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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
11 years agoCyclone V GX transceiver simulation model needs Arria V modules?
Using Quartus II v15.0, and ModelSim Starter 10.3d.
I am working on a new design, targeting a Cyclone V GX device. Before digging into the whole design, I generated a Cyclone V Transceiver Native PHY v15.0 entity, and I started to write a simulation test bench for it, mainly so I could learn how the module really works. I thought that I was able to compile all of the parts of the transceiver module in the expected way. But when tried to run the simulation, I got errors like the following: ModelSim> vsim -gui work.gigabitxcvr_tb(testbench) # vsim # Start time: 11:11:33 on Jun 26,2015 # Loading std.standard # Loading std.textio(body) # Loading ieee.std_logic_1164(body) # Loading ieee.numeric_std(body) # Loading work.gigabitxcvr_tb(testbench) # Loading work.gigabitxcvr(rtl) # Loading sv_std.std # Loading work.altera_xcvr_functions # Loading work.altera_xcvr_native_av_functions_h # Loading work.altera_xcvr_native_av_sv_unit # Loading work.altera_xcvr_native_av # Loading work.sv_reconfig_bundle_merger_sv_unit # Loading work.sv_reconfig_bundle_merger # Loading work.av_xcvr_h # Loading work.av_xcvr_plls_sv_unit # Loading work.av_xcvr_plls # Loading work.av_xcvr_native_sv_unit # Loading work.av_xcvr_native # Loading work.av_pma # Loading work.av_pcs # Loading work.av_xcvr_avmm_sv_unit # Loading work.av_xcvr_avmm # Loading work.av_reconfig_bundle_to_xcvr # ** Error: (vsim-3033) E:/Projects/AlteraTest/gigabitxcvr/av_xcvr_plls.sv(348): Instantiation of 'arriav_hssi_avmm_interface' failed. The design unit was not found. # # Region: /gigabitxcvr_tb/DUT/gigabitxcvr_inst/gen_native_inst/av_xcvr_native_insts[0]/gen_bonded_group_plls/gen_tx_plls/tx_plls/pll[0]/avmm # Searched libraries: # E:/Projects/AlteraTest/test/libraries/work # Loading work.av_xcvr_avmm_csr # ** Error: (vsim-3033) E:/Projects/AlteraTest/gigabitxcvr/av_xcvr_plls.sv(538): Instantiation of 'arriav_hssi_pma_cdr_refclk_select_mux' failed. The design unit was not found. # # Region: /gigabitxcvr_tb/DUT/gigabitxcvr_inst/gen_native_inst/av_xcvr_native_insts[0]/gen_bonded_group_plls/gen_tx_plls/tx_plls/pll[0]/pll/cmu_pll/pll_mux # Searched libraries: # E:/Projects/AlteraTest/test/libraries/work # ** Error: (vsim-3033) E:/Projects/AlteraTest/gigabitxcvr/av_xcvr_plls.sv(643): Instantiation of 'arriav_channel_pll' failed. The design unit was not found. # # Region: /gigabitxcvr_tb/DUT/gigabitxcvr_inst/gen_native_inst/av_xcvr_native_insts[0]/gen_bonded_group_plls/gen_tx_plls/tx_plls/pll[0]/pll/cmu_pll # Searched libraries: # E:/Projects/AlteraTest/test/libraries/work # Loading work.av_rx_pma # Loading work.av_tx_pma # Loading work.av_pcs_ch # ** Error: (vsim-3033) E:/Projects/AlteraTest/gigabitxcvr/av_xcvr_avmm.sv(290): Instantiation of 'arriav_hssi_avmm_interface' failed. The design unit was not found. # # Region: /gigabitxcvr_tb/DUT/gigabitxcvr_inst/gen_native_inst/av_xcvr_native_insts[0]/gen_bonded_group_native/av_xcvr_native_inst/inst_av_xcvr_avmm/genblk1/avmm_interface_insts[0]/genblk1 # Searched libraries: # E:/Projects/AlteraTest/test/libraries/work # Error loading design All of the errors point to missing Arria V design units. And I look in ModelSim's Library list and sure enough, the library arriav_hssi_ver is marked as (empty). According to the documentation I can find, Arria V is supported on this version of ModelSim. So, two questions: 1) Why does the Cyclone V model use an Arria V model (yeah, I know that the hardware in the FPGA is the same), and 2) Where can I find the missing Arria V models? Thanks!17 Replies
- Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
I believe some of the Cyclone V simulation models have been shared with Arria V models since both of them are generation V devices. However, it is unusual to get into the missing models error. Mind sharing on how do you compile the libraries? By default, there would be a file with name which sounds like msim_setup.tcl after you generate the PHY. Inside the tcl, you will find the required sequence to compile simulation model libraries.
- Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
Hi Bassman59,
You can try to look into the transceiver design example at Altera wiki to check on how the simulation is normally done to see if can see any discrepancy with yours? You can find the designs at http://www.alterawiki.com/wiki/category:transceivers - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
Hi Bassman59,
For the list of xcvr files, you can either look at the plain_files.txt on list of the files used or use the msim_setup.tcl to run your simulation. It would have all the required files to simulate your xcvr. - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
Hi,
You could try to look into the Stratix V design example at the Altera wiki - http://www.alterawiki.com/wiki/category:transceivers to see how the Modelsim simulation and compilation are done. You can try to refer to how the design example compile the libraries. Though it is for Stratix V but the same method should apply for Cyclone V. - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
--- Quote Start --- I believe some of the Cyclone V simulation models have been shared with Arria V models since both of them are generation V devices. However, it is unusual to get into the missing models error. Mind sharing on how do you compile the libraries? By default, there would be a file with name which sounds like msim_setup.tcl after you generate the PHY. Inside the tcl, you will find the required sequence to compile simulation model libraries. --- Quote End --- Sorry for the late reply. This has been frustrating. The first thing I did was to add all of the simulation models to the ModelSim project, as if they were just some code that I'd written myself. (That seems reasonable, no?) I used the plaintext list to set the compile order. Then I compiled my test bench, and tried to simulate it, and got the errors regarding the missing Arria components. Then per your suggestion, I ran the msim_setup.tcl script from within ModelSim. At first, I thought it did nothing, until I realized that it installs some commands. (Hello, documentation!) I ran the com command, and it failed because the QSYS_SIMDIR was not being set properly. I modified the script and explicitly set the directory. After it compiled, I noticed that the library into which those sources were to be compiled was empty, even though there were zero compile errors and warnings. Weird. Using the same exact compile command as in the script, I started to compile each of the sources from the ModelSim command line, in the order listed in the script. After compiling the first source: vlog -sv "$QSYS_SIMDIR/altera_xcvr_native_cv/altera_xcvr_functions.sv" -work gigabitxcvr I noticed that the library was no longer empty. Then I compiled the second source: vlog -sv "$QSYS_SIMDIR/altera_xcvr_native_cv/mentor/altera_xcvr_functions.sv" -work gigabitxcvr and bang -- the library was empty again. What's in this file? Well, it's the encrypted source, and rather than throwing an error or warning or any indication at all, ModelSim silently does nothing, because I guess the ModelSim AE Starter doesn't handle encrypted models. (Can anyone confirm?) For the hell of it, I just commented-out the lines that compile the encrypted models (in the \mentor\ directory), restarted ModelSim, re-ran the script, and it compiled and the library was populated as one expects. Then I compiled the test bench and ran the simulation, and ... ... got the errors about missing arria v stuff. This is absurd. Is it because I'm using the free tools that the models for the Arria V things (a chip I'm not using!) are not available? (BTW, I am waiting for the FAE to get back to me. But I can't believe that I'm the only person struggling with this!) - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
Hi Bassman59,
I think you could file a service request to Altera reporting the issue that you are facing here. This sound like a bug since you are already using the msim_setup.tcl but still not working. - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
--- Quote Start --- Hi Bassman59, I think you could file a service request to Altera reporting the issue that you are facing here. This sound like a bug since you are already using the msim_setup.tcl but still not working. --- Quote End --- I filed one yesterday. Hopefully the response will be timely. I will report back. - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
--- Quote Start --- I filed one yesterday. Hopefully the response will be timely. I will report back. --- Quote End --- Looking forward to hear the response on this. - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
Hi Bassman59,
By the way, in case you found the response is not timely, you could try to contact your local FAE to help expedite the turn around time. - Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
--- Quote Start --- Hi Bassman59, By the way, in case you found the response is not timely, you could try to contact your local FAE to help expedite the turn around time. --- Quote End --- Through our representative, I contacted the local FAE about two weeks ago. They've been trying to get us to switch to Altera for years. So far this is not a good experience.