Introduction

KATHRYN

Kathryn is a Hybrid approach for hardware modeling, simulation, and generation embedded in C++ and Python(next release) to reduce Hardware design workload, enhance parallelization control, boost design space exploration and increase simulation productivity.

offered features

  • Hybrid Design Flow (HDF)
    • the new way to control and synchronize the Hardware Control Flow.
  • Zero Effort Cycle Spent Profiler (ZEP)
    • the automatic tracker tracks how Hardware design spent time to doing something
  • Hybrid simulator (HS)
    • unify dynamically built designers' model and optimized simulation engine
    • Co-simulatable and high Performance simulator.
  • Fully facilited by programming language(C++) as a generator/preprocess.
  • Relax Schematic model.
  • 100% cycle accurate at userland.
  • Unlike HLS, Kathryn is hardware generation framework at full cycle-accurate level like Chisel, Pymtl, Pyrtl

example code 1

  • class ExampleModule: public Module{
public:
    mWire(i, 32);
    mReg(a, 32);mReg(b, 32);
    mReg(c, 32);mReg(d, 32);
 
    ExampleModule(int x): Module(){ i.asInputGlob(); d.asOutputGlob();}
 
    void flow() override{
        seq{ /// all sub element run [seq]uentialy
            a <<= i;
            par{ /// all sub element run parallelly
                cdowhile(a < 8){ /// do loop
                    a <<= a + 1;
                    c <<= c + 1;
                }
                cdowhile(b < 8){ /// do loop
                    b <<= b + 1;
                    d <<= d + 1;
                }
            }
            d <<= c + d;
        }
    }
};
  • the state machine look like This
Photo

example code 2 (pipeline example)

  • main.cpp
    void flow() override{
      pipWrap{
          pipBlk{ a <= a + 1;}
          pipBlk{ b <= a;    }
          pipBlk{
              c <<= b;
              cif(c == 5){
              syWait(6) //// wait for 6 cycle
              } ////- The block will be automatically 
                ////  SYNCHRONIZED with other block without 
                //// overhead cycle!!!!!
          }
          pipBlk{ d <= c; }
      }
}

1.start your first Model!

Motivation