Mastering Xilinx DMA IP cores: AXI DMA, CDMA and VDMA

This hands-on workshop is designed for embedded engineers, FPGA developers, and Linux system integrators who want to master the use of Xilinx DMA IP cores on Zynq-7000 and Zynq Ultrascale+ platforms. Through practical demonstrations and detailed walkthroughs, you’ll learn how to build and deploy a complete DMA-driven data transfer pipeline using Buildroot Out-of-tree generated Linux and Vitis 2024.2 IDE generated boot components.

The course begins with the setup and structure of all required source files, drivers, and automation build scripts. You’ll gain a clear understanding of the development workflow, from hardware design in Vivado to driver development in C and user-level testing in Python via SWIG bindings.

You’ll explore four major Xilinx DMA cores:

  • AXI DMA (Simple Mode)

  • AXI DMA (Scatter-Gather Mode)

  • AXI Central DMA (CDMA)

  • AXI Video DMA (VDMA)

Each module covers theoretical concepts, register maps, memory interaction, and coding examples. In addition, you’ll learn how to allocate memory for DMA operations using both static (device tree) and dynamic (CMA + u-dma-buf) methods, ensuring compatibility and reliability across various Linux kernel configurations.

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to confidently integrate Xilinx DMA IP cores into your own embedded Linux projects — from low-level driver code to high-level Python interfaces.