Simple direct-mapped cache simulation on FPGA
This article is a part of a course work for first year bachelor students of Innopolis University. All work is done in a team. The purpose of this article is to show an understanding of the topic, or to help to understand it using simulation.
Principle of work but from the user side should look like:
- To write any data in memory, you need to access the RAM with data and address in which we want to write.
- To access the data, we have to adress to cache. If the cache cannot find the necessary data, then it accesses the RAM by copying data from there.
When working with Verilog, it should be understood that each individual block of the program is represented as a module. As you know, the cache is not an independent part of fast memory, and for its proper operation it needs to take data from another memory block — RAM. Therefore, in order to simulate the work of the cache at the FPGA, we have to simulate whole RAM module which includes cache as well, but the main point is cache simulation.
The implementation consists of such modules:
- ram.v — RAM memory module
- cache.v — Cache memory module
- cache_and_ram.v — module that operates with data and memory.
- testbench.v and testbench2.v — module to show that main modules work perfectly.
RAM module:
module ram(); parameter size = 4096; //size of a ram in bits reg [31:0] ram [0:size-1]; //data matrix for ram endmodule
Module represents memory which is used as RAM. It has 4096 32-bit addressable cells to store some data.
Cache module:
module cache(); parameter size = 64; // cache size parameter index_size = 6; // index size reg [31:0] cache [0:size - 1]; //registers for the data in cache reg [11 - index_size:0] tag_array [0:size - 1]; // for all tags in cache reg valid_array [0:size - 1]; //0 - there is no data 1 - there is data initial begin: initialization integer i; for (i = 0; i < size; i = i + 1) begin valid_array[i] = 6'b000000; tag_array[i] = 6'b000000; end end endmodule
So the cache contains more than just copies of the data in
memory; it also has bits to help us find data within the cache and
verify its validity.
Cache and RAM module:
module cache_and_ram( input [31:0] address, input [31:0] data, input clk, input mode, //mode equal to 1 when we write and equal to 0 when we read output [31:0] out ); //previous values reg [31:0] prev_address, prev_data; reg prev_mode; reg [31:0] temp_out; reg [cache.index_size - 1:0] index; // for keeping index of current address reg [11 - cache.index_size:0] tag; // for keeping tag of ceurrent address ram ram(); cache cache(); initial begin index = 0; tag = 0; prev_address = 0; prev_data = 0; prev_mode = 0; end always @(posedge clk) begin //check if the new input is updated if (prev_address != address || prev_data != data || prev_mode != mode) begin prev_address = address % ram.size; prev_data = data; prev_mode = mode; tag = prev_address >> cache.index_size; // tag = first bits of address except index ones (In our particular case - 6) index = address % cache.size; // index value = last n (n = size of cache) bits of address if (mode == 1) begin ram.ram[prev_address] = data; //write new data to the relevant cache block if there is such one if (cache.valid_array[index] == 1 && cache.tag_array[index] == tag) cache.cache[index] = data; end else begin //write new data to the relevant cache's block, because the one we addressing to will be possibly addressed one more time soon if (cache.valid_array[index] != 1 || cache.tag_array[index] != tag) begin cache.valid_array[index] = 1; cache.tag_array[index] = tag; cache.cache[index] = ram.ram[prev_address]; end temp_out = cache.cache[index]; end end end assign out = temp_out; endmodule
Represents operations for work with data in memory modules. Gets input on each clock positive edge. Checks if there are new inputs — depending on the mode (1 for write/0 for read) executes relevant operations. If mode is 1(write):
•Write data to address then check whether input address exists in cache, if so — replace the data, else standstill.
If mode is 0(read):
•Check whether input address exists in cache, If so — return the data, else get the data from ram. Refresh the address in the cache with new data.
Testbenches:
module testbench; reg [31:0] address, data; reg mode, clk; wire [31:0] out; cache_and_ram tb( .address(address), .data(data), .mode(mode), .clk(clk), .out(out) ); initial begin clk = 1'b1; address = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000010000000100001010101; // 526421 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000001100000110001101100010110; // 25369366 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 mode = 1'b0; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 mode = 1'b0; #200 address = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b0; end initial $monitor("address = %d data = %d mode = %d out = %d", address % 4096, data, mode, out); always #25 clk = ~clk; endmodule
module testbench2; reg [31:0] address, data; reg mode, clk; wire [31:0] out; cache_and_ram tb( .address(address), .data(data), .mode(mode), .clk(clk), .out(out) ); initial begin clk = 1'b1; address = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000010000000100001010101; // 526421 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b0; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000010000000100001010101; // 526421 mode = 1'b0; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000001100000110001101100010110; // 25369366 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000001100000110001101100010110; // 25369366 mode = 1'b0; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000000000000000011100011000000; // 14528 mode = 1'b1; #200 address = 32'b00000000000011110100011111010001; // 1001425 % size = 2001 data = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 mode = 1'b0; #200 address = 32'b10100111111001011111101111011100; // 2816867292 % size = 3036 data = 32'b00000000000000000000000000000000; // 0 mode = 1'b0; end initial $monitor("address = %d data = %d mode = %d out = %d", address % 4096, data, mode, out); always #25 clk = ~clk; endmodule
To run a testbench, load all files into the ModelSim project and run a simulation of one of the testbench files.
