为了解决使用现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)进行大规模片上多核处理器模拟的容量限制难题,提出了一种新颖的FPGA模拟方法。该方法通过混合真实的处理器核与伪造的处理器核,使用1个或2个FPGA即可模拟整个片上多核处理器,而且可以有效克服FPGA的容量限制问题,同时又不过多损害对多核处理器行为特征的有效模拟。用此方法实现了周期精确的全芯片模拟,并使用流片后的片上多核处理器芯片对此模拟方法进行了有效性验证。实验很容易地实现了50MHz以上的模拟速度,比基于相同设计的软件仿真快10万倍以上。模拟速度的大幅度提升,使得可以启动未经修改的Linux操作系统和运行完整的多用户SPECCPU2006train测试集。这种混合真实处理器核与伪造处理器核的模拟方法为片上多核处理器的功能验证和性能评估提供了一种简单高效的途径。
To solve the capacity limitation of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) when using them to conduct large scale simulations of chip muhi-core processors, a novel FPGA-based simulation method was put forward. By mixing real processor cores with pseudo processor cores, the mothod can simulate a whole chip ' s multi-core processors by using only one FPGA or two, and can overcome the FPGA capacity limitation effectively while alleviating the harmfulness to the characterization of chip muhi-core processors behavior. A cycle-accurate full system simulation was carried out by using the method, and the correctness of the proposed method was verified by using the corresponding taped out chip. A simulation speed beyond 50MHz was achieved easily, which was 100,000 times faster than the logic level software simulation with the same design. Under the vast increase in simulation speed, the unmodified Linux OS can be started and the complete multi-user SPEC CPU2006 benchmark can be run by using the train test suite. The proposed simulation method of mixing real cores with pseudo-cores can be easily, effectively used for chip multi-core processors' s logic verification and performance validation.