drivers 19.8. [SOC] Running the Demonstration Applications
19.3. [SOC] (Optional) Create an SD Card Image (.wic) x
19.3.1. [SOC] Installing Prerequisite Software for Building an SD Card Image 19.3.2. [SOC] Building the FPGA Bitstreams 19.3.3. [SOC] Installing HPS Disk Image Build Prerequisites 19.3.4. [SOC] (Optional) Downloading the ImageNet Categories 19.3.5. [SOC] Building the SD Card Image
19.5. [SOC] Preparing SoC FPGA Development Kits for the FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example x
19.5.1. [SOC] Preparing the Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Transceiver-SoC Development Kit 19.5.2. [SOC] Preparing the Arria® 10 SX SoC FPGA Development Kit (DK-SOC-10AS066S) 19.5.3. [SOC] Configuring the SoC FPGA Development Kit UART Connection 19.5.4. [SOC] Determining the SoC FPGA Development Kit IP Address
19.5.1. [SOC] Preparing the Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Transceiver-SoC Development Kit x
19.5.1.1. [SOC] Confirming Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Transceiver-SoC Development Kit Board Set Up 19.5.1.2. [SOC] Programming the Agilex™ 7FPGA Device with the JTAG Indirect Configuration (.jic) File 19.5.1.3. [SOC] Connecting the Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Transceiver-SoC Development Kit to the Host Development System
19.5.2. [SOC] Preparing the Arria® 10 SX SoC FPGA Development Kit (DK-SOC-10AS066S) x
19.5.2.1. [SOC] Confirming Arria® 10 SX SoC FPGA Development Kit (DK-SOC-10AS066S) Board Settings 19.5.2.2. [SOC] Connecting the Arria® 10 SX SoC FPGA Development Kit (DK-SOC-10AS066S) to the Host Development System
19.6. [SOC] Adding Compiled Graphs (AOT files) to the SD Card x
19.6.1. [SOC] Preparing OpenVINO™ Model Zoo 19.6.2. [SOC] Preparing a Model 19.6.3. [SOC] Compiling the Graphs 19.6.4. [SOC] Copying the Compiled Graphs to the SD card
19.8. [SOC] Running the Demonstration Applications x
19.8.1. [SOC] Running the M2M Mode Demonstration Application 19.8.2. [SOC] Running the S2M Mode Demonstration Application 19.8.3. [SOC] Troubleshooting the Demonstration Applications
20. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Run Process x
20.1. [SOC] Exporting Trained Graphs from Source Frameworks 20.2. [SOC] Compiling Exported Graphs Through the FPGA AI Suite
21. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Build Process x
21.1. [SOC] Building the Quartus® Prime Project 21.2. [SOC] Building the Bootable SD Card Image (.wic)
21.1. [SOC] Building the Quartus® Prime Project x
21.1.1. [SOC] Quartus® Prime Build Flow 21.1.2. [SOC] Build Script Options 21.1.3. [SOC] Build Directory
21.1.1. [SOC] Quartus® Prime Build Flow x
21.1.1.1. [SOC] Build Synchronization of FPGA with Software
21.1.3. [SOC] Build Directory x
21.1.3.1. [SOC] The create_project.bash Script 21.1.3.2. [SOC] The generate_sof.bash Script 21.1.3.3. [SOC] The generate_rbf.bash Script 21.1.3.4. [SOC] The build_stream_controller.sh Script
22. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Quartus® Prime System Architecture x
22.1. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Inference Sequence Overview 22.2. [SOC] Memory-to-Memory (M2M) Variant Design 22.3. [SOC] Streaming-to-Memory (S2M) Variant Design 22.4. [SOC] Top Level 22.5. [SOC] The SoC Design Example Platform Designer System 22.6. [SOC] Fabric EMIF Design Component 22.7. [SOC] PLL Configuration
22.2. [SOC] Memory-to-Memory (M2M) Variant Design x
22.2.1. [SOC] The mSGDMA Intel FPGA IP 22.2.2. [SOC] RAM considerations
22.3. [SOC] Streaming-to-Memory (S2M) Variant Design x
22.3.1. [SOC] Streaming Enablement for FPGA AI Suite 22.3.2. [SOC] Nios® V Subsystem 22.3.3. [SOC] Streaming System Operation 22.3.4. [SOC] Resolving Input Rate Mismatches Between the FPGA AI Suite IP and the Streaming Input 22.3.5. [SOC] The Layout Transform IP as an Application-Specific Block
22.3.3. [SOC] Streaming System Operation x
22.3.3.1. [SOC] Streaming System Buffer Management 22.3.3.2. [SOC] Streaming System Inference Job Management
22.3.5. [SOC] The Layout Transform IP as an Application-Specific Block x
22.3.5.1. [SOC] Layout Transform Considerations 22.3.5.2. [SOC] Layout Transform IP Register Map 22.3.5.3. [SOC] Layout Transform Configuration Options
22.4. [SOC] Top Level x
22.4.1. [SOC] Clock Domains
22.5. [SOC] The SoC Design Example Platform Designer System x
22.5.1. [SOC] The dla_0 Platform Designer Layer (dla.qsys) 22.5.2. [SOC] The hps_0 Platform Designer Layer (hps.qys)
23. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Software Components x
23.1. [SOC] Yocto Build and Runtime Linux Environment 23.2. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite Runtime Plugin 23.3. [SOC] Runtime Interaction with the MMD Layer 23.4. [SOC] MMD Layer Hardware Interaction Library
23.1. [SOC] Yocto Build and Runtime Linux Environment x
23.1.1. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: recipes-core/images/coredla-image.bb 23.1.2. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot-socfpga_%.bbappend 23.1.3. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: recipes-drivers/msgdma-userio/msgdma-userio.bb 23.1.4. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: recipes-drivers/uio-devices/uio-devices.bb 23.1.5. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: recipes-kernel/linux/linux-socfpga-lts_%.bbappend 23.1.6. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: recipes-support/devmem2/devmem2_2.0.bb 23.1.7. [SOC] Yocto Recipe: wic
23.4. [SOC] MMD Layer Hardware Interaction Library x
23.4.1. [SOC] MMD Layer Hardware Interaction Library Class mmd_device 23.4.2. [SOC] MMD Layer Hardware Interaction Library Class uio_device 23.4.3. [SOC] MMD Layer Hardware Interaction Library Class dma_device
24. [SOC] Streaming-to-Memory (S2M) Streaming Demonstration x
24.1. [SOC] Nios® Subsystem 24.2. [SOC] Building the Stream Controller Module 24.3. [SOC] Building the Streaming Demonstration Applications 24.4. [SOC] Running the Streaming Demonstration
24.1. [SOC] Nios® Subsystem x
24.1.1. [SOC] Stream Controller Communication Protocol 24.1.2. [SOC] Buffer Flow in Streaming Mode using Nios® V Software Scheduler
24.1.2. [SOC] Buffer Flow in Streaming Mode using Nios® V Software Scheduler x
24.1.2.1. [SOC] Review of M2M mode 24.1.2.2. [SOC] External Streaming Mode Buffer Flow 24.1.2.3. [SOC] Nios® V Stream Controller State Machine Buffer Flow
24.4. [SOC] Running the Streaming Demonstration x
24.4.1. [SOC] The streaming_inference_app Application 24.4.2. [SOC] The image_streaming_app Application
B. FPGA AI Suite Example Designs User Guide Revision History x
B.1. FPGA AI Suite PCIe-based Design Example User Guide Document Revision History B.2. FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example User Guide Document Revision History
1. FPGA AI Suite Design Examples User Guide
2. FPGA AI Suite Design Examples
3. [PCIE] Getting Started with the FPGA AI Suite PCIe* -based Design Example
4. [PCIE] Building the FPGA AI Suite Runtime
5. [PCIE] Running the Design Example Demonstration Applications
6. [PCIE] Design Example Components
7. [PCIE] Design Example System Architecture for the Agilex™ 7 FPGA
8. [OFS-PCIE] Getting Started with Open FPGA Stack (OFS) for PCIe* Attach Design Examples
9. [OFS-PCIE] Design Example Components
10. [HL-NO-DDR] Getting Started with the FPGA AI Suite DDR-Free Design Example
11. [HL-NO-DDR] Running the Hostless DDR-Free Design Example
12. [HL-NO-DDR] Design Example System Architecture
13. [HL-NO-DDR] Quartus® Prime System Console
14. [HL-NO-DDR] JTAG to Avalon MM Host Register Map
15. [HL-NO-DDR] Updating MIF Files
16. [HL-JTAG] Getting Started
17. [HL-JTAG] Design Example Components
18. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Prerequisites
19. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Quick Start Tutorial
20. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Run Process
21. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Build Process
22. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Quartus® Prime System Architecture
23. [SOC] FPGA AI Suite SoC Design Example Software Components
24. [SOC] Streaming-to-Memory (S2M) Streaming Demonstration
A. FPGA AI Suite Example Designs User Guide Archives
B. FPGA AI Suite Example Designs User Guide Revision History

8.2.4. [OFS-PCIE] Compiling the OFS for PCIe* Attach Design Example

To build example design bitstreams, you must have a license that permits bitstream generation for the IP, and have the correct version of Quartus® Prime software installed. Use the dla_build_example_design.py utility to create a bitstream.

For more details about this command, the steps it performs, and advanced command options, refer to Build Script and to the FPGA AI Suite Getting Started Guide .

Before running the dla_build_example_design.py utility, ensure that the OPAE_PLATFORM_ROOT environment variable points to your OFS FPGA interface manager (FIM) pr_build_template directory. If you do not want to compile your own FIM, you can get prebuilt OFS FIM binaries for boards supported by the Agilex™ 7 OFS for PCIe* Attach reference shells on GitHub at the following URL: 
https://github.com/OFS/ofs-agx7-pcie-attach/releases/
The FPGA AI Suite OFS for PCIe* Attach design example is based on the OFS 2024.2-1 release of the reference shells.

The dla_build_example_design.py utility generates a wrapper that wraps one or more FPGA AI Suite IP instances along with adapters required to connect to the OFS slim FIM.

Important: The OFS FIM uses FPGA resources as well as the FPGA AI Suite IP instances. Keep the FPGA resource limitations in mind when deciding on how many FPGA AI Suite IP instances to use.

Get an estimate of the FPGA resource required for a single FPGA AI Suite IP instance by using the --fanalyze-area option of the dla_compiler. Use the single instance values to determine the resources required for the number of instances that you want. For more details, see the --fanalyze-area option description in FPGA AI Suite Compiler Reference Manual .

For the OFS for PCIe* Attach design example, the dla_build_example_design.py utility supports the following options:
Option Description
-a, --archs Path to FPGA AI Suite IP Architecture Description File
--build-dir

Path to hardware build directory where BSP infrastructure and generated RTL will be located.

--build Option to perform compilation of the design using Quartus® Prime after instantiation (default: False).
-d, --archs-dir Path to directory that contains Architecture Description Files for you to interactively choose from (alternative to ‘-a’)
-ed, --example-design-id

To build for the Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Development Kit, specify AGX7_ISERIES_OFS_PCIE.

To build for the Intel® FPGA SmartNIC N6001-PL Platform, specify AGX7_N6001_OFS_PCIE.

-n, --num-instances

Number of IP instances to build (default: 2).

To build for the Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Development Kit, this value can be 1, 2, 3, or 4.

To build for the Intel® FPGA SmartNIC N6001-PL Platform, this value can be 1 or 2.

--num-paths Number of top critical paths to report after compiling the design (default: 2000).
-q, --quiet Run script quietly without printing the output of underlying scripts to the terminal.
-qor-modules List of internal modules (instance names) from inside the FPGA AI Suite IP to include in the QoR summary report.
-s, --seed Quartus® Prime fitter initial placement seed to use when compiling the design (default: 1).
--unlicensed/licensed
This option is passed to the dla_create_ip tool to tell the tool to generate either an unlicensed or licensed copy of the FPGA AI Suite IP:
  • Unlicensed IP: Unlicensed IP has a limit of 10000 inferences. After 10000 inferences, the unlicensed IP refuses to perform any additional inference and a bit in the CSR is set. For details about the CSR bit, refer to DMA Descriptor Queue in FPGA AI Suite IP Reference Manual .
  • Licensed IP: Licensed IP has no inference limitation.

If you do not have a license but generate licensed IP, Quartus® Primesoftware cannot generate a bitstream.

If neither option is specified, then the dla_create_ip tool queries the lmutil license manager to determine the correct option.

To generate an FPGA bitstream for the OFS for PCIe* Attach design example for the Agilex™ 7 FPGA I-Series Development Kit with two FPGA AI Suite IP instances, run the following commands: 
cd $COREDLA_WORK

$COREDLA_ROOT/bin/dla_build_example_design.py \
  -n 2 \
  --archs=$COREDLA_ROOT/example_architectures/AGX7_Generic.arch \
  --build \
  --build-dir=build_generic_2inst \ 
  --example-design-id="AGX7_ISERIES_OFS_PCIE" \
  --seed=1

This command generates a green bitstream (GBS) file called AGX7_Generic.gbs that can be found in the $COREDLA_WORK/build_generics_2inst/ folder.

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