A Programmable Linux-Based FPGA Platform for Audio DSP

Pierre Cochard (1) , Maxime Popoff (1) , Antoine Fraboulet (2) , Tanguy Risset (1) , Stéphane Letz (3, 1) , Romain Michon (1)

1 EMERAUDE - Systèmes Embarqués audio programmables
2 Inria Lyon
3 GRAME - Centre national de création musicale [Lyon]

Recent projects have been proposing the use of FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) as hardware accelerators for high computing power real-time audio Digital Signal Processing (DSP). Most of them imply specific developments which cannot be re-used between different applications. In this paper, we present an accessible FPGA-based platform optimized for audio applications programmable with the FAUST language and offering advanced control capabilities. Our system allows fast and simple deployment of DSP hardware accelerators for any Linux audio application on Xilinx FPGA platforms. It combines the Syfala compiler-which can be used to generate FPGA bitstreams directly from a FAUST program-with a readymade embedded Linux distribution running on the Xilinx Zynq SoC. It enables the compilation of complete audio applications involving various control protocols and approaches such as OSC (Open Sound Control) through Ethernet or Wi-Fi, MIDI, web interfaces running on an HTTPD server, etc. This work opens the door to the integration of hardware accelerators in high-level computer music programming environments such as Pure Data, Su-perCollider, etc.

Mots clés: FPGA; Audio DSP

Domaines: Informatique [cs]

Pierre Cochard, Maxime Popoff, Antoine Fraboulet, Tanguy Risset, Stéphane Letz, et al.. A Programmable Linux-Based FPGA Platform for Audio DSP. Sound and Music Computing Conference, Royal College of Music and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Jun 2023, Stockholm, Sweden. pp.110-116. ⟨hal-04394035⟩