Narrowband Beamforming using Phase Shifters on FPGA: A Model-Based Design Approach with Hardware/Software Co-Implementation

In this paper, a narrowband beamforming technique, widely used in acoustic signal processing, sonar systems, and wireless communications, was implemented on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) using a model-based design approach. The beamformer was specifically designed to estimate the direction of arrival of acoustic signals and operates in the frequency domain. The model-based design approach facilitated hardware/software (HW/SW) partitioning and system verification within Simulink. Using HDL Coder library, an FPGA Intellectual Property (IP) core was generated that meets all hardware requirements of the reference algorithm and is capable of communicating with both hard processor of a System on Chip (SoC) devices and a soft processor instantiated in the FPGA. This IP was connected with a microblaze processor to enable efficient hw/sw co-design on an Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA. The design was simulated using Xilinx Vivado's XSIM and verified by comparing simulation results with those from the Simulink model. In addition to accuracy, performance of the design was evaluated in terms of execution speed, latency, resource utilization, power consumption, and compared against its processor-based counterpart. In conclusion, narrowband beamforming algorithm was successfully implemented and tested using a model-based design approach, providing a more streamlined alternative to conventional methods by abstracting low-level FPGA complexities and allowing designers to focus on higher-level system design.