Design Internals

Here, the design consideration for different components of hwdbg is discussed.

Motivation for the Design

The design of the debugger was driven by the need to address specific limitations in existing systems especially based on the constraints imposed in Xilinx FPGAs. The primary objective was to create a robust and efficient solution capable of handling high throughput while maintaining low latency to make hwdbg capable of handling signals with a high rate of frequency. Additionally, the design aimed to enhance scalability and reliability to meet the demands of modern hardware. By addressing these goals, the design seeks to bridge the gap between current capabilities and the evolving requirements of the industry.

Challenges and Solutions

During the design process, we encountered several significant challenges. One of the primary difficulties was ensuring the system's ability to scale efficiently without compromising performance. To address this, we implemented a modular architecture that allows for seamless scaling by adding or removing components as needed. Another challenge was maintaining data consistency and integrity across PS/PL and possible external debugger. We overcame this by incorporating advanced synchronization mechanisms and error-checking protocols.

Several key design decisions were made to optimize the system's performance and reliability. For instance, we chose a microservices architecture over a monolithic approach to enhance scalability and maintainability. This decision was based on the need for flexibility in deploying and updating individual components without affecting the entire system. In the coming sections, the design constraints and decisions of hwdbg are discussed.