In this class, we will be using the VCS Tool suite from Synopsys. The primary tools we will use will be VCS (Verilog Compiler Simulator) and VirSim, a graphical user interface to VCS for debugging and viewing waveforms. These tools are currently available on the Sun application servers (sunapp1, sunapp2 and sunapp3). Therefore you should ssh to sunapp1, sunapp2 or sunapp3 to use the VCS tool suite.
The methodology of debugging your project design involves three steps:
The VCS tools will allow you to combine these steps to debug your design interactively.
VCS works by compiling your Verilog source code into object files, or translating them into C source files. VCS invokes a C compiler (cc, gcc, or egcs) to create an executable file that will simulate your design. This simulator can be executed on the command line, and can create a waveform file. Alternately, the design can be simulated interactively using VirSim, and the waveforms can be viewed as you step through the simulation.
The rest of this document will give a brief overview of the tools and show you how to compile and simulate the D latch example from the EE 382N Verilog manual. You should do this tutorial on one of the LRC Sun application servers.
This document is by no means comprehensive. If it doesn't tell you what you want to know, we suggest you look through the documentation provided by Synopsis. There is a user guide for VCS available on the LRC Suns in the directory: /usr/local/packages/vcs7.0.1/doc/UserGuide/vcs.pdf . This user guide includes another tutorial for the VCS tools. This tutorial will explain additional features of the debugging interface that you may find useful for this class. There is also a user guide for VirSim, the interactive debugger, located at /usr/local/packages/vcs7.0.1/doc/UserGuide/VSIM.pdf.
All three sunapp machines have been upgraded and the old environment setup does not work anymore. You will need to use the following command to set up the environment from now on:
module load synopsys/vcsIf the above command fails, use the resetenv script to update your environment files to the latest ECE defaults. Your previous environment files will be saved in the ~/olddotfiles directory so that you can append your old settings to the new environment files.
You may also use the following command:
module initadd synopsys/vcsto have the VCS environment set up automatically every time you log in to a sunapp machine.
Now that you can run VCS, create a directory where you want to put the files for this tutorial, and copy the following files into that directory:
Change to the directory that you created for this tutorial.
Compile the verilog source code by typing the following at the source prompt:
vcs -f masterThe -f option means that the file specified (master in this case) contains a list of command line options for vcs. In this case, the command-line options are mostly just a list of library file names. The following command line would have the same effect:
vcs /home/projects/courses/spring_08/ee382n-16640/lib/time -v /home/projects/courses/spring_08/ee382n-16640/lib/lib1 d_latch.vThe -v option before the library file means that only modules in the file that are actually instantiated (nand2$ and inv1$ in this case) will be compiled. When you ran this command, the output should have included the following:
Top Level Modules:
timeunit
TOP
TimeScale is 1 ns / 10 ps
2 of 5 unique modules to generate
Both modules done.
Invoking loader...
simv generation successfully completed
You should now have an executable file called simv in your working directory.
Execute simv on the command line with no arguments. You should see output from both vcs and the simulation, and it should produce a waveform file called d_latch.dump in your working directory.
Now we are going to re-invoke vcs to view the waveform. At the prompt, type:
vcs -RPP d_latch.v &The -RPP option tells vcs that we are opening it in post-processing mode.
You should now see Hierarchy window on your screen.
In this window, click on Open under the File menu option. Change the file type that you want to open to VCD (not VCD+). (VCD (.dump file extension) and VCD+ (.vcd file extension) files are both waveform files, but VCD files are text files, and VCD+ files are condensed binary files.)
Select and open the file d_latch.dump, and then click OK. In the hierarchy window, you should see all TOP-level module instantiations: in this case, just latch1, which is the name of our D latch. Click on the pink TOP button, and you should see all signals instantiated at the TOP level in the signal window: d, q, qb, and we.
Click on Waveform under the Window menu option.
In the Hierarchy window, highlight all signals in the signal list with the left mouse button. Then with the middle mouse button, drag the selected signals over to the black space in the waveform window. At this point, you should see the waveforms starting at time 0 of the simulation. Most of them will be red at the beginning of the simulation, meaning they have the logic value “x”.
In the waveform window, select the menu option Display -> Time Scale. Change the display unit to 1 ns and the display precision to 100 ps. You can press the toolbar button labeled with a small “Z” a few times to zoom out and see more of the waveforms.
You should be able to verify the functionality of the D latch and determine the propagation delays from the write-enable to the outputs and the data input to the outputs by examining the waveforms. For the library parts nand2$ and inv1$, the propagation delays are the same for rising and falling outputs. Is this true of the D latch?
Because we used the system command $dumpvars (0, TOP); in our verilog simulation, we should be able to view all signals at any hierarchical level of the design. Hence if you go back to the hierarchy window and click on the plus symbol next to the latch1 button, you can traverse down the hierarchy and select more signals to view. If you highlight the button called latch1, you should see all signals and ports for the latch.
Before exiting the waveform viewer, you can save your settings in a configuration file under the File -> Save Configurations option.
Now we are going to simulate the design again.
Exit VirSim if you have not already. Recompile your source code with the following command line:
vcs -RI -Mupdate -f master &The -Mupdate is a compile-time option that tells vcs to compile incrementally. When you use this option, it will create a sub-directory called csrc. This directory will contain a Makefile and object files for each module that is compiled. When you compile incrementally, which we suggest you do for your project, only the modules that change between compilations will need to be recompiled.
The -RI means we are going to simulate in interactive mode. As soon as the code is compiled, VirSim will be invoked and the simulation will start.
The Interactive window of VirSim should have popped up by now. In the History panel, it says $stop at time 0. Whenever you invoke vcs with the -RI option, the simulation will always be paused at time 0.
Open the Hierarchy window by clicking on Hierarchy under the Window menu. Our design had two modules at the highest level: TOP and timeunit. We are interested in looking at the TOP module. In the menu bar of the Hierarchy window, you will see a little tiny picture of a hierarchy. You can click on this to select the TOP module.
From the main menubar, open the Waveform window, and either load your configuration file (using Ctrl-L) or browse through the hierarchy to select signals to view as in post-procession mode.
In the Simulator Control panel in the Interactive window, change the Step Time to 1.00 to run the simulation in intervals of 1 ns. By clicking OK, you can step through the simulation.
You can also step through the simulation until a specified time or until a specified signal (TOP.d, for example) changes value. When you simulate interactively, the waveforms are only recorded for the signals that appear in the Waveform Window. Hence you should select any signals of interest before the simulation time that you want to view them. If at any time you want to restart the simulation, select Re-exec or Invoke Sim under the Sim option in the Interactive window.
You can also view your source code in the following manner. Click on Source under the Window menu. Then in the Hierarchy window, select a module instance, say TOP, and drag it (using the middle mouse button) to the large black panel in the Source window. If you want to edit your code, VCS will invoke a text editor (Edit -> Edit Source).
This should be enough to get you started on Homework 1b. Let us know if you run into problems.