rfsoc_mts_patch

Lightweight patch for the PYNQ xrfdc package to enable Multi-Tile Sync (MTS) and SYSREF control on RFSoC boards — no full PYNQ rebuild required.

Usage

# Check whether the patch is already applied
./patch_xrfdc_mts.sh --check

# Apply the patch
sudo ./patch_xrfdc_mts.sh

# Revert to original (uses .bak files created during patching)
sudo ./patch_xrfdc_mts.sh --revert

After patching:

from pynq import Overlay

ol = Overlay("your_design.bit")
rfdc = ol.usp_rf_data_converter_0  # adjust to your IP name

# Optionally configure which tiles to sync (bitmask, bit N = tile N)
rfdc.mts_adc_config.Tiles = 0b0011  # tiles 0 and 1
rfdc.mts_dac_config.Tiles = 0b0011
rfdc.mts_adc_config.RefTile = 0
rfdc.mts_dac_config.RefTile = 0

# Run MTS sequence
rfdc.sysref_enable(0)
# ... configure mixer frequencies, etc. ...
rfdc.sysref_enable(1)
rfdc.mts_adc()
rfdc.mts_dac()
rfdc.sysref_enable(0)

Requirements: Tested on RFSoC4x2 PYNQ v3.0. The script checks that libxrfdc.so already contains the MTS symbols before patching — if not, a full rebuild via RFSoC-MTS is required first.

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Background

Why MTS is needed

The RFSoC RF Data Converter IP contains multiple independent DAC/ADC tiles, each with its own PLL and datapath. When using converters across different tiles simultaneously, they are not inherently synchronized — each tile starts up with an arbitrary phase offset relative to the others.

Multi-Tile Sync (MTS) aligns all tiles to a common reference using two signals fed into the RF Data Converter IP from the PL:

• PL_CLK → shared clock distributed to all tiles that need synchronization
• PL_SYSREF → user_sysref_dac / user_sysref_adc — a periodic reference pulse used to capture and align each tile's internal timing

Why this patch is needed

AMD provides MTS C API functions in the embeddedsw library:

C Function	Role
XRFdc_MultiConverter_Init	Initialize MTS config struct
XRFdc_MultiConverter_Sync	Run tile synchronization
XRFdc_MTS_Sysref_Config	Enable / disable SYSREF capture

However, the default PYNQ xrfdc Python package does not expose these functions. The xrfdc_functions.c file (used by CFFI to generate Python bindings at runtime) lacks the MTS struct definitions and function prototypes, and the RFdc Python class has no corresponding methods.

The existing RFSoC-MTS repository addresses this by patching the PYNQ source and rebuilding libxrfdc.so from scratch. However, on modern PYNQ images, libxrfdc.so already contains all three MTS symbols — only the Python-side bindings are missing. A full rebuild is unnecessary.

This patch takes the lightweight approach: update only the two files that CFFI and Python read at runtime.

What this patch modifies

xrfdc_functions.c — adds MTS C struct definitions and function prototypes so CFFI can resolve them:

• XRFdc_MTS_DTC_Settings
• XRFdc_MultiConverter_Sync_Config
• XRFdc_MTS_Marker
• XRFdc_MultiConverter_Sync(), XRFdc_MultiConverter_Init(), XRFdc_MTS_Sysref_Config()

__init__.py — adds to the RFdc class:

• mts_adc_config, mts_dac_config — MTS config structs initialized in __init__()
• mts_adc() — synchronize ADC tiles
• mts_dac() — synchronize DAC tiles
• sysref_enable(enable) — enable/disable SYSREF capture