Exploration Name
Name that you give to the DSE II session.
Compilation Type
Type of compilation to perform. You can choose between Full Compilation, Fitting and timing analysis and Fitting, timing analysis, and assembler.
Exploration Points
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Explore |
| Single compilation |
Allows you to set up a single
compilation in a remote location and monitor from
the local computer. |
| Design Exploration |
Allows you to generate many
compilations in remote machines, each of them with
different parameters or settings. |
|
| Skip base
exploration points |
If you turn this option on, the DSE II generates
compilation only for non-default settings. |
| Exploration
Mode |
Exploration flow to use. The following options
are available: | Seed Sweep Only |
Directs DSE II to vary only the seed setting
in the Fitter, using the seed values you specified
in Seeds.
The Fitter uses the seed during the
initial placement configuration and when optimizing
the design to meet the timing requirements,
including fMAX. Because each different seed value
will result in a somewhat different fit, you can try
different seeds to attempt to obtain superior
fitting results. Note: The seeds that lead to the
best fits for a design may change if the design
changes. Also, changing the seed not always
results in a better fit; therefore, you should
specify a seed only if the Fitter is not meeting
timing requirements by a small
amount
. |
| All Optimization Modes |
Optimizes synthesis for balanced implementation
that respects timing constraints. When you specify
this option, te number of runs is 5x the number of
seeds (+ optional base compile). |
| Performance (High Effort) |
Optimize synthesis for speed performance. High
effort increases synthesis runtime. |
| Performance (Aggressive) |
Optimize synthesis for speed performance.
Aggressive effort increases synthesis runtime and
device resource use. |
| Area (Aggressive) |
Reduce the device area required to implement
the design. |
| Power (High Effort) |
Optimize synthesis for low power. High effort
increases synthesis runtime. |
| Power (Aggressive) |
Optimize synthesis for low power. Aggressive
effort increases synthesis time and reduces speed
performance. |
|
| Seeds |
Specifies the random seeds that the compilation
must use. Choose between: | Create |
Number of seeds to sweep as
part of the exploration space. The DSE II uses
consecutive seeds |
| Specify |
List of seeds that the DSE II
must use |
|
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Create design archive
from Intel® Quartus® Prime
project |
Each compilation generates a qar file. |
| Discover and include
source files missing from project settings |
Activate auto discover file feature. If enabled, the
software runs analysis and elaboration if it has not been run to
discover source files. If the QSF file already
contains all design files, you can turn off this option to reduce
runtime and memory consumption.
|
| Use existing design
archive (.qar) |
Each compilation imports the qar file from the local
machine. |
Limits
Select one of the following options:
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Stop after any
exploration meets timing |
Exploration stops when a compilation meets the
timing goals. |
| Limit compilation
for each exploration point to |
Defines a time limit for each
compilation. |
Results
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Select results to
save |
Specify what result files to keep after an
exploration point completes. The alternatives are: | all |
| qar |
| best_qar |
| sof |
| sof_qar |
| reports_only |
|
DSE Server Settings
For LSF farms, you can use a remote machine to generate compilations
and gather results. With this configuration, the local machine is free to disconnect
from the network during the exploration process, and can connect later to check the
results.
To retrieve the exploration results we need the IP remote machine to contact. We
achieve this by having remote machine register with the local machine.
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Host |
IP of the local machine |
| Port |
Port that the local machine is using |
| Registration
Host |
IP of the machine that generates the
compilations |
| Registration
Port |
Port that the registration host is using |
Advanced
| Option |
Description |
|---|
| Specify exploration
points without compiling |
Allows you to compile your design at a later
point in time. |
| Maximum number of
parallel compilations |
Number of CPUs each compiler must use. |
| Maximum number of
CPUs |
Maximum CPUs that the DSE can use |
| Quality of Fit
formula |
Name of the Python script that calculates a
custom Quality of Fit value. This path is relative to the project
directory |