00mjk / multicore-architecture

Simple multicore processor implemented in VHDL

Inkel Pentwice processor

"Blocking is for cowards, but it always works" - Development Team, 2017

This repository contains the source code of a processor in VHDL, and other tools to ease the development. It was developed in the context of the UPC MIRI in the course Processor Architecture by Carlos Escuín, Marc Marí and Kevin Sala and later continued on the course Multicore Architecture by Adrià Aguilà, Marc Marí, Antoni Navarro and Kevin Sala.

To read about the architecture details, please head to the documentation:

Tools

Compilation

The script compiler/compiler.py compiles an assembly file into binary code that can later be used in the processor. The output file memory_boot should be placed at the root of the project, in order to be read properly by the processor.

Simulation

The utility simulator/run_code.py simulates the binary code passed as an argument as if it was run on an Inkel Pentwice processor

Validation

It is also possible to validate the VHDL processor against the simulator.

The packages necessary to run this validator are:

• GHDL
• python-devel

To finish the installation get the cocotb testbench (on the project root folder):

git clone https://github.com/potentialventures/cocotb

If everything is right, you could now go to the test directory and run make. You should be validating the processor!

Known issues

• If you get the error vpi_get: unknown property, download and compile the latest version of GHDL from sources (https://github.com/tgingold/ghdl.git)

Voyeur

To observe transactions that cross the bus, you need the same infrastructure described on "Validation".

To run, go to the voyeur directory and run make. You will be asked to press <Enter> before every transaction.

Documentation

For completeness, the repository includes both the report and the slides that were used to present this project as our final project of the Multiprocessor Architecture subject from the Master in Innovation and Research in Informatics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (FIB BarcelonaTech).