1.3 What's New in SmartHLS™ 2024.2

• SmartHLS now supports the same operating systems as Libero 2024.2.

• Starting version 2024.2, SmartHLS no longer requires a separate license. SmartHLS is now supported using the Libero SoC Design Suite license. For SmartHLS 2024.1 and earlier, you need to upgrade your Libero license. Your upgraded Libero license is available for download after the release of Libero SoC 2024.2. With the upgraded Libero license, you can use SmartHLS 2024.1 and earlier without a separate SmartHLS license.

  To download your upgraded Libero license, log on to your Microchip Direct account. For instructions on how to setup a Libero license, see the Libero SoC Software Download and License Installation Guide Ordering and Downloading a License.

• Core compiler has been upgraded from LLVM 3.5.2 to 14.0.6.
• SmartHLS compiler has been enhanced to enable compile-time generation of Look-up Table (LUT) values by parsing user C++ code that generates the table values, before generating the RTL module. Using pre-compiled constant look-up tables is a typical design practice to save resources, and this ease-of-use enhancement avoids manually hard-coding the table or copying and pasting from an external script or program used to generate the values. Some functions (e.g. Gamma Correction and Bilateral Filter) in the SmartHLS Vision Library in GitHub use this technique.
• The SmartHLS output directory can now be specified using a command-line argument. (Earlier, this was always set to hls_output). This can be useful when experimenting with different pragmas or settings. Different output directories can be used to compare results.

  $> shls hw --output_dir my_hls_output_1
  $> shls hw -o my_hls_output_2

foo_hls_driver(..., FOO0_BASE_ADDR);
foo_hls_driver(..., FOO1_BASE_ADDR);

• Users can now launch a Windows Powershell terminal from within the SmartHLS IDE with all environment setup to enable users to script the SmartHLS usage and run from the command-line.
• SmartHLS Software Profiling feature is removed.

• Error Code Correction (ECC) protected memory is now supported for SmartHLS FIFOs, data buffers, and line buffers.
• ECC support is added for AXI4 Target Interface.
• New ECC error simulation feature for RTG4 LSRAM is now available as an alpha feature. For more information, see Error Simulation.

hls::dsp:

New library has been added with the FFT function and on-board examples on the Icicle Kit, Discovery Kit, and BeagleV-Fire.

hls::vision

The following new functions and examples have been added to the Vision library.

• Gamma Correction
• 2D Convolution
• Histogram
• ImageEnhance (Color and brightness adjustments)
• BilateralFilter

hls::math

Added sin_performance example, where the same source code runs on multiple boards such as the following:

• BeagleV-Fire (upstream changes to beagleboard.org approved, waiting for them to merge)
• Discovery Kit
• Icicle Kit

• A new Loop Dependence pragma has been introduced to allow users override loop-carried dependency analysis result of the tool.

  #pragma HLS loop dependence argument(a) type(inter) direction(RAW) dependent(false)
  for (int i = 0; i<N; i++) {
     b[i] = a[i];
     a[i+offset] = 0;
  }

• Allows the use of compile-time defined integers and meta functions as pragma parameter values. For example, at Line 8, the meta function decides at compile-time what unroll factor to use based on the value of template parameter N and a maximum value of 10. In this case the function is a simple bound (max) operation that could be used to limit the amount of loop unrolling to 10. This adds more programmability to pragma integer arguments.

  template <unsigned int N, unsigned int MAX> struct Bounds {
      static constexpr unsigned int value = N > MAX ? MAX : N;
  };
   
  template <unsigned int N>
  int foo(...) {
     ...
     #pragma HLS loop unroll factor(Bounds <N, 10>::value)
     for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i) {
        ...
     }
     ...
  }