powerPC simulation

[san]

Hello,
am New to PCB board design cycle. Working on circuit having powerPC
interfaced with nand flash,FPGA,DDR and ethernet ASIC. I have to do the
cycle accurate Functional simulation of the above circuit.
How should i go for it?
Queries:
1. Which tool i should use.
2. Do i need to convert schematics into verilog?
3. Do i need Models for all the components in the circuit.
What is the procedure for doing functional simulation.
Also Need to write test code for boot straping,memory mapping(initial
registers setting file)and
GPIO and the same can be used while emulation further.
Experts Kindly guide me.
Thanks in advance.

Regards

 

[PeteS]

san wrote:

Hello,
am New to PCB board design cycle. Working on circuit having powerPC
interfaced with nand flash,FPGA,DDR and ethernet ASIC. I have to do the
cycle accurate Functional simulation of the above circuit.
How should i go for it?
Queries:
1. Which tool i should use.
2. Do i need to convert schematics into verilog?
3. Do i need Models for all the components in the circuit.
What is the procedure for doing functional simulation.
Also Need to write test code for boot straping,memory mapping(initial
registers setting file)and
GPIO and the same can be used while emulation further.
Experts Kindly guide me.
Thanks in advance.

Regards

These are electrical design issues, not CAD ones particularly, although
there are CAD enabled tools to help with such simulations, for the
simple reason the PCB itself is a major circuit element at higher
speeds.

1. Don't rely on a simulator too much when you are setting length (and
match) rules. Calculate them yourself. A decent calculator and a
spreadsheet will get you there.

2. You will have to calculate your timing budgets *before* committing
to layout. You can simulate the entire thing and see just what will
happen.

3. Most tools that permit such simulation require that the entire
design (at the interconnect level) be modeled; sometimes that's
Verilog, sometimes VHDL, sometimes Spice, sometimes a mixture of all
three and sometimes a separate description language fromt he vendor.

4. Yes, you will need models for everything in the circuit. Logic
(HDL), IBIS and Spice at least for a full simulation. These give nice
information about circuit behaviour even if you aren't running
simulations.

5. As it's a number of years since I bothered using such tools, I can't
recommend a particular one. I specify what the circuitry must achieve
(see 2), subtract what the parts will do (for FPGAs, I get timing
analysis from the tool anyway) and I am left with what the PCB must
achieve. I get that by setting layout rules at the schematic level and
ensuring they are followed. i.e. Timing meets constraints by initial
design.

Cheers

PeteS

 

[JeffM]

san wrote:
When posting the same question to many groups, there's a better way.
Here's how and why:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.basics/browse_frm/thread/7b7c0624331012bb/3958f18673b5f374?q=EVERY-group-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-appear+*-proper-answer-*-*-*-given+much-easier-*-*-*-*-what's-going-on+*-frowned-on+*-correcting+*-polite-*-mention-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+*-*-_perfect_-*-*-*-*+*-Followup-To-*+*-*-*-too-lazy-*-*-*-*-*-appropriate-*+Just-because-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-does-not-mean-*-*-*-*-*-*+*-*-*-*-two-groups-*-*-aren't-*-different

 

[san]

Hello,
Thanks all for the responses.
I do understand the stage for checking timing parameters while
calculating the signal delay on the board. But that will come while
doing timing simulation / post layout simulation(with IBIS) with the
tools like Hyperlinx etc. Please correct me if i am wrong.
And we can use emulator for the initial prototype testing.
But the current task is checking the functional response of the circuit
which has PPC interfaced with Memories,FPGA.
What i understood is
1. Take schematics and convert it to Verilog netlist
2. Get models for PPC(Swift model) and behaviour models for memories,
BFMs for other modules.
3. Simulation it in simulator like Synopsys VCS or Modelsim SE which
supports these swiftinterface and simulation.
IS this the correct way to do the Board level functional simulation?Or
there is differrent method ?
Thanks in advance.
Regards

PeteS wrote:

san wrote:
Hello,
am New to PCB board design cycle. Working on circuit having powerPC
interfaced with nand flash,FPGA,DDR and ethernet ASIC. I have to do the
cycle accurate Functional simulation of the above circuit.
How should i go for it?
Queries:
1. Which tool i should use.
2. Do i need to convert schematics into verilog?
3. Do i need Models for all the components in the circuit.
What is the procedure for doing functional simulation.
Also Need to write test code for boot straping,memory mapping(initial
registers setting file)and
GPIO and the same can be used while emulation further.
Experts Kindly guide me.
Thanks in advance.

Regards

These are electrical design issues, not CAD ones particularly, although
there are CAD enabled tools to help with such simulations, for the
simple reason the PCB itself is a major circuit element at higher
speeds.

1. Don't rely on a simulator too much when you are setting length (and
match) rules. Calculate them yourself. A decent calculator and a
spreadsheet will get you there.

2. You will have to calculate your timing budgets *before* committing
to layout. You can simulate the entire thing and see just what will
happen.

3. Most tools that permit such simulation require that the entire
design (at the interconnect level) be modeled; sometimes that's
Verilog, sometimes VHDL, sometimes Spice, sometimes a mixture of all
three and sometimes a separate description language fromt he vendor.

4. Yes, you will need models for everything in the circuit. Logic
(HDL), IBIS and Spice at least for a full simulation. These give nice
information about circuit behaviour even if you aren't running
simulations.

5. As it's a number of years since I bothered using such tools, I can't
recommend a particular one. I specify what the circuitry must achieve
(see 2), subtract what the parts will do (for FPGAs, I get timing
analysis from the tool anyway) and I am left with what the PCB must
achieve. I get that by setting layout rules at the schematic level and
ensuring they are followed. i.e. Timing meets constraints by initial
design.

Cheers

PeteS