Build an FPGA image - PandABlocks-FPGA

This page covers building a PandABlocks FPGA image with make and Vivado, producing a panda-fpga-<app>_<version>_all.ipk package ready for deployment. This is the only build route for FPGA images — Yocto/kas is not involved; the meta-panda layer only includes the resulting .ipk in the PandA system image.

For how to select and deploy the resulting bitstream on a PandA, see Choose the FPGA bitstream in the meta-panda docs.

Prerequisites¶

A clone of this repository.
Xilinx Vivado (the supported version is the VIVADO_VER default in the top-level Makefile, currently 2023.2), plus a licence able to build the Zynq part for your target.
A build environment with the FPGA build dependencies. The recommended way to get one is the development container with Vivado mounted in — see Develop locally with the devcontainer

Build steps¶

Create your build configuration by copying the example and editing it:
```
cp CONFIG.example CONFIG
```
In CONFIG, set at least:
- APP_NAME — which app to build. Valid names are the apps/*.app.ini files without the extension, e.g.:
```
APP_NAME = pandabox-no-fmc
```
  The first dash-separated component of the app name (e.g. pandabox) selects the target platform it is built for.
- VIVADO (and VIVADO_VER if not using the default) — the path to your Vivado settings64.sh.
- BUILD_DIR if you want build products somewhere other than the default.
Run the build:
```
make
```
The default target builds the FPGA bitstream for APP_NAME and packages it, producing panda-fpga-<APP_NAME>_<version>_all.ipk in the build directory. (make ipk is equivalent; make all-ipks builds every app in apps/.)
Copy the package to your PandA and install it:
```
scp <build-dir>/panda-fpga-<app>_*.ipk root@<panda-ip>:/tmp/
ssh root@<panda-ip> opkg install /tmp/panda-fpga-<app>_*.ipk
```
You can also install it through the Web Admin interface — see managing packages in the meta-panda docs.

Next steps¶

After installing the .ipk, see Choose the FPGA bitstream to configure the PandA to load your new bitstream, or Test firmware changes for the development and test workflow.