Vivado

Vivado Design Suite is a comprehensive development environment for Xilinx FPGAs and System on Chips (SoCs). It provides RTL design, high-level synthesis, IP integration, and automated implementation, including placement, routing, and bitstream generation for Xilinx devices. The suite supports design entry in VHDL, Verilog, and SystemVerilog, as well as high-level synthesis through Vivado HLS for C, C++, and SystemC. It includes an IP Integrator tool for assembling reusable IP blocks, a constraint editor for timing and placement constraints, and unified timing analysis and power estimation tools. Debugging capabilities include an integrated logic analyzer and waveform viewer, and the tool supports Tcl scripting for automation. Vivado runs on Windows and Linux and requires a license.

Vivado is used to create designs for a range of Xilinx families, including 7-series, UltraScale, and Zynq UltraScale+ devices such as Zynq-7000, Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, Kintex, and Artix. It provides a design flow that typically starts with design entry and constraints, followed by synthesis, implementation (place and route), and bitstream generation. Features such as incremental compilation, advanced timing analysis, and IP-based design with the IP Integrator help accelerate development.

Vivado was introduced by Xilinx in the early 2010s as a successor to the ISE Design Suite and is positioned for newer device families. Over time it has evolved with new releases adding performance improvements, new IP, and better integration with simulators and debug tools. Since Xilinx was acquired by AMD in 2020, the tool continues as part of AMD Xilinx, with Vitis offered as a broader software-defined platform for acceleration and system-level design.