Reducing Memory Usage when Using Simulation Model in Behavior Analysis

In the previous Behavior Analysis flow, the symbol library mode is recommended over the simulation model to get better performance and memory usage. This is because when the Behavior Analysis engine uses the simulation model, it will look into the library cell to get its equation which consumes a large amount of memory, especially in big gate-level designs. However, the simulation model sometimes has to be used, for example, when the liberty file is not complete, or users would like to maintain the exact behavior of simulation model, etc. To resolve the memory usage issue, SpringSoft has implemented a new technology which can speed up the performance and reduce the memory usage when using the simulation model in Behavior Analysis. The basic idea is to convert the HDL simulation model to an internal symbol library which can be used by Behavior Analysis, in this way the Behavior Analysis does not need to look into each library cell but can still get the correct equation, so that the memory usage will be reduced efficiently. To use this mechanism, users need to import the HDL simulation model with the -y or -v options when compiling the design. The mechanism is transparent to users so users do not need to make any change in the Verdi/Siloti systems. This new technology will be released in the upcoming Novas 2010.04 version.