C Driver Files and Float Types - 2023.1 English

Vitis High-Level Synthesis User Guide (UG1399)

Document ID
UG1399
Release Date
2023-07-17
Version
2023.1 English

C driver files always use a data 32-bit unsigned integer (U32) for data transfers. In the following example, the function uses float type arguments a and r1. It sets the value of a and returns the value of r1:

float calculate(float a, float *r1)
{
#pragma HLS INTERFACE mode=ap_vld register port=r1
#pragma HLS INTERFACE mode=s_axilite port=a 
#pragma HLS INTERFACE mode=s_axilite port=r1 
#pragma HLS INTERFACE mode=s_axilite port=return 

 *r1 = 0.5f*a;
 return (a>0);
}

After synthesis, Vitis HLS groups all ports into the default AXI4-Lite interface and creates C driver files. However, as shown in the following example, the driver files use type U32:

// API to set the value of A
void XCalculate_SetA(XCalculate *InstancePtr, u32 Data) {
    Xil_AssertVoid(InstancePtr != NULL);
    Xil_AssertVoid(InstancePtr->IsReady == XIL_COMPONENT_IS_READY);
    XCalculate_WriteReg(InstancePtr->Hls_periph_bus_BaseAddress, 
XCALCULATE_HLS_PERIPH_BUS_ADDR_A_DATA, Data);
}

// API to get the value of R1
u32 XCalculate_GetR1(XCalculate *InstancePtr) {
    u32 Data;

    Xil_AssertNonvoid(InstancePtr != NULL);
    Xil_AssertNonvoid(InstancePtr->IsReady == XIL_COMPONENT_IS_READY);

    Data = XCalculate_ReadReg(InstancePtr->Hls_periph_bus_BaseAddress, 
XCALCULATE_HLS_PERIPH_BUS_ADDR_R1_DATA);
    return Data;
}

If these functions work directly with float types, the write and read values are not consistent with expected float type. When using these functions in software, you can use the following casts in the code:

float a=3.0f,r1;
u32 ua,ur1;

// cast float “a” to type U32
XCalculate_SetA(&calculate,*((u32*)&a));
ur1=XCalculate_GetR1(&calculate);

// cast return type U32 to float type for “r1”
r1=*((float*)&ur1);