Anatomy of a simulation backplane

The paper describes how mixed signal simulation has been performed using a simulation backplane. This work is based on the draft standard for a simulation backplane, published by the CAD framework initiative. The simulation backplane allows two or more circuit, logic or behavioural simulators to be coupled. A circuit is partitioned between the simulators, and changes in analogue and digital signals connecting the simulators may be passed through the backplane. Synchronisation of the various simulators is handled by the backplane, and the paper describes a new synchronisation algorithm that avoids backtracking and prevents deadlock. A version of SPICE has been integrated into the backplane, and true mixed signal simulation has been demonstrated. These results show that the simulation backplane is a viable technique for linking multiple simulators, but that the overheads caused by interprocess communications are significant.