(also referred to as Xsim or Isim)
Xilinx is no longer possible to install the Modelsim. However, the Xilinx tools have good built-in simulation capabilities.
Xilinx Versions
- Xilinx ISE 9.2 – This is the version of Xilinx which is the last version of ISE to support the Test Bench Waveform Editor.
- Xilinx ISE 14.7 – This is a much newer version of Xilinx with some of the more advanced capabilities.
- Xilinx Vivado – This is the latest and greatest (and the future) of Xilinx design tools. Sadly, a reasonably-priced FPGA platform is not yet available.
Simulator Materials
- Xilinx ISE Quick Start Tutorial – This is for ISE 9.1 but it applies to 9.2 as well. It has a very brief, gentle intro to simulation, starting on p. 16. However, it does not have much on the simulator commands and interface. For that you need to fire up the simulator, from within ISE, and select Help from the menu at the top. This will bring up a set of HTML files that are stored locally on the drive as part of the installation. You can also browse these from outside the ISE environment by navigating to the appropriate folder. We have assembled a few, key pages to simplify your search.
- Test Bench Waveform Editor – this is what you use to create the input stimulus. You may already be familiar with this.
- Simulation View – this page describes the layout of the simulation window.
- Simulation Commands – this page lists commands that can be typed into the console window. Most useful are restart and run.
- Hierarchy Browser Tab – this page is useful for drilling down through your hierarchy to view an internal signal, such as the state of an FSM, during behavioral simulation. (after synthesis the design is flattened and internal signals often get minimized away)
- ISim In-Depth Tutorial – this is for 14.3, but not a bad start if you want more.
- ISim User Guide – this is the full manual for versions 14.3 through 14.7.
adopted from: http://www.mrc.uidaho.edu/mrc/people/jff/digital/xilinx_sim.html