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SSBCC.9x8 is a free Small Stack-Based Computer Compiler with a 9-bit opcode,

8-bit data core designed to facilitate FPGA HDL development.

The primary design criteria are:

- high speed (to avoid timing issues)

- low fabric utilization

- vendor independent

- development tools available for all operating systems

It has been used in Spartan-3A, Spartan-6, Virtex-6, and Artix-7 FPGAs and has

been built for Altera, Lattice, and other Xilinx devices.  It is faster and

usually smaller than vendor provided processors.

The compiler takes an architecture file that describes the micro controller

memory spaces, inputs and outputs, and peripherals and which specifies the HDL

language and source assembly.  It generates a single HDL module implementing

the entire micro controller.  No user-written HDL is required to instantiate

I/Os, program memory, etc.

The features are:

- high speed, low fabric utilization

- vendor-independent Verilog output with a VHDL package file

- simple Forth-like assembly language (41 instructions)

- single cycle instruction execution

- automatic generation of I/O ports

- configurable instruction, data stack, return stack, and memory utilization

- extensible set of peripherals (I2C busses, UARTs, AXI4-Lite busses, etc.)

- extensible set of macros

- memory initialization file to facilitate code development without rebuilds

- simulation diagnostics to facilitate identifying code errors

- conditionally included I/Os and peripherals, functions, and assembly code

SSBCC has been used for the following projects:

- operate a media translator from a parallel camera interface to an OMAP GPMC

  interface, detect and report bus errors and hardware errors, and act as an

  SPI slave to the OMAP

- operate two UART interfaces and multiple PWM controlled 2-lead bi-color LEDs

- operate and monitor the Artix-7 fabric in a Zynq system using AXI4-Lite

  master and slave buses, I2C buses for timing-critical voltage measurements

The only external tool required is Python 2.7.

DESCRIPTION

================================================================================

The computer compiler uses an architectural description of the processor stating

the sizes of the instruction memory, data stack, and return stack; the input and

output ports; RAM and ROM types and sizes; and peripherals.

The instructions are all single-cycle.  The instructions include

- 4 arithmetic instructions:  addition, subtraction, increment, and decrement

- 3 bit-wise logical instructions:  and, or, and exclusive or

- 7 shift and rotation instructions: <<0, <<1, 0>>, 1>>, <>msb, and >>lsb

- 4 logical instructions:  0=, 0<>, -1=, -1<>

- 6 Forth-like data stack instructions:  drop, dup, nip, over, push, swap

- 3 Forth-like return stack instructions:  >r, r>, r@

- 2 input and output

- 6 memory read and write with optional address post increment and post decrement

- 2 jump and conditional jump

- 2 call and conditional call

- 1 function return

- 1 nop

The 9x8 address space is up to 8K.  This is achieved by pushing the 8 lsb of the

target address onto the data stack immediately before the jump or call

instruction and by encoding the 5 msb of the address within the jump or call

instruction.  The instruction immediately following a jump, call, or return is

executed before the instruction sequence at the destination address is executed

(this is illustrated later).

Up to four banks of memory, either RAM or ROM, are available.  Each of these can

be up to 256 bytes long, providing a total of up to 1 kB of memory.

The assembly language is Forth-like.  Built-in macros are used to encode the

jump and call instructions and to encode the 2-bit memory bank index in memory

store and fetch instructions.

The computer compiler and assembler are written in Python 2.7.  Peripherals are

implemented by Python modules which generate the I/O ports and the peripheral

HDL.

The computer compiler is documented in the doc directory.  The 9x8 core is

documented in the core/9x8/doc directory.  Several examples are provided.

The computer compiler and assembler are fully functional and there are no known

bugs.

SPEED AND RESOURCE UTILIZATION

================================================================================

These device speed and resource utilization results are copied from the build

tests.  The full results are listed in core/9x8/build/uc/uc_led.9x8 which

represents a minimal processor implementation (clock, reset, and one output).

See the uc_peripherals.9x8 file for results for a more complicated

implementation.  Device-specific scripts state how these performance numbers

were obtained.

VENDOR          DEVICE          BEST SPEED      SMALLEST RESOURCE UTILIZATION

------          ------          ----------      -------------------------------

Altera          Cyclone-III     190.6 MHz       282 LEs           (preliminary)

Altera          Cyclone-IV      192.1 MHz       281 LEs           (preliminary)

Altera          Stratix-V       372.9 MHz       198 ALUTs         (preliminary)

Lattice         LCMXO2-640ZE-3   98.4 MHz       206 LUTs          (preliminary)

Lattice         LFE2-6E-7       157.9 MHz       203 LUTs          (preliminary)

Xilinx          Spartan-3A      148.3 MHz       130 slices, 231 4-input LUTS

Xilinx          Spartan-6       200.0 MHz        36 slices, 120 Slice LUTs

Xilinx          Virtex-6        275.7 MHz        38 slices, 122 Slice LUTs (p.)

Disclaimer:  Like other embedded processors, these are the maximum performance

claims.  Realistic implementations will produce slower maximum clock rates,

particularly with lots of I/O ports and peripherals and with the constraint of

existing with other subsystems in the FPGA fabric.  What these performance

numbers do provide is an estimate of the amount of slack available.  For

example, you can't realistically expect to get 110 MHz from a processor that,

under ideal conditions, routes and places at 125 MHz, but you can with a

processor that synthesizes at 150 MHz.

EXAMPLE:

================================================================================

The LED flasher example demonstrates the simplicity of the architectural

specification and the Forth-like assembly language.

The architecture file, named "led.9x8", with the comments and user header

removed, is as follows:

  ARCHITECTURE    core/9x8 Verilog

  INSTRUCTION     2048

  RETURN_STACK    32

  DATA_STACK      32

  PORTCOMMENT LED on/off signal

  OUTPORT 1-bit o_led O_LED

  ASSEMBLY led.s

The ARCHITECTURE configuration command specifies the 9x8 core and the Verilog

language.  The INSTRUCTION, RETURN_STACK, and DATA_STACK configuration commands

specify the sizes of the instruction space, return stack, and data stack.  The

content of the PORTCOMMENT configuration command is inserted in the module

declaration -- this facilitates identifying signals in micro controllers with a

lot of inputs and outputs.  The single OUTPORT statement specifies a 1-bit

signal named "o_led".  This signal is accessed in the assembly code through the

symbol "O_LED".  The ASSEMBLY command specifies the single input file "led.s,"

which is listed below.  The output module will be "led.v"

The "led.s" assembly file is as follows:

  ; Consume 256*5+4 clock cycles.

  ; ( - )

  .function pause

  .return

  ; Repeat "pause" 256 times.

  ; ( - )

  .function repause

  .return

  ; main program (as an infinite loop)

  .main

This example is coded in a traditional Forth structure with the conditional

jumps consuming the top of the data stack.  Examining the "pause" function, the

".function" directive specifies the start of a function and the function name.

The "0" instruction pushes the value "0" onto the top of the data stack.

":inner" is a label for a jump instruction.  The "1-" instruction decrements the

top of the data stack.  "dup" is the Forth instruction to push a duplicate of

the top of the data stack onto the data stack.  The ".jumpc(inner)" macro

expands to three instructions as follows:  (1) push the 8 lsb of the address at

"inner" onto the data stack, (2) the conditional jump instruction with the 5 msb

of the address of "inner" (the jumpc instruction also drops the top of the data

stack with its partial address), and (3) a "drop" instruction to drop the

duplicated loop count from the top of the data stack.  Finally, the "drop"

instruction drops the loop count from the top of the data stack and the

".return" macro generates the "return" instruction and a "nop" instruction.

The function "repause" calls the "pause" function 256 times.  The main program

body is identified by the directive ".main"  This function runs an infinite loop

that toggles the lsb of the LED output, outputs the LED setting, and calls the

"repause" function.

A tighter version of the loop in the "pause" function can be written as

  ; Consume 256*3+3 clock cycles.

  ; ( - )

  .function pause

    0xFF :inner .jumpc(inner,1-) .return(drop)

which is 3 cycles long for each iteration, the "drop" that is normally part

of the ".jumpc" macro has been replaced by the decrement instruction, and the

final "drop" instruction has replaced the default "nop" instruction that is

normally part of the ".return" macro.  Note that the decrement is performed

after the non-zero comparison in the "jumpc" instruction.

A version of the "pause" function that consumes exactly 1000 clock cycles is:

  .function pause

    ${(1000-4)/4-1} :inner nop .jumpc(inner,1-) drop .return

The instruction memory initialization for the processor module includes the

instruction mnemonics being performed at each address and replaces the "list"

file output from traditional assemblers.  The following is the memory

initialization for this LED flasher example.  The main program always starts at

address zero and functions are included in the order encountered.  Unused

library functions are not included in the generated instruction list.

  reg [8:0] s_opcodeMemory[2047:0];

  initial begin

    // .main

    s_opcodeMemory['h000] = 9'h100; // 0x00

    s_opcodeMemory['h001] = 9'h101; // :inner 0x01

    s_opcodeMemory['h002] = 9'h052; // ^

    s_opcodeMemory['h003] = 9'h008; // dup

    s_opcodeMemory['h004] = 9'h100; // O_LED

    s_opcodeMemory['h005] = 9'h038; // outport

    s_opcodeMemory['h006] = 9'h054; // drop

    s_opcodeMemory['h007] = 9'h10D; //

    s_opcodeMemory['h008] = 9'h0C0; // call repause

    s_opcodeMemory['h009] = 9'h000; // nop

    s_opcodeMemory['h00A] = 9'h101; //

    s_opcodeMemory['h00B] = 9'h080; // jump inner

    s_opcodeMemory['h00C] = 9'h000; // nop

    // repause

    s_opcodeMemory['h00D] = 9'h100; // 0x00

    s_opcodeMemory['h00E] = 9'h119; // :inner

    s_opcodeMemory['h00F] = 9'h0C0; // call pause

    s_opcodeMemory['h010] = 9'h000; // nop

    s_opcodeMemory['h011] = 9'h05C; // 1-

    s_opcodeMemory['h012] = 9'h008; // dup

    s_opcodeMemory['h013] = 9'h10E; //

    s_opcodeMemory['h014] = 9'h0A0; // jumpc inner

    s_opcodeMemory['h015] = 9'h054; // drop

    s_opcodeMemory['h016] = 9'h054; // drop

    s_opcodeMemory['h017] = 9'h028; // return

    s_opcodeMemory['h018] = 9'h000; // nop

    // pause

    s_opcodeMemory['h019] = 9'h100; // 0x00

    s_opcodeMemory['h01A] = 9'h05C; // :inner 1-

    s_opcodeMemory['h01B] = 9'h008; // dup

    s_opcodeMemory['h01C] = 9'h11A; //

    s_opcodeMemory['h01D] = 9'h0A0; // jumpc inner

    s_opcodeMemory['h01E] = 9'h054; // drop

    s_opcodeMemory['h01F] = 9'h054; // drop

    s_opcodeMemory['h020] = 9'h028; // return

    s_opcodeMemory['h021] = 9'h000; // nop

    s_opcodeMemory['h022] = 9'h000;

    s_opcodeMemory['h023] = 9'h000;

    s_opcodeMemory['h024] = 9'h000;

    ...

    s_opcodeMemory['h7FF] = 9'h000;

  end

DATA and STRINGS

================================================================================

Values are pushed onto the data stack by stating the value.  For example,

  0x10 0x20 'x'

will successively push the values 0x10, 0x20, and the character 'x' onto the

data stack.  The character 'x' will be at the top of the data stack after these

3 instructions.

Numeric values can be represented in binary, octal, decimal, and hex.  Binary

values start with the two characters "0b" followed by a sequence of binary

digits; octal numbers start with a "0" followed by a sequence of octal digits;

decimal values can start with a "+" or "-" have a non-zero first digit and have

zero or more decimal digits; and hex values start with the two characters "0X"

followed by a sequence of hex digits.

Examples of equivalent numeric values are:

  binary:   0b01  0b10010

  octal:    01    022

  decimal:  1     18

  hex:      0x1   0x12

See the COMPUTED VALUES section for using computed values in the assembler.

There are four ways to specify strings in the assembler.  Simply stating the

string

  "Hello World!"

puts the characters in the string onto the data stack with the letter 'H' at the

top of the data stack.  I.e., the individual push operations are

  '!' 'd' 'l' ... 'e' 'H'

Prepending a 'N' before the double quote, like

  N"Hello World!"

puts a null-terminated string onto the data stack.  I.e., the value under the

'!' will be a 0x00 and the instruction sequence would be

  0x0 '!' 'd' 'l' ... 'e' 'H'

Forth uses counted strings, which are specified here as

  C"Hello World!"

In this case the number of characters, 12, in the string is pushed onto the data

stack after the 'H', i.e., the instruction sequence would be

  '!' 'd' 'l' ... 'e' 'H' 12

Finally, a lesser-counted string specified like

  c"Hello World!"

is similar to the Forth-like counted string except that the value pushed onto

the data stack is one less than the number of characters in the string.  Here

the value pushed onto the data stack after the 'H' would be 11 instead of 12.

Simple strings are useful for constructing more complex strings in conjunction

with other string functions.   For example, to transmit the hex values of the

top 2 values in the data stack, do something like:

  ; move the top 2 values to the return stack

  >r >r

  ; push the tail of the message onto the data stack

  N"\n\r"

  ; convert the 2 values to 2-digit hex values, LSB deepest in the stack

  r> .call(string_byte_to_hex)

  r> .call(string_byte_to_hex)

  ; pre-pend the identification message

  "Message:  "

  ; transmit the string, using the null terminator to terminate the loop

  :loop_transmit .outport(O_UART_TX) .jumpc(loop_transmit,nop) drop

A lesser-counted string would be used like:

  c"Status Message\r\n"

  :loop_msg swap .outport(O_UART_TX) .jumpc(loop_msg,1-) drop

These four string formats can also be used for variable definitions.  For

example 3 variables could be allocated and initialized as follows:

  .memory ROM myrom

  .variable fred N"fred"

  .variable joe  c"joe"

  .variable moe  "moe"

These are equivalent to

  .variable fred 'f' 'r' 'e' 'd'  0

  .variable joe   2  'j' 'o' 'e'

  .variable moe  'm' 'o' 'e'

with 5 bytes allocated for the variable fred, 4 bytes for joe, and 3 bytes for

moe.

The following escaped characters are recognized:

  '\0'     null character

  '\a'     bell

  '\b'     backspace

  '\f'     form feed

  '\n'     line feed

  '\r'     carriage return

  '\t'     horizontal tab

  "\0ooo"  3-digit octal value

  "\xXX"   2-digit hex value where X is one of 0-9, a-f, or A-F

  "\Xxx"   alternate form for 2-digit hex value

  "\\"     backslash character

Unrecognized escaped characters are simple treated as that character.  For

example, '\m' is treated as the single character 'm' and '\'' is treated as the

single quote character.

INSTRUCTIONS

================================================================================

The 41 instructions are as follows (see core/9x8/doc/opcodes.html for detailed

descriptions).  Here, T is the top of the data stack, N is the next-to-top of

the data stack, and R is the top of the return stack.  All of these are the

values at the start of the instruction.

The nop instruction does nothing:

  nop           no operation

Mathematical operations drop one value from the data stack and replace the new

top with the state value:

  &             bitwise and of N and T

  +             N + T

  -             N - T

  ^             bitwise exclusive or of N and T

  or            bitwise or of N and T

Increment and decrement replace the top of the data stack with the stated

result.

  1+            replace T with T+1

  1-            replace T with T-1

Comparison operations replace the top of the data stack with the results of the

comparison:

  -1<>          replace T with -1 if T != -1, otherwise set T to 0

  -1=           replace T with 0 if T != -1, otherwise leave T as -1

  0<>           replace T with -1 if T != 0, otherwise leave T as 0

  0=            replace T with -1 if T == 0, otherwise set T to 0

Shift/rotate operations replace the top of the data with with the result of the

specified shift/rotate.

  0>>           shift T right one bit and set the msb to 0

  1>>           shift T right 1 bit and set the msb to 1

  <<0           shift T left 1 bit and set the lsb to 0

  <<1           shift T left 1 bit and set the lsb to 1

  <

  lsb>>         rotate T right 1 bit

  msb>>         shift T right 1 bit and set the msb to the old msb

Note:  There is no "<

Stack manipulation instructions are as follows:

  >r            pushd T onto the return stack and drop T from the data stack

  drop          drop T from the data stack

  dup           push T onto the data stack

  nip           drop N from the data stack

  over          push N onto the data stack

  push          push a single byte onto the data stack, see the preceding DATA

                and STRINGS section

  r>            push R onto the data stack and drop R from the return stack

  r@            push R onto the data stack

  swap          swap N and T

Jump and call and their conditional variants are as follows and must use the

associated macro:

  call          call instruction -- use the .call macro

  callc         conditional call instruction -- use the .callc macro

  jump          jump instruction -- use the .jump macro

  jumpc         conditional jump instruction -- use the .jumpc macro

  return        return instruction -- use the .return macro

See the MEMORY section for details for these memory operations.  T is the

address for the instructions, N is the value stored.  Chained fetches insert the

value below T.  Chained stores drop N.

  fetch         memory fetch, replace T with the value fetched

  fetch+        chained memory fetch, retain and increment the address

  fetch-        chained memory fetch, retain and decrement the address

  store         memory store, drop T (N is the next value of T)

  store+        chained memory store, retain and increment the address

  store-        chained memory store, retain and decrement the address

See the INPORT and OUTPORT section for details for the input and output port

operations:

  inport        input port operation

  outport       output port operation

The .call, .callc, .jump, and .jumpc macros encode the 3 instructions required

to perform a call or jump along with the subsequent instructions.  The default

third instructions is "nop" for .call and .jump and it is "drop" for .callc and

.jumpc.  The default can be changed by specifying the optional second argument.

The .call and .callc macros must specify a function identified by the .function

directive and the .jump and .jumpc macros must specify a label.

The .function directive takes the name of the function and the function body.

Function bodies must end with a .return or a .jump macro.  The .main directive

defines the body of the main function, i.e., the function at which the processor

starts.

The .include directive is used to read additional assembly code.  You can, for

example, put the main function in uc.s, define constants and such in consts.s,

define the memories and variables in ram.s, and include UART utilities in

uart.s.  These files could be included in uc.s through the following lines:

  .include consts.s

  .include myram.s

  .include uart.s

The assembler only includes functions that can be reached from the main

function.  Unused functions will not consume instruction space.

INPORT and OUTPORT

================================================================================

The INPORT and OUTPORT configuration commands are used to specify 2-state inputs

and outputs.  For example

  INPORT 8-bit i_value I_VALUE

specifies a single 8-bit input signal named "i_value" for the module.  The port

is accessed in assembly by ".inport(I_VALUE)" which is equivalent to the

two-instruction sequence "I_VALUE inport".  To input an 8-bit value from a FIFO

and send a single-clock-cycle wide acknowledgment strobe, use

  INPORT 8-bit,strobe i_fifo,o_fifo_ack I_FIFO

The assembly ".inport(I_FIFO)" will automatically send an acknowledgment strobe

to the FIFO through "o_fifo_ack".

A write port to an 8-bit FIFO is similarly specified by

  OUTPORT 8-bit,strobe o_fifo,o_fifo_wr O_FIFO

The assembly ".outport(O_FIFO)" which is equivalent to "O_FIFO outport drop"

will automatically send a write strobe to the FIFO through "o_fifo_wr".

Multiple signals can be packed into a single input or output port by defining

them in comma separated lists.  The associated bit masks can be defined

coincident with the port definition as follows:

  INPUT 1-bit,1-bit i_fifo_full,i_fifo_empty I_FIFO_STATUS

  CONSTANT C_FIFO_STATUS__FULL  0x02

  CONSTANT C_FIFO_STATUS__EMPTY 0x01

Checking the "full" status of the FIFO can be done by the following assembly

sequence:

  .inport(I_FIFO_STATUS) C_FIFO_STATUS__FULL &

Multiple bits can be masked using a computed value as follows (see below for

more details):

  .inport(I_FIFO_STATUS) ${C_FIFO_STATUS__FULL|C_FIFO_STATUS__EMPTY} &

The "${...}" creates an instruction to push the 8-bit value in the braces onto

the data stack.  The computation is performed using the Python "eval" function

in the context of the program constants, memory addresses, and memory sizes.

Preceding all of these by

  PORTCOMMENT external FIFO

produces the following in the Verilog module statement.  The I/O ports are

listed in the order in which they are declared.

  // external FIFO

  input  wire       [7:0] i_fifo,

  output reg              o_fifo_ack,

  output reg        [7:0] o_fifo,

  output reg              o_fifo_wr,

  input  wire             i_fifo_full,

  input  wire             i_fifo_empty

The HDL to implement the inputs and outputs is computer generated.  Identifying

the port name in the architecture file eliminates the possibility of

inconsistent port numbers between the HDL and the assembly.  Specifying the bit

mapping for the assembly code immediately after the port definition helps

prevent inconsistencies between the port definition and the bit mapping in the

assembly code.

The normal initial value for an outport is zero.  This can be changed by

including an optional initial value as follows.  This initial value will be

applied on system startup and when the micro controller is reset.

  OUTPORT 4-bit=4'hA o_signal O_SIGNAL

An isolated output strobe can also be created using:

  OUTPORT strobe o_strobe O_STROBE

The assembly ".outstrobe(O_STROBE)" which is equivalent to "O_STROBE outport"

is used to generate the strobe.  Since "O_STROBE" is a strobe-only outport, the

".outport" macro cannot be used with it.  Similarly, attempting to use the

".outstrobe" macro will generate an error if it is invoked with an outport

that does have data.

A single-bit "set-reset" input port type is also included.  This sets a register

when an external strobe is received and clears the register when the port is

read.  For example, to capture an external timer for a polled-loop, include the

following in the architecture file:

  PORTCOMMENT external timer

  INPORT set-reset i_timer I_TIMER

The following is the assembly code to conditionally call two functions when the

timer event is encountered:

  .inport(I_TIMER)

    .callc(timer_event_1,nop)

    .callc(timer_event_2)

The "nop" in the first conditional call prevents the conditional from being

dropped from the data stack so that it can be used by the subsequent conditional

function call.

PERIPHERAL

================================================================================

Peripherals are implemented via Python modules.  For example, an open drain I/O

signal, such as is required for an I2C bus, does not fit the INPORT and OUTPORT

functionality.  Instead, an "open_drain" peripheral is provided by the Python

script in "core/9x8/peripherals/open_drain.py".  This puts a tri-state I/O in

the module statement, allows it to be read through an "inport" instruction, and

allows it to be set low or released through an "outport" instruction.  An I2C

bus with separate SCL and SDA ports can then be incorporated into the processor

as follows:

  PORTCOMMENT     I2C bus

  PERIPHERAL      open_drain      inport=I_SCL \

                                  outport=O_SCL \

                                  iosignal=io_scl

  PERIPHERAL      open_drain      inport=I_SDA \

                                  outport=O_SDA \

                                  iosignal=io_sda

The default width for this peripheral is 1 bit.  The module statement will then

include the lines

  // I2C bus

  inout  wire     io_scl,

  inout  wire     io_sda

The assembly code to set the io_scl signal low is "0 .outport(O_SCL)" and to

release it is "1 .outport(O_SCL)".  These instruction sequences are actually

"0 O_SCL outport drop" and "1 O_SCL outport drop" respectively.  The "outport"

instruction drops the top of the data stack (which contained the port number)

and sends the next-to-the-top of the data stack to the designated output port.

Two examples of I2C device operation are included in the examples directory.

The following peripherals are provided:

  adder_16bit   16-bit adder/subtractor

  AXI4_Lite_Master

                32-bit read/write AXI4-Lite Master

                Note:  The synchronous version has been tested on hardware.

  AXI4_Lite_Slave_DualPortRAM

                dual-port-RAM interface for the micro controller to act as an

                AXI4-Lite slave

  big_inport    shift reads from a single INPORT to construct a wide input

  big_outport   shift writes to a single OUTPORT to construct a wide output

  counter       counter for number of received high cycles from signal

  inFIFO_async  input FIFO with an asynchronous write clock

  latch         latch wide inputs for sampling

  monitor_stack simulation diagnostic (see below)

  open_drain    for software-implemented I2C buses or similar

  outFIFO_async output FIFO with an asynchronous read clock

  PWM_8bit      PWM generator with an 8-bit control

  timer         timing for polled loops or similar

  trace         simulation diagnostic (see below)

  UART          bidirectional UART

  UART_Rx       receive UART

  UART_Tx       transmit UART

  wide_strobe   1 to 8 bit strobe generator

The following command illustrates how to display the help message for

peripherals:

  echo "ARCHITECTURE core/9x8 Verilog" | ssbcc -P "big_inport help" - | less

User defined peripherals can be in the same directory as the architecture file

or a subdirectory named "peripherals".

PARAMETER and LOCALPARAM

================================================================================

Parameters are incorporated through the PARAMETER and LOCALPARAM configuration

commands.  For example, the clock frequency in hertz is needed for UARTs for

their baud rate generator.  The configuration command

  PARAMETER G_CLK_FREQ_HZ 97_000_000

specifies the clock frequency as 97 MHz.  The HDL instantiating the processor

can change this specification.  The frequency can also be changed through the

command-line invocation of the computer compiler.  For example,

  ssbcc -G "G_CLK_FREQ_HZ=100_000_000" myprogram.9x8

specifies that a frequency of 100 MHz be used instead of the default frequency

of 97 MHz.

The LOCALPARAM configuration command can be used to specify parameters that

should not be changed by the surrounding HDL.  For example,

  LOCALPARAM L_VERSION 24'h00_00_00

specifies a 24-bit parameter named "L_VERSION".  The 8-bit major, minor, and

build sections of the parameter can be accessed in an assembly program using

"L_VERSION[16+:8]", "L_VERSION[8+:8]", and "L_VERSION[0+:8]".

For both parameters and localparams, the default range is "[0+:8]".  The

instruction memory is initialized using the parameter value during synthesis,

not the value used to initialize the parameter.  That is, the instruction memory

initialization will be:

  s_opcodeMemory[...] = { 1'b1, L_VERSION[16+:8] };

The value of the localparam can be set when the computer compiler is run using

the "-G" option.  For example,

  ssbcc -G "L_VERSION=24'h01_04_03" myprogram.9x8

can be used in a makefile to set the version number for a release without

modifying the micro controller architecture file.

DIAGNOSTICS AND DEBUGGING

================================================================================

A 3-character, human readable version of the opcode can be included in

simulation waveform outputs by adding "--display-opcode" to the ssbcc command.

The stack health can be monitored during simulation by including the

"monitor_stack" peripheral through the command line.  For example, the LED

flasher example can be generated using

  ssbcc -P monitor_stack led.9x8

This allows the architecture file to be unchanged between simulation and an FPGA

build.

Stack errors include underflow and overflow, malformed data validity, and

incorrect use of the values on the return stack (returns to data values and data

operations on return addresses).  Other errors include out-of-range for memory,

inport, and outport operations.

When stack errors are detected the last 50 instructions are dumped to the

console and the simulation terminates.  The dump includes the PC, numeric

opcode, textual representation of the opcode, data stack pointer, next-to-top of

the data stack, top of the data stack, top of the return stack, and the return

stack pointer.  Invalid stack values are displayed as "XX".  The length of the

history dumped is configurable.

Out-of-range PC checks are also performed if the instruction space is not a

power of 2.

A "trace" peripheral is also provided that dumps the entire execution history.

This was used to validate the processor core.

MEMORY ARCHITECTURE

================================================================================

The DATA_STACK, RETURN_STACK, INSTRUCTION, and MEMORY configuration commands

allocate memory for the data stack, return stack, instruction ROM, and memory

RAM and ROM respectively.  The data stack, return stack, and memories are

normally instantiated as dual-port LUT-based memories with asynchronous reads

while the instruction memory is always instantiated with a synchronous read

architecture.

The COMBINE configuration command is used to coalesce memories and to convert

LUT-based memories to synchronous SRAM-based memories.  For example, the large

SRAMs in modern FPGAs are ideal for storing the instruction opcodes and their

dual-ported access allows either the data stack or the return stack to be

stored in a relatively small region at the end of the large instruction memory.

Memories, which required dual-ported operation, can also be instantiated in

large RAMs either individually or in combination with each other.  Conversion

to SRAM-based memories is also useful for FPGA architectures that do not have

efficient LUT-based memories.

The INSTRUCTION configuration allocates memory for the processor instruction

space.  It has the form "INSTRUCTION N" or "INSTRUCTION N*M" where N must be a

power of 2.  The first form is used if the desired instruction memory size is a

power of 2.  The second form is used to allocate M memory blocks of size N

where M is not a power of 2.  For example, on an Altera Cyclone III, the

configuration command "INSTRUCTION 1024*3" allocates three M9Ks for the

instruction space, saving one M9K as compared to the configuration command

"INSTRUCTION 4096".

The DATA_STACK configuration command allocates memory for the data stack.  It

has the form "DATA_STACK N" where N is the commanded size of the data stack.

N must be a power of 2.

The RETURN_STACK configuration command allocates memory for the return stack and

has the same format as the DATA_STACK configuration command.

The MEMORY configuration command is used to define one to four memories, either

RAM or ROM, with up to 256 bytes each.  If no MEMORY configuration command is

issued, then no memories are allocated for the processor.  The MEMORY

configuration command has the format "MEMORY {RAM|ROM} name N" where

"{RAM|ROM}" specifies either a RAM or a ROM, name is the name of the memory and

must start with an alphabetic character, and the size of the memory, N, must be

a power of 2.  For example, "MEMORY RAM myram 64" allocates 64 bytes of memory

to form a RAM named myram.  Similarly, "MEMORY ROM lut 256" defines a 256 byte

ROM named lut.  More details on using memories is provided in the next section.

The COMBINE configuration command can be used to combine the various memories

for more efficient processor implementation as follows:

  COMBINE INSTRUCTION,

  COMBINE 

  COMBINE ,

  COMBINE 

where  is one of DATA_STACK, RETURN_STACK, or a list of one

or more ROMs and  is a list of one or more RAMs and/or ROMs.  The first

configuration command reserves space at the end of the instruction memory for

the DATA_STACK, RETURN_STACK, or listed ROMs.

The SRAM_WIDTH configuration command is used to make the memory allocations more

efficient when the SRAM block width is more than 9 bits.  For example,

Altera's Cyclone V family has 10-bit wide memory blocks and the configuration

command "SRAM_WIDTH 10" is appropriate.  The configuration command

sequence

  INSTRUCTION     1024

  RETURN_STACK    32

  SRAM_WIDTH      10

  COMBINE         INSTRUCTION,RETURN_STACK

will use a single 10-bit memory entry for each element of the return stack

instead of packing the 10-bit values into two memory entries of a 9-bit wide

memory.

The following illustrates a possible configuration for a Spartan-6 with a

2048-long SRAM and relatively large 64-deep data stack.  The data stack will be

in the last 64 elements of the instruction memory and the instruction space will

be reduced to 1984 words.

  INSTRUCTION   2048

  DATA_STACK    64

  COMBINE       INSTRUCTION,DATA_STACK

The following illustrates a possible configuration for a Cyclone-III with three

M9Ks for the instruction ROM and the data stack.

  INSTRUCTION   1024*3

  DATA_STACK    64

  COMBINE       INSTRUCTION,DATA_STACK

WARNING:  Some devices, such as Xilinx' Spartan-3A devices, do not support

asynchronous reads, so the COMBINE configuration command does not work for them.

WARNING:  Xilinx XST does not correctly infer a Block RAM when the

"COMBINE INSTRUCTION,RETURN_STACK" configuration command is used and the

instruction space is 1024 instructions or larger.  Xilinx is supposed to fix

this in a future release of Vivado so the fix will only apply to 7-series or

later FPGAs.

MEMORY

================================================================================

The MEMORY configuration command is used as follows to allocate a 128-byte RAM

named "myram" and to allocate a 32-byte ROM named "myrom".  Zero to four

memories can be allocated, each with up to 256 bytes.

  MEMORY RAM myram 128

  MEMORY ROM myrom  32

The assembly code to lay out the memory uses the ".memory" directive to identify

the memory and the ".variable" directive to identify the symbol and its content.

Single or multiple values can be listed and "*N" can be used to identify a

repeat count.

  .memory RAM myram

  .variable a 0

  .variable b 0

  .variable c 0 0 0 0

  .variable d 0*4

  .memory ROM myrom

  .variable coeff_table 0x04

                        0x08

                        0x10

                        0x20

  .variable hello_world N"Hello World!\r\n"

Single values are fetched from or stored to memory using the following assembly:

  .fetchvalue(a)

  0x12 .storevalue(b)

Multi-byte values are fetched or stored as follows.  This copies the four values

from coeff_table, which is stored in a ROM, to d.

  .fetchvector(coeff_table,4) .storevector(d,4)

The memory size is available using computed values (see below) and can be used

to clear the entire memory, etc.

The available single-cycle memory operation macros are:

  .fetch(mem_name)      replaces T with the value at the address T in the memory

                        mem_name

                        Note:  .fetchram(var_name) is safer.

  .fetch+(mem_name)     pushes the value at address T in the memory mem_name

                        into the data stack below T and increments T

                        Note:  This is useful for fetching successive values

                               from memory into the data stack.

                        Note:  .fetchram+(var_name) is safer.

  .fetch-(mem_name)     similar to .fetch+ but decrements T

                        Note:  .fetchram-(var_name) is safer.

  .store(ram_name)      stores N at address T in the RAM ram_name, also drops

                        the top of the data stack

                        Note:  .storeram(var_name) is safer.

  .store+(ram_name)     stores N at address T in the RAM ram_name, also drops N

                        from the data stack and increments T

                        Note:  .storeram+(var_name) is safer.

  .store-(ram_name)     similar to .store+ but decrements T

                        Note:  .storeram-(var_name) is safer.

The following multi-cycle macros provide more generalized access to the

memories:

  .fetchindexed(var_name)

                        uses the top of the data stack as an index into var_name

                        Note:  This is equivalent to the 3 instruction sequence

                               "var_name + .fetch(mem_name)"

  .fetchoffset(var_name,offset)

                        fetches the single-byte value of var_name offset by

                        "offset" bytes

                        Note:  This is equivalent to

                               "${var_name+offset} .fetch(mem_name)"

  .fetchram(var_name)   is similar to the .fetch(mem_name) macro except that the

                        variable name is used to identify the memory instead of

                        the name of the memory

  .fetchram+(var_name)  is similar to the .fetch+(mem_name) macro except that

                        the variable name is used to identify the memory instead

                        of the name of the memory

  .fetchram-(var_name)  is similar to the .fetch-(mem_name) macro except that the

                        the variable name is used to identify the memory instead

                        of the name of the memory

  .fetchvalue(var_name) fetches the single-byte value of var_name

                        Note:  This is equivalent to "var_name .fetch(mem_name)"

                               where mem_name is the memory in which var_name is

                               stored.

  .fetchvalueoffset(var_name,offset)

                        fetches the single-byte value stored at var_name+offset

                        Note:  This is equivalent to

                               "${var_name+offset}" .fetch(mem_name)

                               where mem_name is the memory in which var_name is

                               stored.

  .fetchvector(var_name,N)

                        fetches N values starting at var_name into the data