Inspect vrtbin Metadata

This guide shows how to use v80-smi inspect and v80-smi query to examine kernel information, clock frequency, and resource utilisation from a vrtbin file or a live device.

Prerequisites

  • v80-smi is installed and on your PATH.

  • You have a vrtbin file to inspect, or a V80 board with a loaded design.

  • See Build from Source for installation instructions.

Inspect a vrtbin File

Pass a vrtbin file path to v80-smi inspect:

v80-smi inspect my_design.vbin

Example output:

Vbin my_design.vbin:
   Platform: HARDWARE
   Clock frequency: 200000000
   Utilization:
      slash: LUTs: 42310 (4.81%), FFs: 53792 (3.06%), ...
   Kernel:
      Name: increment_0
      Physical address: 0x202000000000
      Argument:
         Index: 0
         Name: data
         Type: int*
         Offset: 16
         Range: 64
         Direction: ReadWrite

The output shows:

  • Platform — HARDWARE, EMULATION, or SIMULATION.

  • Clock frequency — the design clock in Hz.

  • Utilisation — FPGA resource usage (hardware builds only).

  • Kernels — each kernel instance with its physical address and arguments.

JSON Output

Use -J for pretty-printed JSON or -j for compact JSON (useful for scripting):

v80-smi inspect my_design.vbin -J

{
   "clock_frequency": "0xbebc200",
   "kernels": {
      "increment_0": {
         "name": "increment_0",
         "address": "0x202000000000",
         "args": [
            {
               "index": "0x0",
               "name": "data",
               "type": "int*",
               "offset": "0x10",
               "range": "0x40",
               "direction": "ReadWrite"
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}

Note

Numeric fields (clock_frequency, address, offset, range) are encoded as hexadecimal strings in the JSON output to avoid integer precision issues.

Query a Live Device

To read the metadata of the design currently loaded on a device, use v80-smi query:

v80-smi query -d 03:00

The output format is identical to inspect, but the data comes from the device’s system map rather than a file on disk.

Note

The device must have been programmed with a vrtbin (via v80-smi program or the VRT API). If no design is loaded, the command will report an error.

Use v80-smi list to discover the BDF addresses of your boards.

Understanding the Arguments

Each kernel argument entry contains:

  • Index — positional index in the HLS function signature.

  • Name — the C++ parameter name from the HLS source.

  • Type — the C++ type (e.g. int*, unsigned int).

  • Offset — register offset within the kernel’s AXI-Lite control block.

  • Range — bit width of the argument register.

  • Direction — Read, Write, or ReadWrite.

Understanding Utilisation

Hardware vrtbin files include a utilisation report showing how much of the FPGA fabric the design consumes:

  • LUTs — Look-Up Tables (combinational logic).

  • FFs — Flip-Flops (sequential logic).

  • LUTRAM — LUT-based distributed RAM.

  • SRL — Shift Register LUTs.

  • RAMB36 / RAMB18 — Block RAM tiles.

  • URAM — UltraRAM blocks.

  • DSP — Digital Signal Processing slices.

Each metric shows the absolute count and, when available, the percentage of total resources used.

Next Steps