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Does anyone have any experiences to share regarding SystemC and VHDL in
a mixed-language simulation? (ModelSim is my simulator, but all
relevant comments are welcome.)

We don't have a SystemC license yet for ModelSim, but wonder if adding
SystemC to our mostly-VHDL simulation/synthesis environment will buy us
much.

(We *eventually* want to model FPGAs and ASICs along with an external
uP running real code, but the first goal is just to create faster, more
powerful testbenches for single FPGAs).

Does SystemC allow "easy" monitoring/driving of low-level signals (deep
in the hierarchy) from a top-level testbench?

(By "easy", I mean something like a hierarchical instance name
references to ports and signals, like DUT/CORE/U1/DEMOD/IQout ala
verilog), not the hoops VHDL makes you jump through. 8-P [This is
almost reason enough for me to finally abandon VHDL...)

If SystemC allows the hierarchical name references, can those descend
into the VHDL hierarchy as well? (In some or all simulators?)
Thanks very much,

mj

<> wrote in message
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>
> Does anyone have any experiences to share regarding SystemC and VHDL
in
> a mixed-language simulation? (ModelSim is my simulator, but all
> relevant comments are welcome.)
>
> We don't have a SystemC license yet for ModelSim, but wonder if
adding
> SystemC to our mostly-VHDL simulation/synthesis environment will buy
us
> much.
>
> (We *eventually* want to model FPGAs and ASICs along with an
external
> uP running real code, but the first goal is just to create faster,
more
> powerful testbenches for single FPGAs).
>
> Does SystemC allow "easy" monitoring/driving of low-level signals
(deep
> in the hierarchy) from a top-level testbench?
>
> (By "easy", I mean something like a hierarchical instance name
> references to ports and signals, like DUT/CORE/U1/DEMOD/IQout ala
> verilog), not the hoops VHDL makes you jump through. 8-P [This is
> almost reason enough for me to finally abandon VHDL...)
>
> If SystemC allows the hierarchical name references, can those
descend
> into the VHDL hierarchy as well? (In some or all simulators?)
> Thanks very much,
>
> mj
>


A couple of simulators support "out of module references", for
instance
ncsim. This allows you to directly access hierarchical names in either
VHDL or Verilog.

There is also an hdl connection API in the SystemC Verification
Library,
which Modelsim supports (as do other simulators).

And of course in Modelsim, there is nothing to stop you using the PLI
in C and linking that to SystemC code,

regards
Alan

--
Alan Fitch
Consultant

DOULOS - Developing Design Know-how
VHDL * Verilog * SystemC * Perl * Tcl/Tk * Verification * Project
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Doulos Ltd. Church Hatch, 22 Market Place, Ringwood, Hampshire, BH24
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The contents of this message may contain personal views which are not
the
views of Doulos Ltd., unless specifically stated.

wrote:

> Does anyone have any experiences to share regarding SystemC and VHDL in
> a mixed-language simulation? (ModelSim is my simulator, but all
> relevant comments are welcome.)
>
> We don't have a SystemC license yet for ModelSim, but wonder if adding
> SystemC to our mostly-VHDL simulation/synthesis environment will buy us
> much.
>
> (We *eventually* want to model FPGAs and ASICs along with an external
> uP running real code, but the first goal is just to create faster, more
> powerful testbenches for single FPGAs).
>
> Does SystemC allow "easy" monitoring/driving of low-level signals (deep
> in the hierarchy) from a top-level testbench?
>
> (By "easy", I mean something like a hierarchical instance name
> references to ports and signals, like DUT/CORE/U1/DEMOD/IQout ala
> verilog), not the hoops VHDL makes you jump through. 8-P [This is
> almost reason enough for me to finally abandon VHDL...)
Most simulators have a package that allows a not so hard method
to access internal signals. In ModelSim it is called SignalSpy.
In Cadence it is NCMirror. Both of these packages have been
donated to IEEE and are being used as the basis for a standard
method along these lines.

I have found that VHDL does have enough language features to
create a powerful transaction based testbench environment.
It just takes a little work - just like it would take in other
programming languages. For some hints, see the testbench papers
on our website: http://www.synthworks.com/papers

The big advantage to "C" at this point, is the standard
libraries that are available. This is one point that needs
to be further developed and standardized in VHDL - some of
this work is in process. Note thought that the standards
groups are looking for volunteers in this area.

Cheers,
Jim
--
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Jim Lewis
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Expert VHDL Training for Hardware Design and Verification
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