%---------------------------------------------------------------------------- % Magic Tcl tutorial number 4 %---------------------------------------------------------------------------- \NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}[1994/12/01] \documentclass[letterpaper,twoside,12pt]{article} \usepackage{epsfig,times} \setlength{\textwidth}{8.5in} \addtolength{\textwidth}{-2.0in} \setlength{\textheight}{11.0in} \addtolength{\textheight}{-2.0in} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in} \setlength{\evensidemargin}{0pt} \setlength{\topmargin}{-0.5in} \setlength{\headheight}{0.2in} \setlength{\headsep}{0.3in} \setlength{\topskip}{0pt} \def\hinch{\hspace*{0.5in}} \def\starti{\begin{center}\begin{tabbing}\hinch\=\hinch\=\hinch\=hinch\hinch\=\kill} \def\endi{\end{tabbing}\end{center}} \def\ig{\>} \def\ih{\>\>} \def\ii{\>\>\>} \def\ij{\>\>\>\>} \def\tf{\ttfamily} \def\bstf{\bfseries\ttfamily} \def\mytitle{Magic Tcl Tutorial \#4: Simulation with IRSIM} %---------------------------------------------------------------------------- \begin{document} \makeatletter \newcommand{\ps@magic}{% \renewcommand{\@oddhead}{\mytitle\hfil\today}% \renewcommand{\@evenhead}{\today\hfil\mytitle}% \renewcommand{\@evenfoot}{\hfil\textrm{--{\thepage}--}\hfil}% \renewcommand{\@oddfoot}{\@evenfoot}} \newcommand{\ps@mplain}{% \renewcommand{\@oddhead}{}% \renewcommand{\@evenhead}{}% \renewcommand{\@evenfoot}{\hfil\textrm{--{\thepage}--}\hfil}% \renewcommand{\@oddfoot}{\@evenfoot}} \makeatother \pagestyle{magic} \thispagestyle{mplain} \begin{center} {\bfseries \Large \mytitle} \\ \vspace*{0.5in} {\itshape R. Timothy Edwards} \\ \vspace*{0.5in} Space Department \\ Johns Hopkins University \\ Applied Physics Laboratory \\ Laurel, MD 20723 \\ \vspace*{0.25in} This tutorial corresponds to Tcl-based Magic version 7.2 \\ \end{center} \vspace*{0.5in} {\noindent\bfseries\large Tutorials to read first:} \starti \> Magic Tutorial \#1: Getting Started \\ \> Magic Tutorial \#2: Basic Painting and Selection \\ \> Magic Tutorial \#4: Cell Hierarchies \\ \> Magic Tutorial \#8: Circuit Extraction \\ \> Magic Tutorial \#11: Using IRSIM and RSIM with Magic \endi {\noindent\bfseries\large Commands introduced in this tutorial:} \starti \> irsim , getnode, goto \\ \> graphnode, watchnode, unwatchnode \\ \> movenode, watchtime, unwatchtime, movetime \\ \> {\itshape (plus the standard IRSIM command set)} \endi {\noindent\bfseries\large Macros introduced in this tutorial:} \starti \> {\itshape (None)} \endi \vspace*{0.25in} \section{IRSIM Version 9.6} In version 9.6, IRSIM has been redesigned to work under the Tcl interpreter, in the same manner as Magic version 7.2 does. Like Magic version 7.2, section of Tcl as an interpreter is specified at compile-time, along with various use options. The ``{\bfseries make}'' method has been rewritten to match the one which Magic uses, so IRSIM can be compiled and installed in a similar manner: \starti \ii {\bstf make config} \\ \ii {\bstf make tcl} \\ \ii {\bstf make install-tcl} \endi Tcl-based IRSIM, like its non-interpreter version, can be run as a standalone product, and will simulate a circuit from a {\ttfamily .sim} format file. However, it is specifically designed to be operated in conjunction with magic, with methods for providing feedback directly into the layout from the simulation, and vice versa. There are a number of {\itshape cross-application commands}, detailed below, which belong to neither Magic or IRSIM, but are applicable when both are running in the Tcl interpreter at the same time. The cross-application commands highlight the usefulness of the method of compiling each application as a loadable Tcl object module. In addition to cross-application commands, Tcl-based IRSIM allows the use of interpreter variables, conditionals, and control structures to set up detailed simulation environments. A random number generator has been added to the Tcl-based version, allowing generation of random bit vectors for statistically-based coverage of input pattern spaces. \section{Invoking IRSIM from Magic} Within the Tcl/Tk environment, IRSIM is easier than ever to invoke. For tutorial purposes, we will use the same cell used for the original Tutorial \#11. Unlike the original version, Magic 7.2 requires no preparation for simulation and can operate directly off of the tutorial directory input. Start magic with the command-line \starti \ii {\itshape \# }{\bstf magic -w -d OGL tut11a} \endi Note that the OpenGL interface and Wrapper environment specified above are optional, and do not affect the descriptions in this tutorial. It is not necessary to extract! The scripts which invoke IRSIM are capable of looking for a netlist file to simulate for the currently-loaded cell. Because these exist for the tutorial cells, they will be used. IRSIM is therefore simply invoked by: \starti \ii {\itshape \% }{\bstf irsim} \endi You will see a slew of output that looks like the following: \starti \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'time' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::time' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'start' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::start' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'help' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::help' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'path' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::path' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'clear' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::clear' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'alias' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::alias' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'set' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::set' \\ \> \tf Warning: irsim command 'exit' use fully-qualified name '::irsim::exit' \\ \> \tf Starting irsim under Tcl interpreter \\ \> \tf IRSIM 9.6 compiled on Thu Mar 20 17:19:00 EST 2003 \\ \> \tf Warning: Aliasing nodes 'GND' and 'Gnd' \\ \> \tf /usr/local/lib/magic/tutorial/tut11a.sim: Ignoring lumped-resistance \\ \>\> \tf ('R' construct) \\ \\ \> \tf Read /usr/local/lib/magic/tutorial/tut11a.sim lambda:1.00u format:MIT \\ \> \tf 68 nodes; transistors: n-channel=56 p-channel=52 \\ \> \tf parallel txtors:none \\ \> {\itshape \% } \endi These comments require some explanation. The warning messages all have to do with the fact that certain command names are used both by IRSIM and Magic, or by IRSIM and Tcl or one of its loaded packages (such as Tk). There are several ways to work around the unfortunate consequences of multiply defining command names, but the easiest is to make use of the Tcl concept of {\itshape namespaces}. A complete description of Tcl namespaces is beyond the scope of this tutorial; however, a simple description suffices. By prefixing a ``scope'' to the command, the command can only be executed when the complete name (scope plus the double colon `::' plus the command name) is entered. In general, the EDA tools make an attempt to allow commands to be entered without the scope prefix at the command line. As long as command names are unique, this is done without comment. However, when commands overlap, the easiest solution is to require the scope prefix. Therefore, the command `{\bfseries set}' would refer to the Tcl {\bfseries set} command (i.e., to set a variable), while `{\bfseries irsim::set}' would refer to the IRSIM command. Some attempt is made to overload commands which conflict but which have unique syntax, so that it is possible to determine which use is intended when the command is dispatched by the interpreter. In addition to the warnings, there are a few standard warnings about global name aliases and lumped resistance, and some information about the {\ttfamily .sim} file which was read. \section{IRSIM Command Set} In addition to the exceptions noted above for fully-qualified namespace commands, there are several IRSIM commands which are not compatible with Tcl syntax, and these have been renamed. The old and new commands are as follows (see the IRSIM documentation for the full set of commands): \begin{center} \begin{tabular}{|lll|} \hline > & savestate & save network state \\ < & restorestate & restore network state \\ << & restoreall & restore network and input state \\ ? & querysource & get info regarding source/drain connections \\ ! & querygate & get info regarding gate connections \\ \@ & source \itshape{(Tcl command)} & source a command file \\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{center} Note that the `{\bfseries \@}' command is simply superceded by the Tcl `{\bfseries source}' command, which is more general in that it allows a mixture of Tcl and IRSIM commands (and commands for any other loaded package, such as Magic) to be combined in the command file. Once loaded into Tcl alongside Magic via the {\bfseries irsim} command, the IRSIM commands are typed directly into the Magic command line, and will execute the appropriate IRSIM function. By repeating the contents of Tutorial \#11 in the Tcl environment, this method should become clear, as will the benefits of using the interpreter environment for simulation. To setup the simulation, the equivalent instruction to that of Tutorial \#11 is the following: \starti \ii {\itshape \% } {\bstf source \$}\{{\bstf CAD\_HOME}\}{\bstf /lib/magic/tutorial/tut11a.cmd} \endi Note that because the {\bfseries source} command is a Tcl command, not a Magic or IRSIM command, it it necessary to specify the complete path to the file, as Tcl does not understand the search path for Magic cells, which includes the tutorial directory. As most common commands are not among the set that cause conflicts with Magic and Tcl commands, the tutorial command file loads and executes without comment. Following the example of Tutorial~\#11, type {\bfseries c} (IRSIM clock command) on the magic command line to clock the circuit. Values for the watched nodes, which were declared in the tutorial command file, are displayed in the console window. Likewise, \starti \ii {\bstf h RESET\_B hold} \endi will set the nodes {\bstf RESET\_B} and {\bstf hold} to value 1. \section{Feedback to Magic} The cross-application commands reveal the usefulness of having both applications as extensions of the same Tcl interpreter. While Magic and IRSIM are active and file {\ttfamily tut11a} is loaded, execute the following commands from the command line: \starti \ii {\bstf stepsize 100} \\ \ii {\bstf watchnode RESET\_B} \\ \ii {\bstf watchnode hold} \endi Note that the nodes and values are immediately printed in the magic window, making use of the magic ``{\bfseries element}'' command. These values are persisent in the sense that they will remain through various transformations, openings, and closings of the layout window, but they are temporary in the sense that they will not be saved along with the layout if the file is written (however, this behavior can be modified). The {\bfseries watchnode} command requires no special action for placing the label elements in the layout because magic uses the labels or other node information to pinpoint a position in the layout belonging to that node, and places the label element there. It is possible to use {\bfseries watchnode} with vectors. However, as no location can be pinpointed for a vector, the magic cursor box position will be used to place the label element. Move the magic cursor box to a empty space in the layout window, and type \starti \ii {\bstf watchnode bits} \endi Now move the cursor box to another empty space and type \starti \ii {\bstf watchtime} \endi Now all of the simulation values of interest are displayed directly on the Magic layout. The display of any node can be removed with the command {\bstf unwatchnode}, with the same syntax as {\bstf watchnode}, and similarly, the display of simulation time can be removed with the command {\bstf unwatchtime}. If the position of a label is not in a good position to read, or the relative position of two labels places them on top of one another, making them difficult to read, the labels can be moved using the {\bfseries movenode} command. For instance, the node {\ttfamily RESET\_B} is not exactly on the polysilicon pad. To center it exactly on the pad, select the square pad, so that the box cursor is on it, then do \starti \ii {\bstf movenode RESET\_B} \endi The label will be moved so that it is centered on the center of the cursor box. The equivalent method can be applied to the time value using the {\bstf movetime} command. It is not necessary to know the name of a node in order to query or display its simulation value. For instance, unexpand the layout of {\ttfamily tut11a.mag}, select an unlabeled node, and use a mixture of IRSIM and magic commands to watch its value: \starti \ii {\bstf box 93 -104 94 -102} \\ \ii {\bstf select area} \\ \ii {\bstf watchnode [getnode]} \\ \endi In this example, both the node ({\ttfamily bit\_1/tut11d\_0/a\_39\_n23\#}) and its value are displayed. Likewise, the {\bfseries getnode} command can be combined with other IRSIM commands to setup clocks and vectors from unlabeled nodes. This can be particularly useful in situations where it may not be obvious which nodes in a design need to be examined prior to running the simulation. \section{Analyzer Display} Tcl-based IRSIM has a graphical node display which is derived from functions available in the ``{\bfseries BLT}'' graphics package. These functions are not particularly well-suited for display of logic values, and so this will probably be replaced in the future with a more appropriate interface. However, it accomplishes most of the functions of the former X11-based analyzer display. In the Tcl-based IRSIM, no special command is needed to initialize the analyzer display. One command sets up signals to be displayed in the analyzer window. This is: \starti \ii {\bstf graphnode} {\itshape name} [{\itshape row}] [{\itshape offset}] \endi For display of multiple signals in the window, the optional arguments {\itshape row} and {\itshape offset} are provided. Each signal which declares a new {\itshape row} (default zero) will appear in a separate graph in the display. Signals which appear in the same graph, however, may declare a non-zero {\itshape offset} which will set them at a different vertical placement on the graph, for cases in which this provides better viewing than having the signals directly overlapping. The analyzer display updates at the end of each simulation cycle. Logic values are displayed as 0 or 1, with undefined (value 'X') values displayed as 1/2. Note that the BLT-based interface prohibits the display of multi-bit values, and only nodes, not vectors, can be passed to the {\bstf graphnode} command. \section{Wildcards} The original IRSIM used ``wildcard'' characters in the form of standard UNIX ``regular expressions'' to perform operations on multiple nodes with one command. Unfortunately, there was a syntactical collision between IRSIM and Magic over the use of brackets (`{\bstf [}' and `{\bstf ]}'). Brackets represent groupings in regular expression syntax. However, Magic uses brackets to represent arrays of subcells. Because Tcl itself implements regular expressions in the form of the Tcl ``{\bstf regexp}'' command, there is a way around this problem in the Tcl version of IRSIM. IRSIM's parsing of regular expressions has been disabled. In place of it, Tcl lists may be passed as arguments to any command which previously would accept wildcard characters. In addition, Tcl-IRSIM defines a command \starti \ii {\bstf listnodes} \endi which returns a Tcl list of all the nodes defined in the netlist input file. This list can be searched by Tcl regular expression commands, and the resulting sub-lists passed as node arguments to IRSIM commands. For example, the following script sets all nodes in the circuit (except for {\ttfamily Vdd}, which is fixed) to zero, then releases them: \starti \ii {\bstf set nl [listnodes]} \\ \ii {\bstf l \$nl} \\ \ii {\bstf s} \\ \ii {\bstf x \$nl} \endi Brackets in individual node names are treated as-is by IRSIM, as are other Magic-generated characters such as the slash, underscore, and hash mark. Note, however, that because Tcl itself defines brackets as representing command groupings which return an immediate result, the following is illegal: \starti \ii {\itshape \%} {\bstf l multcell5\_0[1,0]/a\_13\_n21\#} \\ \ii {\ttfamily invalid command name "1,0"} \endi Instead, node names containing brackets should be surrounded by braces (`\{' and `\}'), which effectively turns a node name into a list of node names which happens to contain exactly one entry: \starti \ii {\itshape \%} {\bstf l }\{{\bstf multcell5\_0[1,0]/a\_13\_n21\#}\} \\ \endi The Tcl versions of Magic and IRSIM are set up in such a way that when they return results containing node names, these names are automatically treated as lists. Therefore, the command \starti \ii {\itshape \%} {\bstf select area [goto }\{{\bstf multcell5\_0[1,0]/a\_13\_n21\#}\} {\bstf ]} \\ \ii {\itshape \%} {\bstf l [getnode]} \endi does not produce any error when the arrayed node name is passed to the IRSIM ``{\bstf l}'' command, and sets the value of the node to zero as expected. It is only when node names are entered in a script or from the command line that precautions must be taken to list-enclose names which contain brackets. \section{Scripting IRSIM Command Sequences} A consequence of placing IRSIM in an interpreter environment is the ability to use interpreter features such as variables, conditionals, and loops to set up complicated simulation environments. \section{Deterministic Bit Vector Generation} A convenience function has been added to Tcl-IRSIM to aid in generating deterministic sequences of inputs. This is the command \starti \ii {\bstf bconvert} {\itshape value} {\itshape bits} [{\itshape dir}] \endi where {\itshape value} is an integer decimal value, {\itshape bits} is the length of the bit vector to hold the conversion, and {\itshape dir} is an optional direction flag. If {\itshape dir} is 1, then the bit vector is defined with the most significant bit (MSB) on the right. The {\bstf bconvert} command returns the string value of the bit vector containing {\ttfamily 0} and {\ttfamily 1} characters. For example: \starti \ii {\itshape \%} {\bstf bconvert 20 5} \\ \ii {\ttfamily 10100} \\ \ii {\itshape \%} {\bstf bconvert 20 5 1} \\ \ii {\ttfamily 00101} \endi \section{Random Bit Vector Generation} The tutorial examples are small by design, but real systems (such as a microprocessor) are often so complex that generating and simulating an exhaustive set of all possible states of the circuit is impossible, and instead simulations rely on the generation of a set of randomly-generated inputs to test a representative set of states. Random number generation is not a built-in feature of the Tcl language, but several open-source packages exist, one of which has been incorporated into the IRSIM 9.6 source. The pseudorandom number generator is compiled as a separate Tcl package, but is loaded by the IRSIM startup script. It contains one command, {\bstf random}, with the following arguments: \starti \ii {\bstf random} {\itshape option} \endi where {\itshape option} may be one of: \begin{itemize} \item [] {\bstf -reset} will cause the generator to be reseeded using current pid and current time. \item [] {\bstf -seed} {\itshape n} will reseed the generator with the integer value {\itshape n}. \item [] {\bstf -integer} {\itshape ...} will cause the number returned to be rounded down to the largest integer less than or equal to the number which would otherwise be returned. \item [] {\bstf -normal} {\itshape m s} will cause the number returned to be taken from a gaussian with mean {\itshape m} and standard deviation {\itshape s}. \item [] {\bstf -exponential} {\itshape m} will cause the number returned to be taken from an exponential distribution with mean {\itshape m}. \item [] {\bstf -uniform} {\itshape low high} will cause the number returned to be taken from uniform distribution on {\itshape [a,b)}. \item [] {\bstf -chi2} {\itshape n} will cause the number returned to be taken from the chi2 distribution with {\itshape n} degrees of freedom. \item [] {\bstf -select} {\itshape n list} will cause {\itshape n} elements to be selected at random from the list {\itshape list} with replacement. \item [] {\bstf -choose} {\itshape n list} will cause {\itshape n} elements to be selected at random from the list {\itshape list} without replacement. \item [] {\bstf -permutation} {\itshape n} will return a permutation of $0\dots n-1$ if {\itshape n} is a number and will return a permutation of its elements if {\itshape n} is a list. \end{itemize} The following script clocks a random serial bit vector into a state machine, assuming that {\bstf bit\_in} is the node to set, and that the proper clock vectors have already been set up: \starti \ih for \{set i 0\} \{\$i < 100\} \{incr i\} \{ \\ \ii if \{[random] < 0.5\} \{ \\ \ij l bit\_in \\ \ii \} else \{ \\ \ij h bit\_in \\ \ii \} \\ \ii c \\ \ih \} \endi \end{document}