Multimode Virtual Prototype Model for Simulation Speed and Timing Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual prototypes in SoC design often lack timing accuracy, leading to slower execution speeds and inadequate analysis of time-dependent access transaction behavior, which hinders software development and validation of hardware behavior.
Innovation Solution
A multimode model with two or more redundant virtual communication paths for memory access and register operations, allowing for both accelerated and time-accurate access transactions, including a cycle-accurate path and a fast path that bypasses peripheral components, to optimize simulation execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a virtual prototype uses abstracted timing details to achieve faster execution speed, then productivity is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual prototype model dynamically adjusts its timing accuracy based on operational context. During bootstrapping and early initialization phases, the model operates in accelerated mode with abstracted timing. Once the operating system is loaded and applications begin execution, the model transitions to cycle-accurate mode for time-dependent operations, optimizing both execution speed and timing precision according to simulation stage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The model incorporates multiple operational modes that change timing parameters based on simulation needs. The fast operational mode uses abstracted timing for non-critical operations, while the cycle-accurate mode activates precise timing for time-dependent access transactions. This parameter switching allows the system to achieve fast execution speeds for general operations while maintaining measurement precision when required.
2Measurement precision
If a virtual prototype models all hardware behavior accurately, then measurement precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual prototype model segments operations into two categories: time-dependent access transactions requiring cycle-accurate modeling, and non-critical operations that can use accelerated timing. By dividing the simulation workload in this manner, the system achieves precise timing measurement where needed while maintaining fast execution speeds for the majority of operations, thus resolving the contradiction between accuracy and speed.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than modeling all hardware behavior at cycle-accurate level, the system applies partial accuracy only where necessary for time-dependent operations. This selective approach to precision avoids the performance penalty of full cycle-accurate modeling while still providing sufficient timing accuracy for critical analysis, thereby improving productivity without sacrificing essential measurement precision.
3Productivity
If a virtual prototype uses loosely-timed modeling for faster execution, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The model dynamically switches between loosely-timed and cycle-accurate operational modes based on the specific transaction being simulated. For time-dependent access transactions, the system activates cycle-accurate timing to ensure reliable behavior analysis. For non-critical operations, loosely-timed mode provides fast execution. This dynamic adaptation ensures reliability is maintained where needed while preserving productivity overall.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure contains descriptions of various methods and systems for accelerating the execution of a virtual prototype simulation. Acceleration may be achieved, for example, by providing two or more redundant virtual communication paths for access made by virtual models of a virtual prototype of a hardware design to provide for both accelerated access transactions and time-accurate access transactions. A model having such redundant virtual communication paths is referred to herein as a “multimode model.”