Free configurator puts the power of full core customisation into hands of customers

Semidynamics now offers its new tool, ‘Configurator,’ which puts the power of its full customisation of a RISC-V processor core in the hands of the customer. It uses dozens of blocks that have already been verified by the company, so the final core is also verified. This gives customers an incredible fast time to a workable core design in a few hours from the thousands of possible variants.

The company’s unique ‘Open Core Surgery’ enables the customer to tailor its IP to their needs, including adding new instructions, interfaces, and the customer's ‘secret sauce’ deep inside. This process entails two steps. First step is to configure the base parameters of the architecture, which is what Configurator enables. The second step is to describe the special features the customer requires; the Semidynamics engineering team will take those requests and implement them according to the customer’s requirements. The newly released Configurator assists in both steps. First, it provides an easy way for the customer to specify the configuration parameters for the IP. Second, it allows the customer to describe the necessary changes beyond configuration.

Roger Espasa, Semidynamics’ CEO, explained, “We are the only company offering fully customisable RISC-V IP cores so there are many choices to be made by customers when specifying their requirements. Our new Configurator tool makes this process extremely easy for the customer to do on their own computer screen. The tool has a sequential set of options that logically works through the thousands of possible variants. As each one option is selected, the resulting core configuration is immediately displayed on the screen so that the customer can see how the layout of blocks builds. The customer can go back and change any of the options to see the effect on the core layout. Naturally, we are available to help and advise customers in the choices to ensure the best possible core design for their application.

“When the customer has finalised the design, it is sent to us for a PPA and licensing quote. Once this is agreed and the contract signed, the RTL is sent to them immediately and as it is already verified by us they don’t have that time consuming stage to do. The whole aim of Configurator is to empower the customer with an easy-to-use way to have the exact custom core that they need in the shortest possible time so that they are fastest to market with their innovative product.”

The tool provides several choices, including instruction and data cache sizes, main memory bus size and type, and eight optional extensions. Additional options include the company's state-of-the-art Tensor and RISC-V 1.0 compliant Vector Units with a choice of number of cores and data configuration. Gazzillion technology ensures constant data flow from memory.