Buffer-Based AI Engine Kernels with Mixed Data Types

This example is similar to the previous Buffer-based AI Engine Kernels example, except that one AI Engine kernel has floating point interfaces and one AI Engine kernel has cint16 interfaces. It will focus on the difference with the previous example. One difference is that because the input and output data are in integer format for the AI Engine simulator, it has to convert data between float/cint16 and integer data types. See Prepare Data for AI Engine Simulator. Another difference is that the PS code has to take care of the input and output data types. See PS Application and HW Emulation Flows.

The following topics are already covered in Buffer Based AI Engine Kernels.

Construct Graph with Packet Switching Capability
Packet Format
Example PL Kernels for Packet Switching
Example PS code for Packet Switching

Prepare Data for AI Engine Simulator

Change the working directory to buffer_aie_mix_int32_float_cint16. The graph code for this example is the same as the Buffer Based AI Engine Kernels example. The AI Engine kernel core[2] (aie/aie_core3.cpp) has floating point interfaces, and the AI Engine kernel core[3] (aie/aie_core4.cpp) has cint16 interfaces.

When preparing the data for the AI Engine simulator, all values should be in 32-bit integer format. The conversion is similar to the reinterpret_cast operation in C++. It is done manually in any language. For example, when you want to feed float data 1.0f, 2.0f,…, into the AI Engine kernel, the integer format can be generated in C as shown in the following code.

    //input data for float
    for(int i=0;i<16;i++){
      float tmp=i;
      printf("%d\n",*(int*)&tmp);
    }

Then the data in the input file (data/input.txt) for float, 1.0f,2.0f,…,16.0f, should be as follows.

Similarly, type cint16 should be converted to integer type. For example, for cint16 data, {0,0},{4,4},{8,8},…, the integer format can be generated in C as shown in the following code.

    //input data for cint16
    for(int i=0;i<16;i++){
      int tmp=i*4;
      tmp=tmp<<16;
      tmp+=i*4;
      printf("%d\n",tmp);
    }

Then the data in the input file (data/input.txt) for cint16 data, {0,0},{4,4},{8,8},…,{60,60}, should be as follows.

Take a look at the input file data/input.txt to see how input data is organized.

Run the following make command to run the AI Engine compiler and simulator.

make aiesim

The output data is in aiesimulator_output/data/output.txt. Similarly, the output data can be converted from integer to float or cint16 to be human-readable.

PS Application and HW Emulation Flows

The difference in the PS application from Buffer Based AI Engine Kernels is that the input buffers and output buffers for different data types should be modified accordingly. Take a look at the code in sw/host.cpp. Note how float and complex type (for cint16) is used in the code.

    // output memory
    xrtBufferHandle out_bo3 = xrtBOAlloc(dhdl, mem_size, 0, /*BANK=*/0);
    xrtBufferHandle out_bo4 = xrtBOAlloc(dhdl, mem_size, 0, /*BANK=*/0);
    float *host_out3 = (float*)xrtBOMap(out_bo3);
    std::complex<short> *host_out4 = (std::complex<short>*)xrtBOMap(out_bo4);
    
    // input memory
    xrtBufferHandle in_bo3 = xrtBOAlloc(dhdl, mem_size, 0, /*BANK=*/0);
    xrtBufferHandle in_bo4 = xrtBOAlloc(dhdl, mem_size, 0, /*BANK=*/0);
    float *host_in3 = (float*)xrtBOMap(in_bo3);
    std::complex<short> *host_in4 = (std::complex<short>*)xrtBOMap(in_bo4);

Correspondingly, the pre-processing and post-processing of this data has been changed.

Run HW emulation with the following ``make` command to build the HW system and host application.
```
make run_hw_emu
```
Tip: If the keyboard is accidentally hit and stops the system booting automatically, type boot at the Versal> prompt to resume the system booting.

After Linux has booted, run the following commands at the Linux prompt (this is only for HW cosim).

 mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
 cd /mnt
 export XILINX_XRT=/usr
 export XCL_EMULATION_MODE=hw_emu
 ./host.exe a.xclbin

To exit QEMU press Ctrl+A, x.

To run in hardware, first build the system and application using the following make command.
```
make package TARGET=hw
```

After Linux has booted, run the following commands at the Linux prompt.

 mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
 cd /mnt
 export XILINX_XRT=/usr
 ./host.exe a.xclbin

The host code is self-checking. It will check the correctness of output data. If the output data is correct, after the run has completed, it will print:

    TEST PASSED

Conclusion

In this step, you learned about the following concepts.

Preparing float and cint16 data types for the AI Engine simulator.
PS application for different data types.

Next, review Packet Stream Based AI Engine Kernels.

Support

GitHub issues will be used for tracking requests and bugs. For questions go to forums.

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Buffer-Based AI Engine Kernels with Mixed Data Types - 2024.1 English

Vitis Tutorials: AI Engine

Prepare Data for AI Engine Simulator

PS Application and HW Emulation Flows

Conclusion

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