DVS: an object-oriented framework for distributed Verilog simulation

Abstract

There is a wide spread usage of hardware design languages (HDL) to speed up the time to market for the design of modern digital systems. Verification engineers can simulate hardware in order to verify its performance and correctness with help of an HDL. However, simulation can't keep pace with the growth in size and complexity of circuits and has become a bottleneck of the design process. Distributed HDL simulation on a cluster of workstations has the potential to provide a cost effective solution to this problem. We describe the design and implementation of DVS, an object-oriented framework for distributed Verilog simulation. Verilog is an HDL which sees wide industrial use. DVS is an outgrowth of clustered time warp, originally developed for logic simulation. The design of the framework emphasizes simplicity and extensibility and aims to accommodate experiments involving partitioning and dynamic load balancing. Preliminary results obtained by simulating a 16 bit multiplier are presented.