IP Core Design

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IP Core Design

• Patrick Longa

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Outline

• Intellectual Property (IP) Core basics
• IP Core classification
• IP Core standardization
• Standard buses/interfaces for IP Cores
• IP Cores in the market
• Example with FIR Filter Compiler

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IP Core basics

• Intellectual Property (IP) core
• Macro structures with specific
  industrial-standard function that can be
• flexibly be adapted and reused in SoC designs.

From sea of cells to sea of hard macros
Figures extracted from 2.
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IP Core classification
Criteria Classification Hard core Soft core
Structure Pre-defined organization. Behavioural source code, technology independent.
Modelling Modeled as a library component. Synthesizable with several technologies.
Flexibility Cannot be modified by the designer. Can be modified by the designer.
Timing closure Timing ensured. Timing not guaranteed.
IP protection Strong. Usually corresponds to a layout. Weak. Source code.
Example FPGA Bitstream. GDSII file for IC layout. VHDL, Verilog.
IP Classification hard cores and soft cores
Partially extracted from 1.
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IP Core standardization

• VSI Alliance (VSIA)
• ? Open, international organization
• ? Specify standards for IP and reuse in SoC
  designs
• ? Quality IP (QIP) Metric v2.0
• Open Measure of Reuse Excellence (OpenMORE)
  assessment program
• ? Donated by Mentor Graphics / Synopsys to VSIA
• ? Evaluate the reusability level of hard/soft IP
  cores
• Open Core Protocol International Partnership
  (OCP-IP)
• ? Non-profit organization that promotes the Open
  Core Protocol (OCP)
• ? Specify standards for IP cores in SoC designs
• ? Payment to have access to specifications
• Structure for Packaging, Integrating and Re-using
  IP within Tool-flows (Spirit) Consortium
• ? Create standards for IP interoperability
• Standard for describing IP cores
• Standard for creating an IP tool integration API

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IP Core standardization

• Technology-dependent company-based
  certifications
• Altera ? SOPC Builder ready
• AMPP Approved Stamp
• Xilinx ? AllianceCore qualification
• Lattice ? ISPLeverCore Approved

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Standard bus/interface for IP Cores

• Wishbone created by Silicore
• Open bus/interface for IP cores in SoC designs.
• Supports 8,16, 32 and 64-bit data bus,
  synchronous.
• Free of charge.
• Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA)
  created by ARM
• Supports 32, 64 and 128-bit data bus with 32-bit
  address bus.
• Includes 3 buses
• Advanced High-performance Bus (AHB).
• Advanced System Bus (ASB).
• Advanced Peripheral Bus (APB).
• CoreConnect created by IBM
• Supports 32, 64 and 128-bit data bus,
• extendable to 256 bits.
• Includes the next elements
• Procesor Local Bus (PLB).
• On-chip Peripeheral Bus (OPB).
• A bus bridge.

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IP Cores in the market

• ALTERA Altera MegaCore functions and AMPP
  Megafunctions
• Embedded processor cores ? supported by SOPC
  Builder
• ? NIOS, NIOS
  II, several 16, 8, 4-bit microcontrollers.
• Interfaces and peripherals ? SRAM memories,
  interrupt controllers, UARTs, USB, I2C, DMA
  controllers, PCI, PCI-X buses, Ethernet
  controllers, LCD and smart card interfaces, etc.
• Communications ? standard-based communication
  protocols and interfaces such as UTOPIA, HDLC,
  Bluetooth, FlexBus, and others.
• DSP ? supported by DSP Builder tool
• Filtering and modulation FIR, IIR filters,
  Up-converters, NCOs.
• Transforms FFT, IFFT, DCT and DWT.
• Error correction Reed Solomon encoder/decoder,
  Viterbi encoder/decoder
• Image and Video processing color space
  converter, JPEG and JPEG2000
• encoder/decoder.

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IP Cores in the market
DSP core Category Vendor
FIR Compiler 3.3.0 Filtering Altera
Digital Modulator Modulation/Demodulation AMPP partner
Up Converter Modulation/Demodulation AMPP partner
FFT/IFFT 2.2.0 Transforms Altera
2D DCT/IDCT Transforms AMPP partner
2D DWT Transforms AMPP partner
64-point FFT/IFFT Transforms AMPP partner
DCT Transforms AMPP partner
Correlation Correlation Altera
Reed Solomon Compiler, Encoder 4.0.1 Error Correction Altera
Reed Solomon Compiler, Decoder 4.0.1 Error Correction Altera
Viterbi Compiler, High-Speed Parallel Decoder Error Correction Altera
Viterbi Compiler, Low-Speed/Hybrid Serial Decoder Error Correction Altera
Turbo Product Coder Decoder Error Correction AMPP partner
Color Space Converter 2.3.0 Video Image Processing AMPP partner
CCIR-656 Decoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
CCIR-656 Encoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
JPEG Encoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
JPEG Decoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
JPEG2000 Encoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
JPEG2000 Decoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
MPEG2 Decoder Video Image Processing AMPP partner
DSP core Category Vendor
Complex Tuner Audio AMPP partner
ADPCM Encoder/Decoder Audio AMPP partner
Floating Point Arithmetic Unit Arithmetic AMPP partner
Floating Point Pipelined Divider Unit Arithmetic AMPP partner
NCO Compiler 2.3.0 Signal Generation Altera
Telephony Gain Generation Signal Generation AMPP partner
Telephony Tone Generation Signal Generation AMPP partner
Digital IF Receiver Others AMPP partner
Digital PLL Synthesizer Others AMPP partner
Dual Resampler 1Y and 4Y Others AMPP partner
Accelerated Display Graphics Engine Others AMPP partner
Altera MegaCores and AMPP Megafunctions for DSP
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IP Cores in the market
XILINX Xilinx LogicCORE functions and
AllianceCORE IP cores Similar IP alternatives in
interface / peripherals and Communications. Embedd
ed processor cores ? supported by Platform
Studio ? PicoBlaze, MicroBlaze,
16, 8, 4-bit microcontrollers. DSP ? supported by
System Generator for DSP tool
DSP core Category Support Vendor
16-bit RISC Digital Signal processor PDSP core Xilinx 1 IP-cores
16-bit TMS320C25 DSP core PDSP core Altera, Xilinx Cast Inc.
16-bit TMS32025 DSP core PDSP core Xilinx Cast Inc.
DSP56002 24-bit DSP core PDSP core Xilinx Cast Inc.
PDSP soft cores
Soft processor core Architecture Interface Additional DSP features Vendor
CoreMP7 32-bit ARM-based RISC architecture AMBA (AHB) bus interface -- Actel
NIOS II 32-bit RISC architecture AMBA (AHB) bus interface Hardware multiply, hardware divide and barrel shifter Altera
NIOS 16/32-bit RISC architecture N/A -- Altera
MicroBlaze 32-bit Risc architecture CoreConnect (OPB) standard Hardware multiply, divide, barrel shifter, single-precision floating-point unit Xilinx
PicoBlaze 8-bit microcontroller N/A -- Xilinx
Soft processor cores
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
Create a new project and open the MegaWizard
Plug-In Manager
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
Create a new Megafunction unit and select FIR
Compiler 3.3.0 from the IP MegaStore
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
Options in the IP Toolbench
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
1.- Parameterize step New/edit coefficient
set Plot options fixed / floating coefficients,
frequency response / time response and
coefficients Coefficients bitwidth 2 to
32 Coefficient scaling Device family Filter
structure fully-serial, fully parallel,
multi-bit serial (DA) Pipeline level Data/coeffici
ent storage logic cells, memory blocks Output/
Input specifications
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
Coefficient generator Rate single,
interpolation, decimation Filter type low-pass,
high-pass, band-pass, band reject. Number of
coeficients. Cutoff freq. Sample rate. Window
type rectangular, Hamming, Hanning, Blackman
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler

• 2.- Simulation Step
• Simulation model
• VHDL and Verilog
• Quartus II
• Matlab M-file generation

3.- Generation Step
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
Instantiation
Compilation results
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Example with FIR Filter Compiler
Simulation results
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References

• 1 International Technology Roadmap for
  Semiconductors (ITRS), 2001.
• 2 Hard Macros will revolutionize SoC Design,
  E. Wein, EE Design, 2004.
• 3 Virtual Socket Interface Alliance (VSIA),
  website www.vsi.org
• 4 Open Core Protocol International Partnership
  (OCP-IP), website www.ocpip.org
• 5 The Structure for Packaging, Integrating and
  Re-using IP within Tool-flows (Spirit)
  Consortium, website www.spiritconsortium.com
• 6 Altera Corporation, website www.altera.com
• 7 Xilinx Corporation, website www.xilinx.com
• 8 Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, website
  www.latticesemi.com
• 9 QuickLogic Corporation, website
  www.quicklogic.com
• 10 OpenCores Project, website
  www.opencores.com