Digital System Design
Distance Learning Letter
Installing Xilinx Simulation Libraries
iPLAT – Competence team for Innovative
Platforms for Mixed-Hardware/Software Systems
MA23 Project 18-06
Version: 0.1
Author: P. Rössler
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Introduction
This Distance Learning Letter describes how to install simulation libraries for technology dependent
resources (PLLs, memories …) contained in Xilinx FPGAs. These simulation libraries will be used
in various exercises during the Digital System Design lecture.
It is assumed that the following tools are already installed:
•
ModelSim-Intel FPGA Starter Edition, Release 10.5b
•
Xilinx Vivado 2016.1 HL WebPack
Most things will probably apply to other releases of the ModelSim and Xilinx Vivado software. The
installation procedure is described for a PC running Windows 7, 64-bit. However, installation works
similar on a Linux machine.
Compile Xilinx Simulation Libraries
First, you need to create a directory that will hold the compiled simulation libraries. If you have
installed the ModelSim-Intel simulator to
c:/intelFPGA/16.1/modelsim_ase
create the following sub-directory called “xilinx”
c:/intelFPGA/16.1/modelsim_ase/xilinx
Next, start Xilinx Vivado and select “Tools > Compile Simulation Libraries” from the menu bar, as
shown in Figure 1.
In the “Compile Simulation Libraries” dialogue, specify the options as shown in Figure 2:
•
Simulator: The simulator that is used to compile libraries for (which is ModelSim in our
case)
•
Family: The FPGA family to compile libraries for (“Artix-7”, since the Basys3 board which is
used in the lecture contains an Artix-7 FPGA device)
•
Compiled library location: Directory for saving the compiled simulation libraries
•
Simulator executable path: The directory to locate the simulator executable
•
Compile 32-bit libraries: Use this option to generate 32-bit executable models
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Figure 1: Start Xilinx Vivado to Compile the Simulation Libraries
Figure 2: Compile Simulation Libraries Dialogue
Once you click the “Compile” button, the simulation libraries will be compiled (Figure 3) which
usually takes a few minutes of time.
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Figure 3: Compilation of the Simulation Libraries is in Progress
Once the window shown in Figure 3 disappears, the compilation of the simulation libraries is
finished. You can find the compiled libraries in the selected directory afterwards (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Compiled Xilinx Simulation Libraries
Modify the “modelsim.ini” File
In order to instruct ModelSim to automatically load the Xilinx simulation libraries during startup,
open the “modelsim.ini” file located in
c:/intelFPGA/16.1/modelsim_ase/modelsim.ini
with a text editor and add the following lines to this file (see also Figure 5):
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; Xilinx Simulation Libraries
unisim = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/unisim
unimacro = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/unimacro
unifast = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/unifast
secureip = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/secureip
unisims_ver = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/unisims_ver
unimacro_ver = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/unimacro_ver
unifast_ver = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/unifast_ver
simprims_ver = $MODEL_TECH/../xilinx/simprims_ver
Figure 5: Modified “modelsim.ini” File
If you launch ModelSim afterwards you should now see the Xilinx technology libraries in the
“Library” window, see Figure 6.
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Figure 6: ModelSim with Mapped Xilinx Technology Libraries
The Xilinx simulation libraries are now ready to be used in subsequent exercises during the Digital
System Design lecture.
Version
Version 0.1, 2017-01-27
Initial release of this document
If you find errors or inconsistencies, please report them to the supervisors of this lecture via email.
Thank you!
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