[comp.archives] [comp.lsi] Summary of responses to "Fault Simulation"

buchs@MAYO.EDU (Kevin J. Buchs) (02/07/90)

Archive-name: cosmos/24-Jan-90
Original-posting-by: buchs@MAYO.EDU (Kevin J. Buchs)
Original-subject: Summary of responses to "Fault Simulation"
Archive-site: vlsi.cs.cmu.edu [128.2.254.129]
Archive-directory: /usr/cosmos/ftp
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)


This is a summary of responses to my recent posting inquiring about Fault
Simulators.

Several respondents informed me that there are no fault simulation tools with
the Berkeley Magic set.  The Berkeley toolset is not available via FTP.  Write
to this address for information on getting the toolset on a tape.

	Software Distribution Office
	Dept. of EE and CS
	Electronics Research Laboratory
	479 Cory Hall
	University of California at Berkeley
	Berkeley, CA 94720

Bob Mayo (mayo@decwrl.dec.com) suggested a similar address with the first three
lines above replaced by: Industrial Liaison Office.  Bob gave a phone
number of (415) 643-6687.  

There is another source for the Magic tools as suggested by Don 
(bouldin@sun1.engr.utk.edu).  The Northwest Laboratory for Integrated Systems
has a new release, version 3.2, of its VLSI design software that  contains
tools written at the University  of Washington as well as U.C. Berkeley, CMU
and MIT. MOSIS scalable CMOS is fully supported.  This release  is available to
United States and Canadian  universities only for a one-time 
handling/distribution fee of $200.

Features of Release 3.2 are: Network C is a multilevel simulation system that
allows modeling of  functional units, gates, MOS transistors  and arbitrary
analog devices. (Bill  Beckett, UWash) Gemini compares device netlists for 
isomorphism. (Carl Ebeling, UW) WIN is a specialized circuit design  language
for assembling layouts and  netlists. (Wayne Winder and Rudolf  Notrott, UWash)
Ohmics checks CMOS designs to  determine if ohmic contacts have been  placed
sufficiently close to transistors.  (Wayne Winder, UWash) CFL is a library of
routines that  allows parametrized layouts to be  assembled within C programs.
(Bill  Beckett, UWash) Magic, the graphical layout editor,  and the entire 1986
UCB distribution.  (Ousterhout et al, UCB) X version 11 drivers for Magic. 
(Warren Jessop, UWash) Rnl, the linear level timing simulator. (Chris Terman,
MIT) Layout generators for a variety of  circuits, including instantiated pad-
frames, a dual ported RAM, a ROM  and a variety of decoders. Supported
platforms include IBM RT,  SUN 3, and DEC VAX. 

All inquiries should be addressed to:

	Vicky Palm or Tony Marriott
	NW Lab for Integrated Systems
	Dept. of Comp. Science, FR-35
	University of Washington
	Seattle, WA 98195
	(206)-545-3796 
	palm@cs.washington.edu

Allan Anderson (anderson@vlsi.ll.mit.edu) suggested the COSMOS simulator from
Carnegie Mellon which is avaliable via FTP using the following data:

	machine: vlsi.cs.cmu.edu
	login: anonymous
	password: guest
	go to /usr/cosmos/ftp

I was able to successfully obtain a copy of COSMOS this way.  Another
respondent suggested first contacting Randy Bryant at bryant@vlsi.cs.cmu.edu
for information about COSMOS

More than COSMOS is available from CMU.  Don Bouldin provided this information.
The SRC-CMU Research Center  for Computer-Aided Design has  developed and
distributes a  number of CAD tools.  These  tools consist primarily of systems 
of interrelated programs rather  than isolated packages.  The utility  routines
are shared among many  programs.  The standard tape  currently includes: 
COSMOS, a  compiled switch-level MOS  simulator; the Process Engineer's 
Workbench (PEW), a system for  statistical process and circuit  design and
simulation, including  the FABRICS II simulator; the  System Architect's
Workbench  (SAW), a behavior to structure  synthesis system; the MX graphical 
user interface toolkit; and a  variety of utilities including a GKS  library,
CIF plotter, and abstract  data type library.  The tape also  includes the
following software  that is no longer in use, and is  distributed as a source
of ideas  only:  the CINNAMON 1.1 event- driven timing simulator; the  Compost
GKS-based drawing  program; the ISPS simulation  system; and the MASON min-cut 
floorplanner.

The CAD Center distributes  software on an as-is, internal-use  only basis, as
specified by the  software release form which must  be completed prior to
software  distribution.  The handling charge  is currently $100.  The software
is  known to run on VAXs running  4.3bsd UNIX and DECstations  running ULTRIX
3.1.  Some  software requires X11 Release 3  or DECwindows.  Some of the 
software has been tested on  Apollo and Sun workstations.   GKS graphics
support is available  for a variety of workstations,  terminals, plotters, and
printers.   The tape media is a 0.5" reel written  in 6250BPI UNIX tar format.
The  tape contents is currently about 40  megabytes.  The binary files for 
SAW, PEW, and COSMOS require  about 15 megabytes.  To order,  contact:

	SRC-CMU Research Center for Computer-Aided Design
	Carnegie Mellon University
	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
	Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890
	Phone:  (412) 268-8889
	Internet: hank.walker@ece.cmu.edu

Dave Smith (drs@sbcs.sunysb.edu) from SUNY, Stony Brook reported that he had
been using the SLS simulator from the technical Univ of Delft, Netherlands.
This is a very good simulator with three modes for:

(1) pure logic simulation based only on the netlist and transistor types

(2) logic simuloation based on actual circuit parameters (trans dimensions and
interconnect R C)

(3) timing version which also computes delays.

To run it from Magic the staff at SUNY-SB wrote an ext2sls routine. You can get
this from Dave. For Delft tools contact: rene@dutentb.tudelft.nl You may also
contact Dave Smith at Dept CS, SUNY, Stony Brook, NY, 11794.

William H. Nicholls (nicholls@atc.boeing.com) suggested the CHIEFS simulator
from  the University of Illinois.  Does anyone have further information or an
address for information about CHIEFS?  William said he thinks a simple fault
simulator comes with the majhong test generator with the  Berkeley tools.

More than one respondent asked for further information about HITS. My knowledge
about it is sketchy at this point.  HITS is an acronym for Hierarchical
Integrated Test Simulator.   It is a fault simulator with a large library of
TTL parts.  User models may also  be created in a FORTRAN variant.  The
resultant model is compiled in FORTRAN. It is supported (actively) by:

	Avionics Support Equipment Division
	Support Equipment Engineering Department
	Naval Air Engineering Center
	Lakehurst, NJ 08733

To the best of my knowledge, we do not pay any fee for it. I only know for sure
that it is available on VAX/VMS since that is what we use. I would not be
surprised if that is the only host/OS.  It seems to be most  popular for use as
a field fault diagnosis tool.  There is about a foot worth of documentation
available, although I do not know of any papers written about HITS.

Jen-I (pi@vlsi-cad.isi.edu) asked for more information about MagiCAD.  MagiCAD
is a complete Computer Aided Design (CAD) system, operating in a VAX/VMS
computing environment, which is intended for the design and verification of
large signal processors implemented with Gallium Arsenide semicustom integrated
circuits.  MagiCAD is not a commercial product, but is funded by Darpa.  It was
developed at the Special Purpose Processor Development Group at Mayo Foundation
in Rochester, Minnesota. It has been installed in two university sites under
Darpa sponsorship.  Contact me for further information.


Kevin Buchs  (buchs@mayo.com)
Mayo Foundation  (507)284-0009
Rochester, MN