Page History

...

Remote Access to JTAG / USB

Access to JTAG is commonly required for reprogramming the FPGA (some platforms) and for access to embedded ILA (logic-analyzer) cores.

USB over IPs

If the system is equipped with a USB<->JTAG bridge and the vivado hw_server is not an option (e.g., because no linux x86 PC is in proximity) then linux' usbip feature is an option. This approach requires two linux computers. A remote system with physical access to the USB port (this can be e.g., a small portable device such as a raspberry) and a host with access to the hw_server. These two systems must be connected via TCP (but ssh tunneling etc. is possible).

usbip implements a virtual USB device on the local host where the remote device seems to be locally attached, i.e., it shows up on the USB bus of the local host where hw_server can find it. In a nutshell:

• On the remote machine:  usbip bind -b id
• On the local machine: usbip -r <remote_ip> -b <remote_id> 

You need root access on both machines for these operations. It is also noteworthy that if the remote USB device is disconnected (e.g., because of a FPGA power-cycle) it is necessary to recreate the virtual USB device on the local host. Consult the usbip documentation for details.