There is a new design standard that will have an impact on the opencores community that I would like to discuss. IP-Xact creates a standard for xml metadata files that accompany each and every piece of IP and contain all the information that the user needs to use that IP.

For example an ip-xact file will contain the IP's port list as well as a list of all internal registers,bit fields, rw options and reset values. An architect using an ip-xact tool flow will add the IP into their component and connect it to a bus. Running a generate tool will create:

1) The verilog/vhdl file for the component.
2) Documentation showing the complete memory map of the component.
3) .H files needed by the firmware tool chain for the memory map.
4) A testbench that instantiates the component.


This is a good thing and we should support it.


You can get a free copy of the current spec from:

http://standards.ieee.org/getieee/1685/index.html


There is a ieee standards group currently meeting to expand,enhance and formalize the standard. I am following their meetings and will post any developments that affect opencores.org.

Currently the biggest impact will come from the wishbone bus. The standard only defines the means of transmitting data. They do not define the data itself. That is left to whichever company holds the engineering responsibility. For example Arm llc owns the amba apb bus so that they would create and publish schemas that bus on their website. Anyone creating a piece of IP with a amba apb bus would need to adhere to those arm schema for the bus.

I understand that opencores.org is now responsible for the wishbone bus. We will need to create schemas for all the official versions and make them available to the net. There does seem to be several versions of ip-xact with a new one coming out every couple of years so we have to update the schemas when that happens. The good news is that since it is xml they always release a script that reads the old schemas and writes out the new one.


Eventually we will want to include a ip-xact file with every piece of ip on this site. I have been working on a opensourced tool set that currenly uses custom xml files but will be morphing them over time to support ip-xact. This will give you guidelines and examples to show how to create and use ip-xact. It will also give you a free toolset that will build components for your designs.



John Eaton

I'm looking forward to use your tools. I would like to learn IP-Xact, but I don't have enough time to spend on that. Hopefully your tools makes it quicker and easier to learn.