Visible to Intel only — GUID: mwh1409959802153
Ixiasoft
Visible to Intel only — GUID: mwh1409959802153
Ixiasoft
2.9.4. Modifying Region Size and Origin
The easiest way to move and resize regions is to drag the region location and borders in the Chip Planner. Make sure that you select the User-Defined region in the floorplan (as opposed to the Fitter-Placed region from the last compilation) so that you can change the region.
Generally, you can keep the Fitter-determined relative placement of the regions, but make adjustments if required to meet timing performance. Performing a full compilation ensures that the Fitter can optimize for a full placement and routing.
If two LogicLock regions have several connections between them, ensure they are placed near each other to improve timing performance. By placing connected regions near each other, the Fitter has more opportunity to optimize inter-region paths when both partitions are recompiled. Reducing the criticality of inter-region paths also allows the Fitter more flexibility when placing other logic in each region.
If resource utilization is low in the overall device, enlarge the regions. Doing so usually improves the final results because it gives the Fitter more freedom to place additional or modified logic added to the partition during subsequent incremental compilations. It also allows room for optimizations such as pipelining and logic duplication.
Try to have each region evenly full, with the same ”fullness” that the complete design would have without LogicLock regions; Altera recommends approximately 75% full.
Allow more area for regions that are densely populated, because overly congested regions can lead to poor results. Allow more empty space for timing-critical partitions to improve results. However, do not make regions too large for their logic. Regions that are too large can result in wasted resources and also lead to suboptimal results.
Ideally, almost the entire device should be covered by LogicLock regions if all partitions are assigned to regions.
Regions should not overlap in the device floorplan. If two partitions are allocated on an overlapping portion of the chip, each may independently claim common resources in this region. This leads to resource conflicts when integrating results into a top-level design. In a single project, overlapping regions give more difficult constraints to the Fitter and can lead to reduced quality of results.
You can create hierarchical LogicLock regions to ensure that the logic in a child partition is physically placed inside the LogicLock region for its parent partition. This can be useful when the parent partition does not contain registers at the boundary with the lower-level child partition and has a lot of signal connectivity. To create a hierarchical relationship between regions in the LogicLock Regions window, drag and drop the child region to the parent region.