In the simulation framework, the AI Engine simulator can generate a detailed dump of the hardware
signals in the form of VCD files. A defined set of abstract events describes the
execution of a multi-kernel AI Engine program in
terms of these events. The aiesimulator --dump-vcd
command enables the output of a VCD file.
The AMD Vitis™ IDE can process the VCD file into events and display them on a timeline after simulation or emulation. The events contain information such as time stamps, different event types, and data associated with each event. This information can be correlated to the compiler generated debug information. Information includes program counter values mapped to function names and instruction offsets, and source level symbolic data offsets for memory accesses.
The abstract AI Engine events are independent of the VCD format and are directly extracted from the hardware. Event traces can be plain text, comma-separated values (CSV), or in waveform database (WDB). You can view generated event trace data in the Analysis View of the Vitis unified IDE.