8.1. Tops, Test-Harnesses, and the Test-Driver

The three highest levels of hierarchy in a Chipyard SoC are the Top (DUT), TestHarness, and the TestDriver. The Top and TestHarness are both emitted by Chisel generators. The TestDriver serves as our testbench, and is a Verilog file in Rocket Chip.

8.1.1. Top/DUT

The top-level module of a Rocket Chip SoC is composed via cake-pattern. Specifically, “Tops” extend a System, which extends a Subsystem, which extends a BaseSubsystem.

8.1.1.1. BaseSubsystem

The BaseSubsystem is defined in generators/rocketchip/src/main/scala/subsystem/BaseSubsystem.scala. Looking at the BaseSubsystem abstract class, we see that this class instantiates the top-level buses (frontbus, systembus, peripherybus, etc.), but does not specify a topology. We also see this class define several ElaborationArtefacts, files emitted after Chisel elaboration (e.g. the device tree string, and the diplomacy graph visualization GraphML file).

8.1.1.2. Subsystem

Looking in generators/chipyard/src/main/scala/Subsystem.scala, we can see how Chipyard’s Subsystem extends the BaseSubsystem abstract class. Subsystem mixes in the HasBoomAndRocketTiles trait that defines and instantiates BOOM or Rocket tiles, depending on the parameters specified. We also connect some basic IOs for each tile here, specifically the hartids and the reset vector.

8.1.1.3. System

generators/chipyard/src/main/scala/System.scala completes the definition of the System.

• HasHierarchicalBusTopology is defined in Rocket Chip, and specifies connections between the top-level buses
• HasAsyncExtInterrupts and HasExtInterruptsModuleImp adds IOs for external interrupts and wires them appropriately to tiles
• CanHave...AXI4Port adds various Master and Slave AXI4 ports, adds TL-to-AXI4 converters, and connects them to the appropriate buses
• HasPeripheryBootROM adds a BootROM device

8.1.1.4. Tops

A SoC Top then extends the System class with traits for custom components. In Chipyard, this includes things like adding a NIC, UART, and GPIO as well as setting up the hardware for the bringup method. Please refer to Communicating with the DUT for more information on these bringup methods.

8.1.2. TestHarness

The wiring between the TestHarness and the Top are performed in methods defined in traits added to the Top. When these methods are called from the TestHarness, they may instantiate modules within the scope of the harness, and then connect them to the DUT. For example, the connectSimAXIMem method defined in the CanHaveMasterAXI4MemPortModuleImp trait, when called from the TestHarness, will instantiate SimAXIMems and connect them to the correct IOs of the top.

While this roundabout way of attaching to the IOs of the top may seem to be unnecessarily complex, it allows the designer to compose custom traits together without having to worry about the details of the implementation of any particular trait.

8.1.3. TestDriver

The TestDriver is defined in generators/rocketchip/src/main/resources/vsrc/TestDriver.v. This Verilog file executes a simulation by instantiating the TestHarness, driving the clock and reset signals, and interpreting the success output. This file is compiled with the generated Verilog for the TestHarness and the Top to produce a simulator.