SoomRV

Description

SoomRV is a simple superscalar out-of-order RISC-V core. It can execute up to 4 instructions per cycle and is able to boot Linux.

For running SoomRV on FPGA, have a look at the SoomRV-Arty Repo.

Basic Architecture

Sample strcmp Execution (visualized using Konata)

Features

• RV32IMACZicsrZifenceiZbaZbbZicbomZfinx Instruction Set
• 4-wide superscalar OoO Execution (tag-indexed register file, load after issue)
• Implements RISC-V Privileged Spec (M/S/U mode, virtual memory, boots Linux)
• IFetch: 16 byte fetch, TAGE direction predictor, recovering return stack
• Memory: VIPT cache, late store data gathering, through-memory dependency tracking
• Currently scores 10.309 DMIPS/MHz at 2.729 IPC (default configuration, -march=rv32imac_zicsr_zba_zbb -O3 -finline-limit=128, using strcmp implemented in test_programs/entry.s)

Simulating

1. Install the RV32 Linux Toolchain as well as Verilator (at least version 5.0).
2. Run make setup to build submodules.
3. Run make to build a binary with Verilator (alternatively, make trace will also generate VCD traces)
4. To run bare-metal code, use ./obj_dir/VTop <assembly file>.
   For example, run ./obj_dir/VTop test_programs/dhry_1.s to run Dhrystone.
5. To build and run Linux, use make linux. Log in as root, no password.
   Building Linux and booting it in simulation takes at least a few hours!

Console

The console input is line-buffered for easier input at the low speed of simulation. Within Linux, you will thus see all input lines twice.

Save/Restore (experimental)

While running, the simulator will save its state about once a minute if --backup-file=<NAME>.backup is specified. Simulation can then be restarted at the backup by running ./obj_dir/VTop <NAME>.backup. The file name must end with .backup. If cosim is enabled, a matching .backup_cosim file will be written/read as well.

This is on by default for make linux. To restart a crashed or closed Linux boot at the last checkpoint, use e.g. ./obj_dir/VTop soomrv.backup --backup-file=soomrv2.backup. (There seem to be some spurious segfaults in the Verilator-generated code.)

Documentation

For a general overview of the implementation, see Overview.

License

SoomRV is released under the MIT License. Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.

External Source Code

• riscv-isa-sim (aka Spike): released under the 3-Clause BSD License, used in conjunction with the simulator.
• hardfloat: released under the 3-Clause BSD License.