Compiling and Simulating AI Engine Components - 2023.1 English

Vitis Unified IDE and Common Command-Line Reference Manual (UG1553)
Document ID
UG1553
Release Date
2023-07-17
Version
2023.1 English

The AI Engine component uses the v++ -c --mode aie compiler command to build the component. The command uses a configuration file command language as described in v++ Mode AI Engine. You can build your command line as the Vitis IDE does, which is presented below based on the AI Engine PL and PS System Design example. The example includes an AI Engine component, two HLS components, the Application component, and the System project.

Tip: Use the Example view to select the example design and select the Create Application from Template command.

Compiling for x86simulator

To build the AI Engine component for simulation with the x86simulator, the command-line will look as follows: 

v++ -c --mode aie --target x86sim --platform xilinx_vck190_base_202310_1 \
--config ./aiecompiler.cfg --work_dir ./aie_sys_design_aie/Work ./src/graph.cpp

Where:

  • --target specifies the target for the build
  • --platform specifies the platform to build against
  • --config specifies a config file with the compiler directives for the build
  • --work_dir provides a work directory to build the component
  • graph.cpp specifies the source code for the AI Engine graph application

The contents of a configuration file can vary, but the example uses the following commands in the aiecompiler.cfg file:

include=./aie_sys_design_aie
include=./aie_sys_design_common/src
include=./aie_sys_design_aie/src

[aie]
Xchess=main:darts.xargs=-nb
log-level=1
stacksize=1024
heapsize=1024

After compilation the AI Engine component can then be run through the x86simulator using the following command: 

x86simulator --pkg-dir=./Work --i=../../

Where --pkg-dir specifies the Work directory where compilation occurs, and the --i specifies the input directory path for the simulator

Compiling for AI Engine Simulator / Hardware

To build the AI Engine component for simulation with the aiesimulator, the command-line will look as follows: 

v++ -c --mode aie --target hw --platform xilinx_vck190_base_202310_1  
--config ./aiecompiler.cfg --work_dir ./aie_sys_design_aie/Work ./src/graph.cpp
Tip: Notice only the target has changed between the x86simulator and aiesimulator builds.

The AI Engine component can then be run through the aiesimulator using the following command: 

aiesimulator --pkg-dir=./Work --i=../..

--pkg-dir specifies the Work directory where compilation occurs, and the --i specifies the input directory path for the simulator.