Tutorial: Chipyard and FireSim: End-to-End Architecture Exploration with RISC-V SoC Generators, FPGA-Accelerated Simulation and Agile Test Chips
Abstract
This tutorial will introduce the Chipyard and FireSim frameworks for the purposes of full-stack architecture exploration and digital system design. The Chipyard framework incorporates multiple open-source Chisel-based generators within the Rocket-Chip SoC generator ecosystem into a single “one-stop-shop” framework enabling design, simulation, and physical design flows. Simulation flows include integration with the open-source Verilator RTL simulator, as well as the FireSim FPGA-Accelerated simulation platform on the AWS public cloud for full-system end-to-end evaluation. The tutorial will demonstrate basic heterogeneous Rocket/BOOM-based SoC system design using the Rocket Chip parameter system with accelerator interfaces, as well as full system evaluation of such SoCs using the various design-cycle flows within the Chipyard framework. In particular, it will spotlight end-to-end HW/SW evaluation using the FireSim FPGA-accelerated simulation framework.
