Simulator Support - 2022.2 English

The Vitis tool uses the Vivado logic simulator (xsim) as the default simulator for all platforms, including Alveo Data Center accelerator cards, and Versal and Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC embedded platforms. However, for Versal embedded platforms, like xilinx_vck190_base or custom platforms similar to it, the Vitis tool also supports the use of third-party simulators for hardware emulation: Mentor Graphics Questa Advanced Simulator, Xcelium, and VCS. The specific versions of the supported simulators are the same as the versions supported by Vivado Design Suite.

Enabling a third-party simulator requires some additional configuration options to be implemented during generation of the device binary (.xclbin) and supporting Tcl scripts. The specific requirements for each simulator is discussed below. Also, note that you should run the Vivado setup for third-party simulators before using those simulators in Vitis. Specifically, you must pre-compile the simulation models using the compile_sim_lib Tcl command. For more details, see the Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Logic Simulation (UG900) for third-party simulator setup.

Questa

Add the following advanced parameters and Vivado properties to a configuration file for use during linking:

## Final set of additional options required for running simulation using Questa Simulator
[advanced]
param=hw_emu.simulator=QUESTA
[vivado]
prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.questa_install_dir=<Questa_install_dir>
prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.questa_pre-compiled_library_dir=<Questa_compiled_lib_path>
prop=fileset.sim_1.questa.compile.sccom.cores={16}

After generating the configuration file you can use it in the v++ command line as follows:

v++ -link --config questa_sim.cfg

Xcelium

Add the following advanced parameters and Vivado properties to a configuration file for use during linking:

## Final set of additional options required for running simulation using Xcelium Simulator
[advanced]
param=hw_emu.simulator=XCELIUM
[vivado]
prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.xcelium_install_dir=<Xcelium_install_dir>
prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.xcelium_compiled_library_dir=<Xcelium_pre-compiled_lib_path>
prop=fileset.sim_1.xcelium.elaborate.xmelab.more_options={-timescale 1ns/1ps -STATUS}

After generating the configuration file you can use it in the v++ command line as follows:

v++ -link --config xcelium.cfg

VCS

Add the following advanced parameters and Vivado properties to a configuration file for use during linking:

## Final set of additional options required for running simulation using VCS Simulator
[advanced]
param=hw_emu.simulator=VCS
[vivado]
prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.vcs_install_dir=<VCS_install_dir>
prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.vcs_compiled_library_dir=<Vcs_pre-compiled_lib_path>
prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.vcs_gcc_install_dir=<VCS_gnu_pkg_install_dir>
param=project.alignLibraryPathEnvForVCS=true
prop=fileset.sim_1.vcs.compile.vlogan.more_options={-v2005}

After generating the configuration file you can use it in the v++ command line as follows:

v++ -link --config vcs_sim.cfg

Riviera

Add the following advanced parameters and Vivado properties to a configuration file for use during linking:

## Final set of additional options required for running simulation using VCS Simulator
[advanced]
param=hw_emu.simulator=RIVIERA
[vivado]
prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.riviera_install_dir=<Riviera_install_dir>
prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.riviera_compiled_library_dir=<Riviera_pre-compiled_lib_path>
prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.riviera_gcc_install_dir=<Riviera_gcc_path>
prop=fileset.sim_1.riviera.simulate.asim.more_options={+access +r}

After generating the configuration file you can use it in the v++ command line as follows:

v++ -link --config riviera.cfg

You can use the -user-pre-sim-script and -user-post-sim-script options from the launch_emulator.py command to specify Tcl scripts to run before the start of simulation, or after simulation completes. As an example, in these scripts, you can use the $cwd command to get the run directory of the simulator and copy any files needed prior to simulation, or copy any output files generated at the end of simulation.

To enable hardware emulation, you must set up the environment for simulation in the Vivado Design Suite. A key step for setup is pre-compiling the RTL and SystemC models for use with the simulator. To do this, you must run the compile_sim_lib command in the Vivado tool. For more information on pre-compilation of simulation models, refer to the Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Logic Simulation (UG900).

When creating your Versal platform ready for simulation, the Vivado tool generates a simulation wrapper which must be instantiated in your simulation test bench. So, if the top most design module is <top>, then when calling launch_simulation in the Vivado tool, it will generate a <top>_sim_wrapper module, and also generates xlnoc.bd. These files are generated as simulation-only sources and will be overwritten whenever launch_simulation is called in the Vivado tool. Platform developers need to instantiate this module in the test bench and not their own <top> module.