Embedded Software and Tools for Intel® SoC FPGA
The Intel® SoC FPGA Embedded Development Suite (SoC EDS) is a comprehensive tool suite for embedded software development on Intel® SoC FPGAs. It comprises of development tools, utility programs, run-time software, and application examples. Individual components of SoC EDS are now on GitHub.
What's New
Starting with Intel® SoC EDS v20.3 Pro and v21.1 Standard, the components are released to GitHub and Rocketboards.org. Customers can download exactly what they require, upgraded versions with the latest features, bug fixes and security patches. Components are released more frequently enabling faster and better tracking of code changes.
Intel® SoC EDS Pro & Standard Edition and Arm* Development Studio for Intel® SoC FPGA are now separate downloads.
Arm* Development Studio for Intel® SoC FPGA Edition
Powerful Eclipse IDE based on Arm* DS is power packed with features. Code, build, debug, and optimize in one IDE! Intel has migrated to the new Arm* Development Studio for Intel® SoC FPGA (Arm* DS for Intel® SoC FPGA) and support for Arm* DS-5 has been dropped starting with Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro and Standard software version 20.1. Arm* DS for Intel® SoC FPGA is no longer installed as a part of SoC EDS and is a separate download.
Videos
Intel® Agilex™ FPGA Embedded Software Stack
Intel Programmable Solutions Group and its ecosystem partners deliver embedded tools and runtime environments designed to enable you to efficiently and quickly move from concept to release. We provide you with all the components needed to create your embedded system using Intel® Agilex™ FPGA devices including open-source software, industry leading integrated development environments, compilers, debuggers, and profiling tools.
Embedded Software and Tools for Intel® Agilex™ SoC FPGAs
Intel® Agilex™ FPGAs and SoCs bring Intel technology leadership in multiple areas including architecture, packaging, process technology, developer tools, power and performance. Learn how you can take advantage of these capabilities with our Embedded Software and Tools for Intel® Agilex™ SoC FPGAs.
Platform Designer: Easy to Use System Integration Tool
Learn how easy and time saving it is to use Platform Designer, Intel’s easy to use system integration tool. Leverage our Linux community to get started quickly using ready to use hardware and software design examples, including the Intel® Agilex™ SoC Golden hardware reference design using Platform Designer in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software v20.3.
Design Tools and Software
Download the latest Intel® SoC FPGA Embedded Development Suite and Arm Development Studio.
Intel SoC FPGAs Ecosystem
Intel® SoC FPGAs are Arm processor-based and inherit the strength of the Arm ecosystem. Our ecosystem partners and the Intel® SoC FPGA user community provide a range of options to meet your SoC FPGA development needs.
Operating Systems
Intel® SoC FPGAs include a sophisticated high-performance multicore Arm processor subsystem. This processor can be used for a wide range of functions from very simple bare-metal applications running on one of the available cores to high-bandwidth, low-latency, real-time operations. For a simple single-core application with minimal real-time constraints, bare-metal application can be build using the provided Hardware Libraries (HWLIBs). However, to take full advantage of the capabilities of the device, it is highly recommended to use an operating system (OS). The chosen operating system can be a simple real-time kernel running on a single-core or a full-featured operating system such as Linux, or one of a number of multicore-capable real-time operating systems.
In addition to open-source Linux operating system, there are a number of commercial operating systems available for Intel® SoC FPGAs.
You can obtain Linux operating system and open-source products for Intel® SoC FPGAs on RocketBoards.org. This site provides a development environment and collaboration for embedded developers using SoC FPGAs. For information about the Golden System Reference Design that comes pre-installed on the Intel® SoC FPGA boards, search rocketboards.org for “GSRD”.
Operating System |
Company |
|---|---|
Code Time Technologies |
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Intel |
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MontaVista |
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DDC-I |
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eCosCentric |
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eSOL |
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FreeRTOS.org |
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Green Hills Software |
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Siemens |
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QNX |
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Quadros Systems Inc. |
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Microsoft |
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Micrium |
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uC3 (Japanese language) |
eForce |
Wind River |
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Wind River |
Development Tools
For professional quality development tools including JTAG debuggers and instruction trace functions consider the following options:
Product |
Company |
Description |
|---|---|---|
Intel |
Software development and debug tools for the Intel SoC FPGA devices based on ARM Development Studio. Use with Intel FPGA Download Cable II JTAG debugger tool or with ARM DSTREAM tools for JTAG debugging and high-speed instruction Trace. |
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Green Hills |
Software development and debug tools for Green Hills INTEGRITY real-time operating system. MULTI is complemented with the Green Hills Probe for high-speed JTAG debugging. |
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PolyCore Software, Micrium |
PolyCore Software and Micrium support Cyclone® V SoCs with a multicore solution. This development environment gives users a time-tested message-passing programming model and a trusted Real Time Operating System (RTOS), and makes it easy to create new multicore designs. |
|
MathWorks |
Use Simulink and Embedded Coder from MathWorks to generate C/C++ code for Cyclone V SoCs. When used in combination with Intel® SoC FPGA support from HDL Coder, this solution can be utilized in a hardware/software workflow spanning simulation, prototyping, verification, and implementation on Intel® SoC FPGAs. |
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Siemens |
GNU toolchain support for the dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore processor-based SoC Virtual Target. |
|
Lauterbach |
Lauterbach TRACE32 is family of modular microprocessor development tools that include debug, trace, and instruction-set simulators that support the Nios® II processor and the dual-core Arm* Cortex*-A9 MPCore* processor-based SoC. |
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Wind River |
Software development tools for VxWorks on the dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 MPCore processor in Cyclone® V SoCs and Arria® V SoCs. |
IP Cores
Intel® SoC FPGAs are supported by a wide range of third-party as well as soft intellectual property (IP) cores. These blocks can be instantiated in the FPGA portion of the SoC device.
Nios® II Soft Processor
The Nios® II processor, the world's most versatile processor, according to Gartner Research, is the most widely used soft processor in the FPGA industry. The Nios® II processor delivers unprecedented flexibility for your cost-sensitive, real-time, safety-critical (DO-254), ASIC-optimized, and applications processing needs. The Nios® II processor supports all of our SoC and FPGA families.
Intel® Partner Alliance
The Intel® Partner Alliance is a program designed to enhance the value, relevance, and the experience we deliver to our partners. The unification of former Intel partner programs, such as the Design Solutions Network and the FPGA Partner Program, allows Intel and its partners to continue to drive the industry to innovate solutions with powerful technology. These investments help enable disruption and accelerate new market opportunities in an increasingly data-centric world. From leading edge technologies to sophisticated sales enablement and powerful partner networking, the Intel® Partner Alliance connects partners to a world of innovation.
Standalone Boards
Standalone boards are sometimes included as part of a development kit. A development kit typically includes software and hardware. The Intel® SoC FPGA development kits include the board and all associated cables, documentation, and software development tools (SoC EDS and Arm Development Studio for Intel® SoC FPGAs (Arm DS for Intel® SoC FPGAs).
Open Source and Linux for SoC FPGAs
Intel contributes to the Linux community by supporting our SoC FPGA and Nios® II processor customers via the community portal RocketBoards.org. We ensure the availability of Linux kernels, U-boot, and the meta-Intel layers for Angstrom and the Yocto Project for the Intel® SoC FPGAs. Intel contributes to the open-source community to enable the Linux kernel to run on its SoC FPGA and Nios® II processor architectures. Contributions include improvements to the general kernel as well as new SoC FPGA and Nios® II processor-specific functions, such as the FPGA manager framework. By nature, these improvements benefit everyone in the Linux community.
Learn more about the Nios® II processor ›
Industry-Leading Linux Support
Intel keeps up with the Linux community by upgrading to the latest stable kernel on kernel.org. Additionally, Intel supports a modern release strategy by updating public git trees every two weeks on RocketBoards.org.
Upstreaming
Intel's approach to Linux for SoC FPGAs and the Nios® II processor is centered on upstreaming fixes and improvements of the SoC FPGA and Nios® II processor code primarily to kernel.org and DENX.de. Consequently, Intel assembled a Linux team with upstreaming as a key strategy.
Delivery
In addition to providing the latest stable kernel for the SoC FPGA architecture, Intel also supports U-Boot, LTS kernel with and without PREEMPT_RT, and a meta-Intel layer. You can obtain the code via the public code repositories on RocketBoards.org, which is a “one-stop-shop” for Linux developers working on Intel® SoC FPGAs.
RocketBoards.org code repositories include:
- Latest stable kernel
- LTS kernel
- U-Boot now mainlined
- Arm Trusted Firmware upgraded and maintained
- Yocto Project distribution
Intel® SoC FPGAs Linux Ongoing Innovation
Intel contributes to the Linux kernel, kernel.org. Specifically, Intel innovates by augmenting the Linux kernel with new features, such as an FPGA manager framework for programming and reconfiguring the FPGA. Furthermore, Intel is enhancing the kernel to better handle memory map reconfiguration via dynamic device trees.
Linux Community
Visit RocketBoards for more SoC Linux and open-source products, including documentation. For information about the Linux-based Golden System Reference Design (GSRD) that is typically pre-programmed into the board, search rocketboards.org for GSRD.
SoC EDS components on GitHub and Rocketboards
- U-Boot Source Code
- GHRD
- HWLIBs
- Instructions for Baremetal Compiler
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