You can simulate AI Engine graphs and designs using the following simulator flows. These flows provide a trade-off between simulation speed and accuracy in your AI Engine kernel and graph development phase:
- Untimed (x86simulator)
- Verifies the functional correctness of the code and validates performance in a standalone context, independently of interactions with other functions. This simulation flow is helpful for verifying the functional accuracy of your AI Engine kernels and graphs and offers the quickest simulation run time.
- Cycle-approximate (aiesimulator)
- Calculates core vector load and memory access more precisely,
which you can use to estimate AI Engine graph
performance and improve the accuracy of the power estimation. In addition, this
simulation flow models the GMIO and PLIO interfaces to the AI Engine graph and models the NoC, PS, and PL,
providing cycle-approximate results.Note: This simulation is only possible in the platform-based design flow.
For more information on these simulation flows, see the following resources:
- Simulating an AI Engine Graph Application in the AI Engine User Guide (UG1076)
- Vitis Tutorials: AI Engine Development Debug Walkthrough
- Vitis Tutorials: AI Engine Versal ACAP Integration