Many implementations or work-arounds are vendor, tool or target-platform dependent. This proposal suggests a package named config, which abstracts the extraction of vendor, tool and target-platform properties from a simple configuration string. A user specifies a device or board string, which is decoded into several target specific properties like device family, device generation. These information are provide by a global constant to all packages and entities in a project.

Package can use this information to enable special work-arounds. Entities can choose better suitable implementations of IP cores to create better hardware for the choosen target-platform.

A design needs two configuration files, called my_project and my_config, containing two packages to configure a VHDL design:

package my_config is
  -- Change these lines to setup configuration.
  constant MY_BOARD    : string  := "CHANGE THIS"; -- e.g. Custom, ML505, KC705, Atlys
  constant MY_DEVICE   : string  := "CHANGE THIS"; -- e.g. None, XC5VLX50T-1FF1136, EP2SGX90FF1508C3
 
  -- For internal use only
  constant MY_VERBOSE  : boolean := FALSE;         -- activate detailed report statements in functions and procedures
end package;

Source: https://github.com/VLSI-EDA/PoC/blob/master/src/common/my_project.vhdl.template

package my_project is
  -- Change these lines to setup configuration.
  constant MY_PROJECT_DIR      : string := "CHANGE THIS";  -- e.g. "d:/vhdl/myproject/", "/home/me/projects/myproject/"
  constant MY_OPERATING_SYSTEM : string := "CHANGE THIS";  -- e.g. "WINDOWS", "LINUX"
end package;

Source: https://github.com/VLSI-EDA/PoC/blob/master/src/common/my_config.vhdl.template

The configuration package infers device and traget properties and assembles all information in a comprehensive record.

type T_DEVICE_INFO is record
  Vendor          : T_VENDOR;
  Device          : T_DEVICE;
  DevFamily       : T_DEVICE_FAMILY;
  DevGeneration   : natural;
  DevNumber       : natural;
  DevSubType      : T_DEVICE_SUBTYPE;
  DevSeries       : T_DEVICE_SERIES;
 
  TransceiverType : T_TRANSCEIVER;
  LUT_FanIn       : positive;
end record;

Source: PoC.config

T_VENDOR represents a target device vendor:

type T_VENDOR is (
  VENDOR_UNKNOWN,
  VENDOR_GENERIC,
  VENDOR_ALTERA,
  VENDOR_LATTICE,
  VENDOR_XILINX
);

type T_SYNTHESIS_TOOL is (
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_UNKNOWN,
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_GENERIC,
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_ALTERA_QUARTUS2,
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_LATTICE_LSE,
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_SYNOPSIS,
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_XILINX_XST,
  SYNTHESIS_TOOL_XILINX_VIVADO
);

type T_DEVICE_FAMILY is (
  DEVICE_FAMILY_UNKNOWN,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_GENERIC,
 -- Altera
  DEVICE_FAMILY_ARRIA,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_CYCLONE,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_STRATIX,
  -- Lattice
  DEVICE_FAMILY_ICE,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_MACHXO,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_ECP,
  -- Xilinx
  DEVICE_FAMILY_SPARTAN,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_ZYNQ,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_ARTIX,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_KINTEX,
  DEVICE_FAMILY_VIRTEX
);

Xilinx groups new devices into series, which share common features across device families.

type T_DEVICE_SERIES is (
  DEVICE_SERIES_UNKNOWN,
  DEVICE_SERIES_GENERIC,
  -- Xilinx FPGA series
  DEVICE_SERIES_7_SERIES,
  DEVICE_SERIES_ULTRASCALE,
  DEVICE_SERIES_ULTRASCALE_PLUS
);

type T_DEVICE is (
  DEVICE_UNKNOWN,
  DEVICE_GENERIC,
  -- Altera
  DEVICE_MAX2, DEVICE_MAX10,                                          -- Altera.Max
  DEVICE_ARRIA1, DEVICE_ARRIA2, DEVICE_ARRIA5, DEVICE_ARRIA10,        -- Altera.Arria
  DEVICE_CYCLONE1, DEVICE_CYCLONE2, DEVICE_CYCLONE3, DEVICE_CYCLONE4, -- Altera.Cyclone
    DEVICE_CYCLONE5,                                                  --
  DEVICE_STRATIX1, DEVICE_STRATIX2, DEVICE_STRATIX3, DEVICE_STRATIX4, -- Altera.Stratix
    DEVICE_STRATIX5, DEVICE_STRATIX10,                                --
  -- Lattice
  DEVICE_ICE40, DEVICE_ICE65, DEVICE_ICE5,                            -- Lattice.iCE
  DEVICE_MACHXO, DEVICE_MACHXO2,                                      -- Lattice.MachXO
  DEVICE_ECP3, DEVICE_ECP4, DEVICE_ECP5,                              -- Lattice.ECP
  -- Xilinx
  DEVICE_SPARTAN3, DEVICE_SPARTAN6,                                   -- Xilinx.Spartan
  DEVICE_ZYNQ7, DEVICE_ZYNQ_ULTRA_PLUS,                               -- Xilinx.Zynq
  DEVICE_ARTIX7,                                                      -- Xilinx.Artix
  DEVICE_KINTEX7, DEVICE_KINTEX_ULTRA, DEVICE_KINTEX_ULTRA_PLUS,      -- Xilinx.Kintex
  DEVICE_VIRTEX4, DEVICE_VIRTEX5, DEVICE_VIRTEX6, DEVICE_VIRTEX7,     -- Xilinx.Virtex
    DEVICE_VIRTEX_ULTRA, DEVICE_VIRTEX_ULTRA_PLUS                     --
);

T_DEVICE_SUBTYPE differentiates sub-types within a device family.

type T_DEVICE_SUBTYPE is (
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_NONE,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_GENERIC,
  -- Altera
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_E,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_GS,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_GX,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_GT,
  -- Lattice
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_U,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_UM,
  -- Xilinx
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_X,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_T,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_XT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_HT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_LX,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_SXT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_LXT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_TXT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_FXT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_CXT,
  DEVICE_SUBTYPE_HXT
);

T_TRANSCEIVER differentiates transceiver hard macro implementations.

type T_TRANSCEIVER is (
  TRANSCEIVER_NONE,
  TRANSCEIVER_GENERIC,
  -- Altera transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_GXB,                                             -- Altera GXB transceiver
  --Lattice transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_MGT,                                             -- Lattice transceiver
  -- Xilinx transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_GTP_DUAL, TRANSCEIVER_GTPE1, TRANSCEIVER_GTPE2,  -- Xilinx GTP transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_GTX, TRANSCEIVER_GTXE1, TRANSCEIVER_GTXE2,       -- Xilinx GTX transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_GTH, TRANSCEIVER_GTHE1, TRANSCEIVER_GTHE2,       -- Xilinx GTH transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_GTZ,                                             -- Xilinx GTZ transceivers
  TRANSCEIVER_GTY                                              -- Xilinx GTY transceivers
);

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• Patrick Lehmann - 26.08.2016
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