UltraFast Design Methodology

Course Code: FPGA-VDM

BLT helped create the UltraFast Design Methodology for Xilinx (now AMD.) Learn more about the history of the methodology here.

This is an intermediate course. If you are new to AMD FPGAs, start here.

This course describes the FPGA design best practices and skills to be successful using the Vivado Design Suite. Learn how to improve design speed and reliability by using this methodology and the Vivado Design Suite.

The focus is on:

Optimizing system reset design and synchronization circuits
Employing best practice HDL coding techniques
Applying appropriate timing closure techniques
Reviewing an UltraFast Design Methodology case study

See Course Outline

3-Day Instructor-led Course	Price USD	Training Credits
Hosted Online - $600/day	$1800	18
In-Person Public Registration - $600/day	$1800	18
Private Training	Learn More	Learn More
Coaching	Learn More	Learn More
Printed Course Book (A PDF book is included in the course fee) Cannot be purchased without registration.	$200	2

Scheduled Classes

No Scheduled Sessions - Contact Us to ask about setting one up!

Training Duration:

3 Days

I had a wonderful instructor

I had a wonderful instructor. His pacing throughout the course was good and made sure to allow for student questions and have conversations about related topics and experiences. I think the atmosphere was great for everyone to both learn and to share experiences, tips, and tricks about using the tool and the features discussed throughout the course.

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 3

I have a great grasp of HLS and how to use Vitis effectively

I really enjoyed this class and feel like I have a great grasp of HLS and how to use Vitis effectively. Cole was a great instructor, and I
would easily take another class with him. Thank you very much for running this class!

– Student from High-Level Synthesis with the Vitis HLS Tool

This one was definitely one of the best

I have attended a bunch of training courses over the years. This one was definitely one of the best I have attended. Erich did a great job, and the material is very well done. Thanks for a great class!

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 1

A lot of insights beyond the course

Glenn was a great instructor and provided us with a lot of insights beyond the course material

– Student from Embedded Design with PetaLinux Tools

Elie was an exceptional instructor

Elie was an exceptional instructor, and I would welcome the opportunity to take another class from him and BLT in the future.

– Student from Designing with Verilog

I would endorse him to teach a friend

Cole was a fantastic instructor and was very proactive in answering any questions that came up. I would endorse him to teach if a friend had to learn from this course.

– Student from Designing with Verilog

My instructor was very capable

My instructor was very capable of answering any of my questions even when they were an extension of the material being presented. If he wasn’t sure of an answer, he made sure to verify his thoughts before answering my question

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 1

They had answers for just about every question

Erich and Nathaniel were great, they had answers for just about every question/issue and linked relevant Xilinx/Vivado user manuals for further explanation/documentation.

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 2

Knowledgeable instructor

Elie was a knowledgeable instructor, and did a really good job of making sure students were comfortable interrupting for questions. He answered questions well and communicated very clearly.

– Student from Designing with VHDL

My instructor took time

My instructor took time during some of the breaks to look up and distribute information about questions that he didn’t happen to know direct answers to, and I always appreciate when instructors take the time to do that.

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 3

The instructor was excellent

The instructor for this class, Glenn, was excellent. He presented the material with great examples and encouraged students to ask questions at any point in the course. Whenever there was a question he could not answer, he mentioned that he would bring it to his colleagues for answers, and after we came back from lunch, he had the answer.

– Student from Embedded Design with PetaLinux Tools

Labs were great

The labs were great and really reinforced the topics.

– Student from Designing with Versal AI Engine 1: Architecture and Design Flow

Thanks for a great class!

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 1

College course fit into 3 days

The instructor certainly knew the material and could explain the concepts as well as answer questions. Even the instructor said that this is a college course fit into 3 days.

– Student from Designing with VDHL

My instructor was very professional

My instructor was very professional and answered all of my questions thoroughly. I enjoyed hearing about his professional experience with certain aspects of the course / labs as we went through the course.

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 1

Erich was engaging

Erich was engaging and had good pacing during the course. Although the course was all day for 3 days I didn’t feel exhausted at the end of sessions.

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 1

All in all a great experience

Tom was a great instructor, very knowledgeable and polite throughout the course. All in all a great experience.

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 2

Expert tidbits

I liked the expert tidbits my instructor threw in to keep in mind when working on projects in the future regarding best practices. I also appreciated the questions the more experienced students asked, and how he was knowledgeable in order to address them.

– Student from Designing with VHDL

Can quickly and concisely answer technical questions

I really like the expertise of the presenters and that they can quickly and concisely answer technical questions, Tom did great!

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 3

Impressed with the effort

Glenn is a good instructor – I’m impressed with the effort he put into the presentation.
I hope I didn’t annoy him with too many questions.

– Student from Designing with Versal AI Engine 3: Kernel Programming and Optimization

I gained a lot of information

The class was pretty great and I gained a lot of information from it that I will certainly be applying at my job going forward!!

– Student from Vivado Boot Camp for the FPGA User Phase 1

One of the best experiences for AMD Xilinx training that I’ve had

Bill was a great instructor and answered all of our questions. He went above and beyond to make this course a great experience. If/When I use BLT for Xilinx training in the future I will be on the lookout to see if he’s leading the lecture. One of the best experiences for AMD Xilinx training that I’ve had.

– Student from Designing with VHDL

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Who should attend:

Engineers who seek training for FPGA design best practices that increase design performance and increase development productivity.

Software Tools

Vivado Design Suite

Hardware

Architecture: UltraScale™ FPGAs*
Demo board: None*

* This course focuses on the UltraScale architecture.

Skills Gained

After completing this comprehensive training, you will know how to:

Describe the UltraFast design methodology checklist
Identify key areas to optimize your design to meet your design goals and performance objectives
Define a properly constrained design
Optimize HDL code to maximize the FPGA resources that are inferred and meet your performance goals
Build resets into your system for optimum reliability and design speed
Build a more reliable design that is less vulnerable to metastability problems and requires less design debugging later in the development cycle
Identify timing closure techniques using the Vivado Design Suite
Describe how the UltraFast design methodology techniques work effectively through case studies and lab experience

Course Outline

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
UltraFast Design Methodology – Planning UltraFast Design Methodology: Introduction Introduces the UltraFast Design Methodology and the UltraFast Design Methodology checklist. {Lecture, Demo} UltraFast Design Methodology: Board and Device Planning Introduces the methodology guidelines on board and device planning. {Lecture} Vivado Design Suite I/O Pin Planning Describes the I/O Pin Planning layout for performing pin assignments in a design. {Lecture, Lab} Power Estimation Using XPE Illustrates estimating the amount of resources and default activity rates for a design and evaluating the estimated power calculated by XPE. {Lecture, Lab} UltraFast Design Methodology – Design Creation UltraFast Design Methodology: Design Creation Introduces the UltraFast methodology guidelines on design creation. {Lecture} RTL Development Covers RTL and the RTL design flow, recommended coding guidelines, using control signals, and recommendations on resets. {Lecture} Resets Investigates the impact of using asynchronous resets in a design. {Lecture, Lab} Pipelining Demonstrates the use of pipelining to improve design performance. {Lecture, Lab} Synchronous Design Techniques Introduces the synchronous design techniques used in an FPGA design. {Lecture}	Vivado IP Flow Designing with the IP Integrator Demonstrates how to use the Vivado IP integrator to create the uart_led subsystem. {Lecture, Lab} Creating and Packaging Custom IP Covers creating your own IP and package and including it in the Vivado IP catalog. {Lecture} Version Control Systems Revision Control Systems in the Vivado Design Suite Reviews using version control systems with Vivado IDE design flows. {Lecture} UltraFast Design Methodology – Implementation UltraFast Design Methodology: Implementation Introduces the methodology guidelines on implementation. {Lecture} Incremental Compile Flow Discusses the incremental compile flow last-minute RTL changes are made. {Lecture} UltraFast Design Methodology – Design Analysis UltraFast Design Methodology: Timing Closure Introduces the UltraFast methodology guidelines on timing closure. {Lecture} Introduction to Vivado Reports Demonstrates generating and using Vivado timing reports to analyze failed timing paths. {Lecture, Demo}	Baselining Illustrates how to apply recommended baselining procedures to progressively meet timing closure. {Lecture, Lab} Clock Domain Crossing and Synchronization Circuits Outlines using synchronization circuits for clock domain crossings. {Lecture} QoR Reports Overview Describes what quality of result (QoR) is and how to analyze the QoR reports generated by the Vivado IDE. {Lecture, Lab} Timing Closure Using Physical Optimization Techniques Shows how to use physical optimization techniques for timing closure. {Lecture, Lab} Power Management Techniques Identifies the techniques used for low power design. {Lecture} Floorplanning Introduction to Floorplanning Provides an introduction to floorplanning and how to use Pblocks while floorplanning. {Lecture} Congestion Describes congestion and addresses congestion issues. {Lecture} Debugging Vivado Design Suite Debug Methodology Covers debug core recommendations and employ the debug methodology for debugging a design using the Vivado logic analyzer. {Lecture}

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

UltraFast Design Methodology – Planning

UltraFast Design Methodology: Introduction
Introduces the UltraFast Design Methodology and the UltraFast Design Methodology checklist. {Lecture, Demo}
UltraFast Design Methodology: Board and Device Planning
Introduces the methodology guidelines on board and device planning. {Lecture}
Vivado Design Suite I/O Pin Planning
Describes the I/O Pin Planning layout for performing pin assignments in a design. {Lecture, Lab}
Power Estimation Using XPE
Illustrates estimating the amount of resources and default activity rates for a design and evaluating the estimated power calculated by XPE. {Lecture, Lab}

UltraFast Design Methodology – Design Creation

UltraFast Design Methodology: Design Creation
Introduces the UltraFast methodology guidelines on design creation. {Lecture}
RTL Development
Covers RTL and the RTL design flow, recommended coding guidelines, using control signals, and recommendations on resets. {Lecture}
Resets
Investigates the impact of using asynchronous resets in a design. {Lecture, Lab}
Pipelining
Demonstrates the use of pipelining to improve design performance. {Lecture, Lab}
Synchronous Design Techniques
Introduces the synchronous design techniques used in an FPGA design. {Lecture}

Vivado IP Flow

Designing with the IP Integrator
Demonstrates how to use the Vivado IP integrator to create the uart_led subsystem. {Lecture, Lab}
Creating and Packaging Custom IP
Covers creating your own IP and package and including it in the Vivado IP catalog. {Lecture}

Version Control Systems

Revision Control Systems in the Vivado Design Suite
Reviews using version control systems with Vivado IDE design flows. {Lecture}

UltraFast Design Methodology – Implementation

UltraFast Design Methodology: Implementation
Introduces the methodology guidelines on implementation. {Lecture}
Incremental Compile Flow
Discusses the incremental compile flow last-minute RTL changes are made. {Lecture}

UltraFast Design Methodology – Design Analysis

UltraFast Design Methodology: Timing Closure
Introduces the UltraFast methodology guidelines on timing closure. {Lecture}
Introduction to Vivado Reports
Demonstrates generating and using Vivado timing reports to analyze failed timing paths. {Lecture, Demo}

Baselining
Illustrates how to apply recommended baselining procedures to progressively meet timing closure. {Lecture, Lab}
Clock Domain Crossing and Synchronization Circuits
Outlines using synchronization circuits for clock domain crossings. {Lecture}
QoR Reports Overview
Describes what quality of result (QoR) is and how to analyze the QoR reports generated by the Vivado IDE. {Lecture, Lab}
Timing Closure Using Physical Optimization Techniques
Shows how to use physical optimization techniques for timing closure. {Lecture, Lab}
Power Management Techniques
Identifies the techniques used for low power design. {Lecture}

Floorplanning

Introduction to Floorplanning
Provides an introduction to floorplanning and how to use Pblocks while floorplanning. {Lecture}
Congestion
Describes congestion and addresses congestion issues. {Lecture}

Debugging

Vivado Design Suite Debug Methodology
Covers debug core recommendations and employ the debug methodology for debugging a design using the Vivado logic analyzer. {Lecture}

Please note: The instructor may change the content order to provide a better learning experience.

Prerequisites:

Basic HDL knowledge (VHDL or Verilog)
Digital design knowledge and experience

RELATED COURSES:

Updated 03-12-2025

©2025 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Xilinx, Inc. is now part of AMD. Xilinx, the Xilinx logo, AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Alveo, Artix, Kintex, Kria, Spartan, Versal, Vitis, Virtex, Vivado, Zynq, and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

UltraFast Design Methodology