The Rev SST component is designed to provide cycle-based simulation capabilities of an arbitrary RISC-V core or cores. Rev utilizes the Sandia Structural Simulation Toolkit as the core parallel discrete event simulation framework. We utilize the standard SST "core" component libraries to build the Rev component. As a result, Rev can be attached to any other existing SST component for full system and network simulations.
The Rev model is unique in the scope of other SST CPU models in that is provides users the ability to load compiled binaries (ELF binaries). Rather than requiring input in the form of textual assembly or hex dumps, SST contains a RISC-V compatible loader function that generates all the necessary symbol tables and addressing modes for the target RISC-V CPU. Further, Rev permits users to generate simulation configurations that contain heterogeneous RISC-V designs with support for disparate extensions.
The Rev component infrastucture can also be extended to include custom instruction extensions. This provides users the ability to design new instruction templates without requiring modifications to the core crack+decode infrastructure. For more information on creating custom templates, see the developer documentation.
Given that this is an SST external component, the primary prerequisite is a
current installation of the SST Core and Elements infrastructure. The Rev
building infrastructure assumes that the sst-config tool is installed
and can be found in the current PATH environment.
Building the Rev SST component from source can be performed as follows:
$ git clone
$ cd rev
$ make
$ make install
Optionally, you can also build the integrated documentation using Doxygen:
$ make doc
As mentioned above, the Rev SST model supports standard ELF binary payloads as input to the model. As a result, we need a cross compilation framework to build source code into suitable binaries. We highly recommend building a suitable RISC-V compiler from source. This will permit you to tune the necessary options in order to support a multitude of different standard, optional and custom extensions.
We recommend compiling the riscv-gnu-toolchain
using the multilib option. This is analogous to the following:
$ git clone https://github.com/riscv/riscv-gnu-toolchain
$ cd riscv-gnu-toolchain
$ git submodule update --init --recursive
$ ./configure --prefix=/opt/riscv --enable-multilib
$ make -j
The Rev SST component contains the following options:
| Parameter | Required? | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| verbose | unsigned integer | Values of 0-8. Increasing values increase the verbosity of output | |
| numCores | X | unsigned integer | Values of 1-N. Sets the number of cores in the simulation |
| clock | X | Hertz | "xGHz", "xKHz". Sets the clock frequency of the device. |
| memSize | X | unsigned integer | Sets the size of physical memory in bytes |
| machine | X | "[Core:Arch]" | "[0:RV32I],[1:RV64G]". Sets the RISC-V architecture for the target core |
| startAddr | X | "[Core:StartAddr]" | "[0:0x00010144],[1:0x123456]". Sets the entry point for each core |
| memCost | "[Core:Min:Max]" | "[0:1:10],[1:50:100]", Sets the minimum and maximum latency (in cycles) for each core's memory load | |
| program | X | string | "example.exe". Sets the target ELF executable |
| table | string | "/path/to/table.txt". Sets the path the instruction cost table | |
| splash | 0/1 | Default=0. Setting to 1 displays the Rev bootsplash | |
| enable_nic | 0/1 | Default=0. Setting to 1 enables a standard NIC | |
| enable_pan | 0/1 | Default=0. Setting to 1 enables a PAN NIC | |
| enable_test | 0/1 | Default=0. Setting to 1 enables the internal PAN test harness | |
| enable_pan_stats | 0/1 | Default=0. Setting to 1 enables internal statistics for PAN commands | |
| enableRDMAMbox | 0/1 | Default=1. Setting to 1 enables the internal RDMA Mailbox for applications to initiate messages | |
| msgPerCycle | unsigned integer | Default=1. Sets the number of messages to inject per cycle | |
| testIters | unsigned integer | Default=255. Sets the number of iterations for each PAN test loop |
The latest version of Rev no longer requires the user to manually derive the starting
address for binaries that contain a main() function. If the user specifies
the starting address as 0x00, then the Rev loader will automatically derive the
main() symbol address and use it as the starting address. From here, the
Rev model will perform an initial setup and reset of the target
core or cores in the same manner as prescribed by the RISC-V ABI. Most users will expect to execute
their application starting at the main() function. If the user requires a different
starting address or the target payload does not contain a main() function, then the
user must manually derive the address. Given an executable
that has been compiled (example.exe), we may derive the entry point address using
the tool chain's objdump tool. An example of doing so is as follows:
$ riscv64-unknown-elf-objdump -dC example.exe | grep "<main>"
This will give us output similar to the following:
00010144 <main>:
Using this, the address 0x00010144 becomes our entry point address.
The Rev component model has the ability to start execution at valid address in the RISC-V
text space. However, keep in mind, that Rev assumes no prior state when starting execution (start from reset).
As a result, the user cannot assume that the Rev model will prepopulate any memory or register state
outside of what is provided when executing from main().
Executing one of the included sample tests can be performed as follows:
$ export REV_EXE=ex1.exe
$ sst rev-test-ex1.py
We welcome outside contributions from corporate, acaddemic and individual developers. However, there are a number of fundamental ground rules that you must adhere to in order to participate. These rules are outlined as follows:
- All code must adhere to the existing C++ coding style. While we are somewhat flexible in basic style, you will adhere to what is currently in place. This includes camel case C++ methods and inline comments. Uncommented, complicated algorithmic constructs will be rejected.
- We support compilaton and adherence to C++ standard methods. We do not currently accept C++11 and beyond.
- All new methods and variables contained within public, private and protected class methods must be commented using the existing Doxygen-style formatting. All new classes must also include Doxygen blocks in the new header files. Any pull requests that lack these features will be rejected.
- All changes to functionality and/or the API infrastructure must be accompanied by complementary tests
- All external pull requests must target the devel branch. No external pull requests will be accepted to the master branch.
- All external pull requests must contain sufficient documentation in the pull request comments in order to be accepted.
See the developer documentation
See the LICENSE file
- John Leidel - Chief Scientist - Tactical Computing Labs
- David Donofrio - Chief Hardware Architect - Tactical Computing Labs
- None at this time