Imperas Models - reference for the newly ratified RISC-V Specifications

4Q2021 release of Imperas simulator and reference models supports latest RISC-V Extensions for Bit Manipulation 1.0.0, Cryptographic (Scalar) 1.0.0, and Vector 1.0 plus Privilege Specification 1.12 as RISC-V Board formal approval is completed

Oxford, United Kingdom, November 18^th, 2021 — Imperas Software Ltd., the leader in RISC-V processor simulation and verification technology, today announced the latest product updates as a general release to all customers and users. Offered as freely available, open-source reference models for the RISC-V community and as commercial products, they now support the latest ratified extensions: Bit Manipulation, Cryptographic (scalar), and Vector, plus the Privilege Specification enhancements. These latest additions further extend the range of RISC‑V projects based on the open standard RISC‑V ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) targeted at optimized solutions in applications that range from microcontrollers and application processors, through to multicore arrays for AI (Artificial Intelligence), Machine Learning, and HPC (High Performance Computing).

Imperas simulation products and tools are supported with open-source processor and platform models licensed under Apache 2.0 via the Open Virtual Platforms initiative and available at OVPworld.org. To assist the rapid development of a virtual platform / prototype, these models and platforms can be modified and further extended as required. The Imperas commercial simulation technology and products are based on the freely available open-standard public OVP application programming interfaces (APIs). The full range of 300+ processor models is based on over 12 ISAs to support heterogeneous designs or for projects migrating other architectures to RISC‑V.

The Imperas RISC-V reference models are used for design verification (DV) of RISC-V processors and for virtual platforms / prototypes to support software development and test throughout the design cycle. The RISC-V community is supported with multiple free-to-use options, including riscvOVPsim, riscvOVPsimPlus, and riscvOVPsimCOREV. Additionally, the Imperas commercial solutions are available with professional support plus extra features for more complex designs. They can also integrate within other standard EDA environments, such as SystemC, SystemVerilog, and well-known simulation and emulation tools from Cadence, Siemens EDA, and Synopsys, plus the cloud-based simulation offering from Metrics Technologies.

“An ISA specification is probably the most important interface in computer science; it defines the boundary between the software program and the underlying hardware,” said Simon Davidmann, CEO, Imperas Software Ltd. “RISC-V is the first broadly adopted open standard ISA with many independent implementations. Unlike the single-source developments of the past, RISC-V is community-based with both open-source and proprietary commercial supporters. We are pleased to announce today that the Imperas simulation technology and models are ready to support the fully ratified specifications, plus all the major previous revisions as we continue to support our users.”

Availability

The latest release of the Imperas simulation and analysis products and reference models are available now. Current customers can download the latest updated packages via the usual Imperas customer support user portal.

Imperas RISC-V reference models are also available via approved EDA distribution partners. To explore this option in more detail, please contact Imperas or your preferred EDA supplier.

riscvOVPsim is the entry-level free RISC-V model available on GitHub at:

github.com/riscv-ovpsim

riscvOVPsimPlus is a popular free ISS (Instruction Set Simulator), an envelope reference model that can be configured to cover all of the newly ratified RISC-V specifications and standard extensions. Also included are several Architectural Validation Test Suites, which form a basic test plan for software level compatibility within the specification definitions. The Imperas models are available as open-source and released under the flexible Apache 2.0 open-source license. All models, virtual platforms and example models are available to the RISC-V community via the Open Virtual Platforms website at: www.ovpworld.org/riscvOVPsimPlus

riscvOVPsimCOREV is a free RISC-V reference model and simulator (ISS) targeted at software developers for the OpenHW CORE-V family of processors. With a proprietary freeware license from Imperas, which covers free commercial and academic use, the simulator package includes a complete open-source model licensed under Apache 2.0. It is available on GitHub for download at: github.com/openhwgroup/riscv-ovpsim-corev

Imperas commercial products provide complete hardware design verification solutions, including golden reference models, simulators, advanced analysis, and debug tools. They support custom RISC‑V extensions and virtual platforms to model complete multicore heterogeneous SoC and system-level designs. For more details, please email Imperas directly at: info@imperas.com

Imperas at the RISC-V Summit 2021

See all the latest updates from Imperas and the solutions for RISC-V Verification, for more details, see: https://www.imperas.com/articles/imperas-risc-v-summit-december-6-8-2021

About Imperas

Imperas is the leading provider of RISC-V processor models, hardware design verification solutions, and virtual prototypes for software simulation. Imperas, along with Open Virtual Platforms (OVP), promotes open-source model availability for a spectrum of processors, IP vendors, CPU architectures, system IP, and reference platform models of processors and systems ranging from simple single core bare metal platforms to full heterogeneous multicore systems booting SMP Linux. All models are available from Imperas at www.imperas.com and the Open Virtual Platforms (OVP) website.

For more information about Imperas, please see www.imperas.com.