Getting Started with FPGA Development

This section guides you through setting up your FPGA development environment and creating your first Red Pitaya FPGA project. For current Red Pitaya OS releases, use Vivado 2025.1 with Vitis 2025.1. Legacy SDK 2019.1 documentation is kept for older OS branches.

Note

Toolchain by OS version

• OS 3.00 or higher: Vivado 2025.1 + Vitis 2025.1 (current flow)

• OS 1.04 - 2.00: Vivado 2020.1 + SDK 2019.1 (legacy flow)

What you’ll find here:

• Introduction - Understand Red Pitaya FPGA architecture, required tools, and development workflow

• Vivado and Vitis Installation - Current installation flow for FPGA and ARM software development

• SDK Installation (Legacy) - SDK 2019.1 setup for older OS branches

• Project Workflows - Create, customize, and integrate projects (template-based and from-scratch)

• Simulation - Verify your designs with behavioral simulation before hardware deployment

• Reprogram FPGA - Load bitstreams to Red Pitaya and test your designs

• SDK Project Creation - Create ARM software projects that interface with your FPGA design

• Introduction to Red Pitaya FPGA Development
• Installation of Vivado and Vitis
• Installation of Xilinx SDK 2019.1 (Legacy)
• Project Workflows
• FPGA Simulation
• FPGA Reprogramming Guide