Simulating HW with C Speed and RTL Accuracy for HLS Designs (Georgia Tech)

Researchers at Georgia Tech have introduced a new framework called OmniSim that enhances the simulation capabilities of high-level synthesis (HLS) tools for hardware design. OmniSim enables fast and accurate simulation of complex dataflow designs that were previously unsupported by commercial tools. By utilizing software multi-threading and FIFO tables to record hardware timing, OmniSim achieves near-C simulation speed with near-RTL accuracy. The framework successfully simulates designs that were not supported by any HLS tool before, achieving significant speedups over traditional simulation methods. This advancement addresses the challenges in simulating HLS designs accurately and efficiently.