A Simulink-to-FPGA implementation tool for enhanced design flow [educational applications]

With the continued growth in complexity of FPGA-based designs, the need for a more flexible and efficient design methodology has arisen. Currently, most designs are accomplished through the use of HDL-centric flows. However, device densities have increased at a pace that such flows have become both cumbersome and outdated. The need for a more innovative and higher-level design flow that directly incorporates model simulation with hardware implementation is needed. Simulink is a well-known tool which allows designers to model a system at a high level and is ideal for certain classes of applications, such as automotive control. The complication of using such a tool for both modeling and hardware implementation is that there currently exists no tool chain to generate hardware from the basic Simulink blockset. This research aims to bridge that gap and provide students a way to perform high-level modeling and hardware implementation in a timely manner for design projects.