SystemDesigner

SystemDesigner provides a visual representation of the hardware in a system and the software targeted to specific devices in the system. Use SystemDesigner to view your connected hardware, design a system using real and simulated hardware, and target software components to specific devices in the system.

Whether you must develop a standalone software application on a development machine or create a complex application with multiple systems, you should use SystemDesigner to manage your project's hardware configuration.

To help you manage your system, SystemDesigner includes two views:
  • Live view—Displays your connected hardware and enables you to validate and debug your devices with measurement panels.
  • Design view—Provides a canvas for you to design and document your hardware system, regardless of whether you have access to the physical hardware.
You can use one or both views depending on your programming goal as you validate, design, and configure a system. Refer to the following table to learn about the uses for each view.
SystemDesigner view Uses
Live view
  • View connected hardware devices in software
  • Add a device to your system that SystemDesigner does not discover
  • Validate and debug your hardware with measurement panels
Design view
  • Design a system with or without access to physical hardware
  • Add software to a target device, such as a PC or FPGA
  • Test or debug a project using a subset of the required hardware
  • Annotate a system
  • Include a hardware configuration in a distribution
  • Generate a report of your system configuration to retain, share, or deploy