Evaluating Xilinx MicroBlaze for Network SoC applications

Abstract: This thesis aims to create a System on Chip (SoC) solution for various
network devices. A solution with network peripherals, processor core and
network software in a single chip is designed and evaluated.

Typical applications of a network System on Chip include Ethernet switches,
Internetenabled embedded systems, small Internet Protocol clients for
handheld devices and simple Internet gateways.

The the solution utilizes the Xilinx MicroBlaze soft processor core,
MicroBlaze Development Kit, IBM CoreConnect On-Chip Peripheral Bus (OPB)
peripherals and Xilinx Virtex Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).