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soc_maker
===========
The System-on-Chip (SoC) Maker is a tool to create SoC
in a simple way.
At the moment, only command line interface (CLI) is supported.
It is intended, that future implementations will allow to
create and manage SoC with a graphical user interface (GUI).
This software is in a development stage and highly experimental.
Features
--------
* A CLI for easy interaction
* All configuration files are YAML based
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML)
Examples
--------
No real or useful examples have been tested, yet.
Only a simple script exists: examples/run.txt
Motivation
--------
The motivation of this project is the need of an open-source application
to create system-on-chips easily and fast on a higher level than vhdl or verilog.
By creating a generic application, it can support a wide range of
processors, cores, controllers and bus-topologies.
By using the SoC-Maker, it should be easy for a system-designer to assemble
multiple IP-cores together with a low effort and without low-level knowledges.
Furthermore, pre-defined SoCs can be published and extended. This makes it
interesting for IP-core developers. An existing SoC created with the
Soc-Maker can be easily extended by a custom IP core which is then tested
and used.
Not only memory-mapped systems are a target application, also signal-processing
systems are interesting, where signal-processing blocks are concatenated.
One useful example is an Open-RISC based SoC, where it would be nice, if
core and system-developers can easily create a SoC with an
Open-RISC CPU. The need of a detailed knowledge of the Open-RISC, the Wishbone
bus and so on is not needed anymore.
A second example is a any kind of wireless receiver, where signals are filtered, mixed,
decimated and further processed. All the signal processing can be put
together into a subsystem with
parameters (mixer-resolution, decimation-rate and son on). On a higher level, this
sub-system can then be used in a typical memory-mapped SoC together with other
IP-cores and sub-systems.
The Goal
------------
The goal in one sentence: the SoC-Maker should make it possible to parameterize and assemble
one or multiple IP-cores into one IP-core on a high level.
IP-core:
IP stands for Intellectual Property and the definition can be found on wikipedia:
\url{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_intellectual_property_core}.
Parameterization:
Parameterization of IP-cores says, that the user can configure and setup all
required parameters of an IP-core.
Assembly:
Assembly in this context means, that the IP-cores are connected in a pre-defined
or user-defined way, that the final IP-core works as required by the
user.
One or Multiple IP-cores:
The minimum number of IP-cores, which are used in such a system is one. Of course,
the common case is that more than one IP-core is used to create one final
IP-core.
Into one IP-core:
The assembly into one IP-core can be seen in different ways: on the one hand,
this final IP-core can be seen as a System-on-Chip. On the other-hand, it can
be defined as a subsystem with additional parameters. This parameters are then
passed to the single IP-cores. The subsystem, which is one big IP-core, can then
be used in other systems or sub-systems.
The High Level:
The high level says, that the user must not work on code or RTL level.
Furthermore, the high-level can can be different: one way could be
a graphical user interface. A second way might be an easy to read ASCII file
written for example in XML, YAML or JSON.
Requirements
------------
- The user is able to organize IP cores and interfaces in a library, which includes
* adding existing IP cores / interfaces
* removing IP cores / interfaces
* displaying IP cores (which are in the library)
* adding IP cores to the target-SOC
- There should be a library functionallity: the library should hold
* core definitions
* interface definitions
- There should exist a core definition for each core. The definition should define the following data
* all source files, which are required for synthesis only
* all source files, which are required for simulation only
* all source files, for synthesis and simulation
* top-level source file
* top-level port and parameters
* parameter configuration and validation
* an option to download/check out files from a repository (svn, git ...)
- There should exist an interface specification for each interface used in the library
* The interface specification defines, how the IP cores are connected
* Allow versioning
* Allow a wide range of topologies
- There should be a SOC definition
The SOC definition defines, which IP cores are used
by the target-SOC, how they are connected and how the IP cores
are parameterized.
- IP-core configuration
It must be possible to configure an IP core. The configurable parameters
are defined in the IP-core definition and set in the SOC definition.
The parameters are then used to instantiate the IP-core during the HDL generation
- Toplevel-Generation
The SoC maker should auto-generate a toplevel in VHDL or Verilog.
Both HDL languages should be supported for generation.
- Configuration Files
All configuration should be stored in YAML files, this includes
* SOC definition
* Core definition
* Interface specification
* SoC maker configuration
Install
-------
sudo gem install
Author
------
Original author: Christian Haettich
License
-------
Copyright (C) 2014 Christian Haettich - feddischson [ at ] opencores.org
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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