Enabling Third-Party Simulators

Enabling Third-Party Simulators - 2023.1 English

AI Engine Tools and Flows User Guide (UG1076)

Document ID

UG1076

Release Date

2023-06-23

Version

2023.1 English

Third-party simulators such as Questa Advanced Simulator (Mentor Graphics), Xcelium (Cadence), VCS (Synopsys), and Riviera Simulator (Aldec) are supported when executing hardware emulation of your design. You can enable these simulators by updating the Vitis configuration file (config.ini or system.cfg).

Table 1. Vitis Link Settings
Simulator	`v++ --link` Configuration
Questa Advanced Simulator	`[advanced] param=hw_emu.simulator=QUESTA [vivado] prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.questa_install_dir=<SIMULATOR DIRECTORY>/questa/2022.3_hotfix/bin prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.questa_compiled_library_dir=<SIMULATOR LIBRARY DIRECTORY>/questa/2022.3/lin64/lib/ prop=fileset.sim_1.questa.compile.sccom.cores={16} prop=fileset.sim_1.questa.elaborate.vopt.more_options={-stats=all} prop=fileset.sim_1.questa.simulate.vsim.more_options={-stats=all}`
Xcelium	`[advanced] param=hw_emu.simulator=XCELIUM [vivado] prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.xcelium_install_dir=<SIMULATOR DIRECTORY>/xcelium/bin/ prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.xcelium_compiled_library_dir=<SIMULATOR LIBRARY DIRECTORY>/xcelium/22.09.001/lin64/lib/ prop=fileset.sim_1.xcelium.elaborate.xmelab.more_options={-timescale 1ns/1ps -STATUS]`
VCS	`[advanced] param=hw_emu.simulator=VCS [vivado] prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.vcs_install_dir=<SIMULATOR DIRECTORY>/vcs/T-2022.06-SP1-1/bin/ prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.vcs_compiled_library_dir=<SIMULATOR LIBRARY DIRECTORY>/vcs/T-2022.06-SP1-1/lin64/lib/ prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.vcs_gcc_install_dir=<SIMULATOR DIRECTORY>/synopsys/vg_gnu/2022.06/linux64/gcc-9.2.0_64/bin param=project.alignLibraryPathEnvForVCS=true prop=fileset.sim_1.vcs.compile.vlogan.more_options={-v2005}`
Riviera	`[advanced] param=hw_emu.simulator=RIVIERA [vivado] prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.riviera_install_dir=<SIMULATOR DIRECTORY>/riviera/2022.04-lin64/bin/ prop=project.__CURRENT__.compxlib.riviera_compiled_library_dir=<SIMULATOR LIBRARY DIRECTORY>/riviera/2022.04/lin64/lib/ prop=project.__CURRENT__.simulator.xcelium_gcc_install_dir=<SIMULATOR DIRECTORY>/riviera/2022.04-lin64/gcc_Linux64/bin/ prop=fileset.sim_1.riviera.simulate.asim.more_options={+access +r}`

When the modifications have been made, build the design as normal, run the script launch_hw_emu.sh and the new simulator will be used. More information on emulation is provided in Running the System in Hardware.