Modelsim Installation & Tutorial: Uc Berkeley Gdgib@Eecs - Berkeley.Edu October 21, 2007

ModelSim Installation & Tutorial
Greg Gibeling UC Berkeley [email protected] October 21, 2007
Introduction
In this document I will cover the basics of installing ModelSim (see section 2), compiling the Xilinx simulation libraries, and simulating a simple example project (see section 3). This document is targetted at both RDL users and, more generally, those new to the simulation of digital logic (EECS150 and CS61C students). EECS150 and CS61C users neednt worry about installation, as the relevant Berkeley computers (those in 125 Cory for EECS150 and ilinux1, 2 & 3 for CS61C) already have ModelSim properly installed. Students may wish to read the installation section if they are interested in running ModelSim on their home computers. CS61C students, like all people not using Xilinx FPGAs, should ignore the instructions in this document which mention Xilinx. In general, RDL users will need section 2, but should refer to the CounterExample, distributed with RDLC for use. Section 3 on the other hand is meant for those without ModelSim experience, or those who need a refresher, in particular U.C. Berkeley students in CS61C or EECS150. Note that as of this writing the current versions of various pieces of software mentioned in this document are: RDLC 2.2007.6.7 and ModelSim SE 6.2g.
Installation & Setup

Step1. Download the installer from Mentor Graphs (http://www.model.com/). i. You probably want SE (which is not the same as the student edition), assuming you, your company or school has purchased a license. ii. Students should consider the http://www.model.com/resources/student edition/download.asp, which has a limited time license. Otherwise you may wish to use the Xilinx Edition or Altera Edition of ModelSim which are both limited to simulating smaller designs. Step2. Run the installer. i. You will want the full, rather than the evaluation version, assuming you already have a license. ii. The installer should create a directory c:\Modeltech version. Step3. Install the license by setting MGLS LICENSE FILE or running the licensing wizard. i. The former is recommended, if you have a oating license on a server somewhere. ii. The license for ModelSim should be of the form [email protected]. iii. If you have an actual license.dat le, simply set MGLS LICENSE FILE to the absolute path to license.dat. Step4. Build the simulation libraries
Make sure you have a license.
i. Make ModelSim.ini in c:\Modeltech version writeable (it is marked read-only by the installer). ii. Run compxlib to compile the xilinx libraries. Note that it is best to run from c:\Modeltech version. . This will modify ModelSim.ini in the current directory to include paths to the Xilinx libraries. iii. Not necessary unless you intend to use ModelSim to simulate designs for Xilinx FPGAs. . RDLC2 as of v2.2007.3.26 will require this. Step5. This should complete your installation of ModelSim. Step6. You may test your installation by attempting to simulate, as described below, a simple project with a single verilog le shown in program 1 Program 1 TestVerilog.v
module T e s t V e r i l o g ; i n i t i a l begin 3 $display ( H e l l o , World ! ) ; 4 end 5 endmodule
1 2
Use
The purpose of an HDL simulator is to compile, and then simulate an HDL (hardware description language: Verilog and VHDL are examples) on a standard computer. While this is very slow compared to a real circuit implementation, it allows complete visibility and can be much less expensive, making it ideal for design and debugging. Note that as a circuit grows in complexity an FPGA will generally be a better platform, as the simulator will start to degrade in performance, and has no true IO connections. ModelSim is a very powerful HDL simulation environment, and as such can be dicult to master. To correctly simulate many complex test benches, you will need to create and use a ModelSim project manually. Note that throughout this tutorial we assume you are attempting to simulate a purely Verilog based design. The steps are fairly simple: Step1. Create a directory for your project (section 3.1). Step2. Start ModelSim and create a new project (section 3.2). Step3. Add all your Verilog les to the project (section 3.3). Step4. Compile your Verilog les (section 3.4). Step5. Start the simulation (section 3.5). Step6. Add signals to the wave window (section 3.6). Step7. Recompile changed verilog les (section 3.7). Step8. Restart/Run the simulation (section 3.8).
3.1
Step1: Create a Directory for your Project

a. Because ModelSim creates rather large output les you should not save your ModelSim projects. It is a simple matter to recreate the project anyway. b. Create a directory for your simulation. For CS61C Students: create a subdirectory somewhere in your home directory, perhaps something like /simulation/. For EECS150 students: create a subdirectory in C:\Users\cs150-xxx\, perhaps something like C:\Users\cs150-xxx\Simulation c. When you are done simulating delete this entire directory, this will remove the ModelSim project and all of its temporary les. Obviously your source code should be elsewhere, so that you do not delete it. 2
3.2
Step2: Start ModelSim and Create a Project

a. Start ModelSim. On windows there is often a shortcut on the desktop or start menu. On UNIX or Linnux, simply run vsim &. For CS61C students you will need to take the extra step of logging into ilinux1.eecs.berkeley.edu, ilinux2 or ilinux3 where ModelSim is installed. Be sure to login using ssh -X or the GUI will not be able to launch. b. At the main ModelSim window go to File New Project i. ii. iii. iv. Enter a project name, this is for your reference only Set the Project Location to the directory you created in section 3.1 above. You can leave the Default Library Name as work Click OK
3.3
Step3: Add Your Verilog to the Project

a. Click Add Existing File to add your Verilog les to the project. i. Click Browse to locate the Verilog les you wish to add. ii. Note: you can add multiple les at a time by using Shift-Click or Control-Click to select them all at once. iii. Leave Add File as Type on default. iv. Leave Folder as Top Level. v. You will almost certainly want to select reference from current location, otherwise you will end up with multiple copies of the same verilog le oating around, a sure way to lose something. . Note that you will want to select copy to project directory for const.v and any other include les, otherwise ModelSim will not be able to nd them. vi. Click OK b. Repeat this until all of the necessary verilog les have been added to the project. i. All of the Verilog les for the modules you are using must be added this way, not just the top level testbench. ii. If you are simulating a project involving Xilinx library components you will need to add C:\Xilinx\Verilog\src\glbl.v to your project c. Click Close
3.4
Step4: Compile your Verilog Files

a. The project pane on the left of the main ModelSim window should list all of the les in your project with an icon next to each one. i. A ? means that the le has not been compiled since the last edit. ii. An X means that the le could not be compiled, it has an error. . Double clicking the X will bring up a list of errors with line numbers . Control-G in Windows notepad lets you jump to a specic line number iii. A means that the le has been compiled successfully.
b. If you are using Const.v, or Verilog preprocessor ags. Students in CS61C, and anyone else not using Verilog les from RDLC2 or EECS150 may skip this step. i. Use Shift-Click to select all of your Verilog les, and then Right-Click and select Properties ii. Go to the Verilog tab in the properties window. iii. Click the Macro button 3
iv. Enter MODELSIM into the Macro Name box, leaving the Value box empty. v. Click OK until you get to the ModelSim Main Window c. Right-Click in the Project Pane and select Compile Compile Out-of-Date, this will attempt to compile all of the les with ? next to them i. If you change any verilog source les you must recompile them before restarting the simulation. ii. You can also use Compile All, however on projects with a large number of les this may take a while.
3.5
Step5: Start the Simulation

a. Go to Simulate Start Simulation to bring up the simulation dialog box. i. Alternatively you may use the vsim TCL command. See the ModelSim manual for more information. This will be much faster and easier for more advanced users. b. Go to the Libraries tab. i. Skip these steps if you are not using Xilinx library components. ii. Click Add to add a new search library. iii. Navigate to C:\ModelTech version\unisims ver and then click OK, this will add the unisims ver library to your project. iv. Click Add to add a new search library. v. Navigate to C:\ModelTech version\XilinxCoreLib ver and then click OK, this will add the XilinxCoreLib ver library to your project. c. Go to the Design tab. i. Click the plus next to the work library. ii. Find your testbench and select it. iii. If you are simulating a project involving Xilinx library components you will need to add a space and then glbl to the simulate box in the lower left. iv. Ensure that the Enable Optimizations box is unchecked, if you want to see all internal signals. EECS150 and CS61C students should make sure this box is unchecked at all times. v. Click OK. d. Your design should now be loaded and ready to simulate. i. If your design does not load, reread the above steps carefully. ii. You should also check for errors and warnings from ModelSim, both are indicative of potential problems with your code.
3.6
Step6: Add Signals to the Wave Window

a. With the simulation running, the Sim Panel should be visible on the left hand side of the ModelSim Main Window. i. The Sim Panel shows the hierarchy of all the modules in your project. ii. Clicking the plus next to a module will show the modules instantiated within it. b. You should add as many signals (wires) as you might need to the ModelSim wave window before simulation. If you add signals after you have started simulation you will need to restart the simulation as in section ?? below. c. To add all signals from a module
i. Right-Click on a module in the Sim Panel and select Add Add to Wave. Note that you almost certainly do not want Add All to Wave, as that will add all the signals in your design. ii. This will add all of the signals from that module to the Wave Window. iii. Please, look at signals inside your modules rather than just in the testbench. iv. Remember that when debugging you cannot see too few signals. d. To add individual signals i. Go to the Signals Window, or the Signals Panel (which tends to be in the middle of the main window). This is the window or panel which lists all the signals (wires) in the currently selected module instance. . If it is not visible, use the View Signals window to display it ii. Drag the signals you wish to see to the Wave Window e. You can view busses in any number system, rather than just binary. i. Select a signal, or group of signals ii. Right-Click on them and select Radix Hexadecimal to display those signals in hex. iii. This can allow you to see signicantly more data on one screen and can make it easier to read.
3.7
Step7: Recompile Changed Verilog Files

a. When you have xed bugs, or simply made changes you must recompile your verilog les. b. Near the bottom left of the ModelSim Main Window are tabs for the Project and Sim panes. c. Navigate to the Project Pane d. Right-Click anywhere in the pane and select Compile Compile Out-of-Date to recompile the modied les (Which should have ? next to them)
3.8
Step8: Restart/Run the Simulation

a. You must do this any time to make changes such as: i. Changing/recompiling verilog ii. Adding new signals to the wave window. b. At the ModelSim command prompt type restart -f; run 100us this will run your simulation for 100s. i. restart -f tells ModelSim that it needs to start the simulation over from the beginning, that is to say at time 0. ii. run 100s tells ModelSim to run the simulation for 100 micro-seconds. 100ns would be 100 nano-seconds. 100ms would be 100 milli-seconds. c. Note that if you cannot see all of the necessary information, you may run the simulation for additional time. i. Example: (total running time: 110s) restart -f; run 100us run 10us
More Information
For more information on ModelSim, please check the manuals and documentation that accompany it. For more information on RDLC2 and its interaction with ModelSim please see the CounterExample in the RDLC2 distribution. 5

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ModelSim Installation & Tutorial

Greg Gibeling UC Berkeley [email protected] October 21, 2007

Installation & Setup

Make sure you have a license.

Step1: Create a Directory for your Project

Step2: Start ModelSim and Create a Project

Step3: Add Your Verilog to the Project

Step4: Compile your Verilog Files

Step5: Start the Simulation

Step6: Add Signals to the Wave Window

Step7: Recompile Changed Verilog Files

Step8: Restart/Run the Simulation

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