Overlay

The Overlay class is used to load PYNQ overlays to the PL, and manage and control existing overlays. The class is instantiated with the .bit file for an overlay. By default the overlay Tcl file will be parsed, and the bitstream will be downloaded to the PL. This means that to use the overlay class, a .bit and .tcl must be provided for an overlay.

To instantiate the Overlay only without downloading the .bit file, pass the parameter download=False when instantiating the Overlay class.

On downloading the bitstream, the clock settings provided in the overlay .tcl file will also be applied before the bitstream is downloaded.

Examples

from pynq import Overlay

base = Overlay("base.bit") # bitstream implicitly downloaded to PL

The .bit file path can be provided as a relative, or absolute path. The Overlay class will also search the packages directory for installed packages, and download an overlay found in this location. The .bit file is used to locate the package.

base = Overlay("base.bit", download=False) # Overlay is instantiated, but bitstream is not downloaded to PL

base.download() # Explicitly download bitstream to PL

base.is_loaded() # Checks if a bitstream is loaded

base.reset() # Resets all the dictionaries kept int he overlay

base.load_ip_data(myIP, data) # Provides a function to write data to the memory space of an IP
                              # data is assumed to be in binary format

The ip_dict contains a list of IP in the overlay, and can be used to determine the IP driver, physical address, version, if GPIO, or interrupts are connected to the IP.

base.ip_dict

More information about the Overlay module can be found in the pynq.overlay Module sections.