01-Vitis_Functional_Simulation

AMD Vitis™ System Design Tutorials See Vitis™ Development Environment on amd.com

Vitis Functional Simulation

Version: Vitis 2026.1

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Setup Instructions
3. Available Examples

Support

Introduction

Vitis Functional Simulation (VFS) allows you to functionally simulate AI Engine graphs and/or HLS kernels in both MATLAB® and Python™ environments on Linux. It presents simple APIs to compile and simulate your design. VFS is designed to be easy to use and provides a familiar environment for users who are already accustomed to using MATLAB or Python.

Varray

Vitis Functional Simulation (VFS) leverages "varray" (Vitis array), a module supporting all the data types available in AMD devices in both MATLAB and Python environments and allowing conversion and casting between the types.

For more information on Vitis Functional Simulation and Vitis array, refer to Chapter 6 of Embedded Design Development Using Vitis User Guide (UG1701).

Setup Instructions

Source the appropriate settings file:

[shell]% source <vitis_install_folder>/settings64.sh

Python

Launch Python (supports 3.9 to 3.14). The following modules are required:

• numpy
• scipy
• matplotlib

To set up a virtual environment with all dependencies:

python3 -m venv my-venv
source my-venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install numpy scipy matplotlib

Then in your Python script:

import vfs
import varray as va

DSPLIB_ROOT (for DSP Library examples)

Some AIE examples (aie/firComplex, aie/FIRasyncRTP) use the Vitis DSP Library. Set the DSPLIB_ROOT environment variable to point to the DSP library root:

# Clone the library if you don't have it:
git clone https://github.com/Xilinx/Vitis_Libraries.git
export DSPLIB_ROOT=<path_to_Vitis_Libraries>/dsp

MATLAB

Launch MATLAB (supports 2025a, 2025b and 2026a).

Available Examples

This directory contains simple AI Engine Graphs and HLS kernels to show how to get started with VFS, as well as a more representative system example.

Example	Description
varray	Showcasing basic varray operations
aie/GraphMultiplyByComplex	Simple design showcasing the basic structure of a VFS code
aie/bfloat16	Demonstrates partial data being passed to the AIE graph
aie/FIRasyncRTP	Instantiation of a symmetric FIR filter with async RTP port from Vitis_Libraries
aie/firComplex	Complex-data FIR filter using Vitis DSP Library with scipy validation
aie/multiplyWithPreproc	Demonstrates passing preprocessor definitions (Xpreproc) to AIE compilation
aie/gmio	Simple weighted-sum design that leverages GMIO
hls/SumOfFour	Simple design showcasing the basic structure of a VFS code
hls/array_pointer_data_type	Demonstrates a kernel with array and pointer inputs
hls/arrayOfHlsStreams	Demonstrates using an HLS kernel where the ports are arrays of streams
hls/kernel_invert	Demonstrates usage of the fixed-point varray data type
hls/complexArguments	HLS kernel with complex data types (cuint32, cfloat)
hls/apfixArgument	HLS kernel demonstrating ap_fixed / ap_ufixed fixed-point data types
hls/apintArguments	HLS kernel using ap_int / ap_uint with stream interfaces
hls/floatArguments	HLS kernel with float and double stream interfaces
aie_hls/64kifft	64k-point IFFT implemented using a 2D breakdown containing resources in both AI Engine and PL. Also includes a Jupyter notebook version. Link to original design.

Support

GitHub issues are used for tracking requests and bugs. For questions, go to Support.

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