Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Third-party Simulation

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ID 683870
Date 12/04/2023
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
Answers to Top FAQs 1. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics 2. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support 3. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support 4. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Support 5. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support 6. Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide Third-party Simulation Archive A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guides
1. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics x
1.1. Intel FPGA Simulation Essential Elements 1.2. Overview of Simulation Tool Flow 1.3. Simulation Tool Flow 1.4. Supported Simulation Types 1.5. Supported Hardware Description Languages 1.6. Supported Simulators 1.7. Post-Fit Simulation Support by Intel FPGA Family 1.8. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics Revision History
1.2. Overview of Simulation Tool Flow x
1.2.1. Compilation Stage 1.2.2. Elaboration Stage 1.2.3. Simulation Stage
1.3. Simulation Tool Flow x
1.3.1. Specifying Logical Libraries 1.3.2. Compiling Files Into Library Directories 1.3.3. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Simulation Library 1.3.4. Understanding Elaboration 1.3.5. Commands To Configure and Run Simulation 1.3.6. Intel FPGA Simulation Generic Workflow
1.3.1. Specifying Logical Libraries x
1.3.1.1. Why Do We Need Logical Library Names?
1.3.2. Compiling Files Into Library Directories x
1.3.2.1. Inputs to Compilation Commands 1.3.2.2. Order of Files for Compilation Commands 1.3.2.3. Compilation Command Line Options 1.3.2.4. Module Definitions in Library Directories
1.3.3. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Simulation Library x
1.3.3.1. The Intel® Quartus® Prime Simulation Library Compiler 1.3.3.2. Running the Simulation Library Compiler in a Terminal 1.3.3.3. Running the Simulation Library Compiler in the GUI 1.3.3.4. Finding Logical Library Names in Simulation Library Compiler Output
1.3.4. Understanding Elaboration x
1.3.4.1. Elaboration Binding Phase 1.3.4.2. Elaboration Checks 1.3.4.3. Elaboration Options
2. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support x
2.1. Quick Start Example (QuestaSim* with Verilog) 2.2. QuestaSim* Simulator Guidelines 2.3. QuestaSim* Simulation Setup Script Example 2.4. Sourcing QuestaSim* Simulator Setup Scripts 2.5. Unsupported Features 2.6. QuestaSim* Simulator Support Revision History
2.2. QuestaSim* Simulator Guidelines x
2.2.1. Passing Parameter Information from Verilog HDL to VHDL 2.2.2. Viewing Simulation Messages 2.2.3. Generating Signal Activity Data for Power Analysis 2.2.4. Viewing Simulation Waveforms
3. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support x
3.1. Quick Start Example (VCS with Verilog) 3.2. VCS and VCS MX Guidelines 3.3. VCS Simulation Setup Script Example 3.4. Sourcing Synopsys VCS* MX Simulator Setup Scripts 3.5. Sourcing Synopsys VCS* Simulator Setup Scripts 3.6. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support Revision History
4. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Support x
4.1. Quick Start Example (Active-HDL VHDL) 4.2. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Guidelines 4.3. Using Simulation Setup Scripts 4.4. Sourcing Aldec ActiveHDL* or Riviera Pro* Simulator Setup Scripts 4.5. Aldec Active-HDL* and Riviera-PRO * Support Revision History
5. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support x
5.1. Using the Command-Line Interface 5.2. Generating Simulator Setup Script Templates 5.3. Sourcing Cadence Xcelium* Simulator Setup Scripts 5.4. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support Revision History
Answers to Top FAQs
1. Intel FPGA Simulation Basics
2. Siemens EDA QuestaSim* Simulator Support
3. Synopsys VCS* and VCS MX Support
4. Aldec Active-HDL and Riviera-PRO Support
5. Cadence Xcelium* Parallel Simulator Support
6. Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide Third-party Simulation Archive
A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guides

2.3. QuestaSim* Simulation Setup Script Example

The Intel® Quartus® Prime software can generate a msim_setup.tcl simulation setup script for IP cores in your design. The script compiles the required device library models, compiles the design files, and elaborates the design with or without simulator optimization. To run the script, type source msim_setup.tcl in the simulator Transcript window.
Alternatively, if you are using the simulator at the command line, you can type the following command: 
vsim -c -do msim_setup.tcl

In this example the top-level-simulate.do custom top-level simulation script sets the hierarchy variable TOP_LEVEL_NAME to top_testbench for the design, and sets the variable QSYS_SIMDIR to the location of the generated simulation files. 

# Set hierarchy variables used in the IP-generated files
set TOP_LEVEL_NAME "top_testbench"
set QSYS_SIMDIR "./ip_top_sim" 
# Source generated simulation script which defines aliases used below
source $QSYS_SIMDIR/mentor/msim_setup.tcl 
# dev_com alias compiles simulation libraries for device library files
dev_com
# com alias compiles IP simulation or Platform Designer model files and/or Platform Designer model files in the correct order
com 
# Compile top level testbench that instantiates your IP
vlog -sv ./top_testbench.sv 
# elab alias elaborates the top-level design and testbench
elab
# Run the full simulation
run - all

In this example, the top-level simulation files are stored in the same directory as the original IP core, so this variable is set to the IP-generated directory structure. The QSYS_SIMDIR variable provides the relative hierarchy path for the generated IP simulation files. The script calls the generated msim_setup.tcl script and uses the alias commands from the script to compile and elaborate the IP files required for simulation along with the top-level simulation testbench. You can specify additional simulator elaboration command options when you run the elab command, for example, elab +nowarnTFMPC. The last command run in the example starts the simulation.

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