Behavioral Simulation at the Register Transfer Level - 2021.1 English

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Logic Simulation (UG900)

Document ID
UG900
Release Date
2021-06-16
Version
2021.1 English

Register Transfer Level (RTL) behavioral simulation can include:

  • RTL Code
  • Instantiated UNISIM library components
  • Instantiated UNIMACRO components
  • UNISIM gate-level model (for the Vivado logic analyzer)
  • SECUREIP Library

RTL-level simulation lets you simulate and verify your design prior to any translation made by synthesis or implementation tools. You can verify your designs as a module or an entity, a block, a device, or a system.

RTL simulation is typically performed to verify code syntax, and to confirm that the code is functioning as intended. In this step, the design is primarily described in RTL and consequently, no timing information is required.

RTL simulation is not architecture-specific unless the design contains an instantiated device library component. To support instantiation, Xilinx® provides the UNISIM library.

When you verify your design at the behavioral RTL you can fix design issues earlier and save design cycles.

Keeping the initial design creation limited to behavioral code allows for:

  • More readable code
  • Faster and simpler simulation
  • Code portability (the ability to migrate to different device families)
  • Code reuse (the ability to use the same code in future designs)