Accelerated Verilog Simulator Using Application Specific Microprocessor

Tan Tze Sin, Tze Sin (2017) Accelerated Verilog Simulator Using Application Specific Microprocessor. PhD thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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Abstract

Logic simulation is an important step in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) IC development. Advancement in Hardware Description Language (HDL) has made Verilog a widely adopted language used to model digital circuit and verification test bench. Electronic Design Automation (EDA) vendor provides software and hardwareassisted approaches to carry out simulations. However, software-based simulator is slow whereas hardware-assisted simulator does not offer the same simulation fidelity stipulated in Verilog. In this research project, a hardware-assisted Verilog simulator, VerCPU System, was proposed to address shortcomings in existing platforms. The simulator core is a custom designed application specific microprocessor specifically adapted to handle Verilog simulation. The microprocessor computes Verilog data in its native form while supporting event-driven parallelism directly to achieve speed supremacy. Being a compiled-code simulator, simulation fidelity compliancy is retained to offer the same result and visibility like the software-based solution. A functional system, VerCPU, was developed and prototyped on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development board. This system was successfully verified and benchmarked against a software-based compiled-code simulator, i.e. Synopsys VCS®. VerCPU System can already achieve up to 6 times speed superiority with basic speed improvement techniques applied. The simulator had proven to be a viable alternate Verilog simulator to meet future simulation needs.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Subjects: T Technology
T Technology > TK Electrical Engineering. Electronics. Nuclear Engineering
Divisions: Kampus Kejuruteraan (Engineering Campus) > Pusat Pengajian Kejuruteraaan Elektrik & Elektronik (School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering) > Thesis
Depositing User: Mr Mohamed Yunus Mat Yusof
Date Deposited: 20 Nov 2019 02:36
Last Modified: 17 Nov 2021 03:42
URI: http://eprints.usm.my/id/eprint/45788

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