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Open-source RISC-V CPUs from Bluespec, Inc.

This is one of a family of free, open-source RISC-V CPUs created by Bluespec, Inc.

  • Piccolo: 3-stage, in-order pipeline

    Piccolo is intended for low-end applications (Embedded Systems, IoT, microcontrollers, etc.).

  • Flute: 5-stage, in-order pipeline

    Flute is intended for low-end to medium applications that require 64-bit operation, an MMU (Virtual Memory) and more performance than Piccolo-class processors.

  • Toooba: superscalar, out-of-order pipeline, slight variation on MIT's RISCY-OOO

    Toooba is intended as a high-end application processor.

The three repo structures are nearly identical, and the ways to build and run are identical.

Note re. distribution of MIT RISCY-OOO sources.

The directory src_Core/RISCY_OOO contains sources copied from MIT's riscy-OOO repository. See LICENSE_RISCY-OOO for MIT's license.

[Note: MIT's repository is on an MIT git server, which can only be accessed with credentials; hence the local copy in of these files.]

Bluespec's modifications to files in src_Core/RISCY_OOO are relatively small and mostly additive:

  • To add the RISC-V 'C' extension (compressed instructions)
  • To add support for Bluespec's Tandem Verification
  • To add support for Bluespec's Debug Module.
  • To fix about bugs leading to about half a dozen failures of standard RISC-V ISA tests

About the source codes (in BSV and Verilog)

The BSV source code in this repository, from which the synthesizable Verilog RTL in this repository is generated, is highly parameterized to allow generating many possible configurations, some of which are adequate to boot a Linux kernel.

The pre-generated synthesizable Verilog RTL source files in this repository are for one specific configuration:

  1. RV64ACDFIMSU (a.k.a. RV64GC)
    • RV64I: base RV64 integer instructions
    • 'A' extension: atomic memory ops
    • 'C' extension: compressed instructions
    • 'D' extension: double-precision floating point instructions
    • 'F' extension: single-precision floating point instructions
    • 'M' extension: integer multiply/divide instructions
    • Privilege levels M (machine), S (Supervisor) and U (user)
    • Supports external, timer, software and non-maskable interrupts
    • Passes all riscv-isa tests for RV64ACDFIMSU
    • Boots the Linux kernel

If you want to generate other Verilog variants, you'll need a Bluespec bsc compiler [Note: Bluespec, Inc. provides free licenses to academia and for non-profit research].

Testbench included

This repository contains a simple testbench (a small SoC) with which one can run RISC-V binaries in simulation by loading standard mem hex files and executing in Bluespec's Bluesim, Verilator simulation or iVerilog simulation. The testbench contains an AXI4 interconnect fabric that connects the CPU to models of a boot ROM, a memory, a timer and a UART for console I/O.

[Note: iverilog functionality is currently limited because we are still working out robust mechanisms to import C code, which is used in parts of the testbench.]

This repository contains one sample build directory, to build an RV64ACDFIMSU simulator, using Verilator Verilog simulation.

The generated Verilog is synthesizable. Bluespec tests all this code on Xilinx FPGAs.

Plans

  • Ongoing continuous micro-architectural improvements for performance and hardware area.

Source codes

This repository contains two levels of source code: Verilog and BSV.

Verilog RTL can be found in directories with names suffixed in '_verilator' or '_iverilog' in the 'builds' directory:

    builds/..._<verilator or iverilog>/Verilog_RTL/

[There is no difference between Verilog in a Verilator directory vs. the corresponding iverilog directory. ]

The Verilog RTL is synthesizable (and hence acceptable to Verilator). It can be simulated in any Verilog simulator (we provide Makefiles to build simulation executables for Verilator and for Icarus Verilog (iverilog)).

The RTL represents RISC-V CPU RTL, plus a rudimentary surrounding SoC enabling immediate simulation here, and which is rich enough to enable booting a Linux kernel. Users are free to use the CPU RTL in their own Verilog system designs. The top-level module for the CPU RTL is Verilog_RTL/mkProc.v. The top-level module for the surrounding SoC is Verilog_RTL/mkTop_HW_Side.v. The SoC has an AXI4 fabric, a timer, a software-interrupt device, and a UART. Additional library RTL can be found in the directory src_bsc_lib_RTL.

Bluespec BSV source code (which was used to generate the Verilog RTL) can be found in:

  • src_Core/, for the CPU core, with sub-directories:

    • Core/: the top-level of the CPU Core (specifically, the files CoreW_IFC.bsv and CoreW.bsv)
    • 'CPU/': more CPU core sources
    • 'RISCY_OOO': the bulk of the code, taken from MIT's riscy-ooo design, with local modifications.
    • ISA/: generic types/constants/functions for the RISC-V ISA (not CPU-implementation-specific)
    • 'PLIC/': Platform-Level Interrupt Controller (standard RISC-V spec)
    • BSV_Additional_Libs/: generic utilities (not CPU-specific)
    • Debug_Module/: RISC-V Debug Module to debug the CPU from GDB or other debuggers

  • src_Testbench/, for the surrounding testbench, with sub-directories:

    • Top/: The system top-level (Top_HW_Side.bsv), a memory model that loads from a memory hex file, and some imported C functions for polled reads from the console tty (not currently available for Icarus Verilog).

    • SoC/: An interconnect, a boot ROM, a memory controller, a timer and software-interrupt device, and a UART for console tty I/O.

    • Fabrics/: Generic AXI4 code for the SoC fabric.

The BSV source code has a rich set of parameters. The provided RTL source has been generated from the BSV source automatically using Bluespec's bsc compiler, with certain particular sets of choices for the various parameters. The generated RTL is not parameterized.

To generate Verilog variants with other parameter choices, the user will need Bluespec's bsc compiler. See the next section for examples of how the build is configured for different ISA features.

BSV_Additional_Libs contains a submodule, BlueStuff, which must be checked out using:

$ git submodule update --init --recursive

This command may need to be repeated when this parent repository is updated to point to newer versions of the BlueStuff repository.

In fact the CPU also supports a "Tandem Verifier" that produces an instruction-by-instruction trace that can be checked for correctness against a RISC-V Golden Reference Model. Please contact Bluespec, Inc. for more information.

Building and running from the Verilog sources, out of the box

In the Verilog-build directory:

        builds/RV64ACDFIMSU_Toooba_verilator/

  • $ make simulator will create a Verilog simulation executable using Verilator

  • $ make test will run the executable on the standard RISC-V ISA test rv32ui-p-add or rv64ui-p-add, which is one of the tests in the Tests/isa/ directory. Examining the test: target in Makefile, we see that it first runs the program Tests/elf_to_hex/elf_to_hex on the rv32ui-p-add or rv64ui-p-add ELF file to create a Mem.hex file, and then runs the simulation executable which loads this Mem.hex file into its memory.

  • $ make TEST=<isa_test_name> test will run the executable on the standard RISC-V ISA test whose name is supplied. The full set of standard isa tests are in the Tests/isa/ directory.

  • $ make isa_tests will run the executable on all the standard RISC-V ISA tests relevant for RV64ACDFIMSU (regression testing). This uses the Python script Tests/Run_regression.py. Please see the documentation at the top of that program for details.

Tool dependencies:

We test our builds with the following versions Verilator. Later versions are probably ok; we have observed some problems with earlier versions.

    $ verilator --version
    Verilator 3.922 2018-03-17 rev verilator_3_920-32-gdf3d1a4

What you can build and run if you have Bluespec's bsc compiler

[Note: Bluespec, Inc. provides free licenses to academia and for non-profit research].

Note: even without Bluespec's bsc compiler, you can use the Verilog sources in any of the builds/<ARCH>_<CPU>_verilator/Verilog_RTL directories-- build and run Verilog simulations, incorporate the Verilog CPU into your own SoC, etc. This section describes additional things you can do with a bsc compiler.

Building a Bluesim simulator

In any of the following directories:

    builds/<ARCH>_<CPU>_bluesim
  • $ make compile simulator

will compile and link a Bluesim executable. Then, you can make test or make isa_tests as described above to run an individual ISA test or run regressions on the full suite of relevant ISA tests.

Re-generating Verilog RTL

You can regenerate the Verilog RTL in any of the build/<ARCH>_<CPU>_verilator/ or build/<ARCH>_<CPU>_iverilog/ directories. Example:

    $ cd  builds/RV32ACIMU_<CPU>_verilator
    $ make compile

Creating a new architecture configuration

[This documentation needs to be fleshed out.] The builds/Resources directory contains some "include" files for Makefiles, and illustrate the compile-time flags that determine the micro-architectural configuration.

In addition, MIT's riscy-ooo code provides further configuration controls, which can be found in:

    Toooba/src_Core/RISCY_OOO/procs/RV64G_OOO/ProcConfig.bsv