Parameterized Partition Valuation for Parallel Logic Simulation

Parallelization of logic simulation on register-transfer and gate level is a promising way to accelerate extremely time-extensive system simulation processes during the design of whole processor structures. The background of this paper is given by the functional simulator parallelTEXSIM realizing simulation based on the clock-cycle algorithm over loosely-coupled parallel processor systems. In preparation for parallel cycle simulation, partitioning of hardware models is necessary, which essentially determines the e±ciency of the following simulation. We introduce a new method of parameterized partition valuation for use within model partitioning algorithms. It is based on a formal de ̄nition of parallel cycle simulation involving a model of parallel computation called Communicating Processors. Parameters within the valuation function permit consideration of speci ̄c properties related to both the simulation target architecture and the hardware design to be simulated. Our partition valuation method allows performance estimation with respect to corresponding parallel simulation. This has been con ̄rmed by tests concerning several models of real processors as, for instance, the PowerPC 604 with parallel simulation running on an IBM SP2.