2014 conference paper

Co-simulation framework for streamlining microprocessor development on standard ASIC design flow

2014 19th asia and south pacific design automation conference (asp-dac), 400–405.

By: T. Nakabayashi*, T. Sugiyama*, T. Sasaki*, E. Rotenberg n & T. Kondo*

TL;DR: This paper presents a practical processor co-simulation framework for not only RTL simulation but also gate/transistor level simulation, and even chip evaluation with an LSI tester, and proposes a cache warming mechanism when resuming from a checkpoint. (via Semantic Scholar)
Source: NC State University Libraries
Added: August 6, 2018

In this paper, we present a practical processor co-simulation framework for not only RTL simulation but also gate/transistor level simulation, and even chip evaluation with an LSI tester. Our framework includes an off-chip system call emulation mechanism, which handles system calls to evaluate and verify the processor design with general benchmark programs without pseudo-circuits in the processor design. Therefore, our framework can be consistently used from RTL design to chip fabrication. We also propose a checkpoint mechanism that resumes a program from a pre-created checkpoint. This mechanism is not affected by the non-deterministic problem on a multi-core processor. Moreover, we propose a cache warming mechanism when resuming from a checkpoint.