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micheleandClaude Sonnet 5 6a46dc857f fix: propagate runtime-indexed-crossbar fix to slot_mem_arbiter(_wide) + dataflow_core mux
DEC-0043: slot_mem_arbiter.v/slot_mem_arbiter_wide.v both still had the
exact runtime-variable-indexed part-select anti-pattern
(pending_addr[grant_idx*ADDR_WIDTH +: ADDR_WIDTH], grant_idx a runtime
register) that neural_director.v had already found and fixed once
before -- ADDR_WIDTH=26 not being a power of 2 means this synthesizes
as a real multiplier + wide crossbar, sitting right on the
arbiter<->backend boundary this project's own N=8 congestion diagnosis
names, growing with N_PORTS=N_SLOTS(+1). Also fixed the cheaper but
same-class dir_job_out_slot*16 mux in nms_dataflow_core_sdram.v,
feeding directly into dependency_manager -- this exact signal was
DEC-0042's own diagnosed N=4 critical path.

Fix: N_PORTS/N_SLOTS parallel constant-indexed comparisons (unrolled
for-loop) instead of a runtime-indexed read -- same technique already
proven in neural_director.v. Purely an internal-implementation change.

Verified bit-exact via Verilator: tb_fpga_neural_v2_top_smoke.v 11/11
PASS; tb_nms_dstress_sdram_unified.v (256-neuron stress) at both
N_SLOTS_CFG=4 and =8, 256/256 bit-exact vs golden, total_cycles
IDENTICAL to pre-fix historical values (49927/49909, exact match to
DEC-0042's own recorded numbers).

Bonus finding from the same D-Stress run (not this commit's main
point, logged for Phase 3/4): sdram_busy_cycles ~81.6% and
useful-MAC-cycle fraction HALVING from N=4 to N=8 (2.04%->1.02%) --
real existing evidence the system is memory-bound on a single SDRAM
bank well before N=8, independent of Fmax.

Re-synthesis (8-seed sweep, N=4/N=8) in progress to measure the actual
Fmax delta from this fix -- committed separately once complete.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-15 22:39:00 +00:00

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# V2 simulation log -- solo append, mai troncato/sovrascritto (vedi README.md)
# Nessuna entry ancora -- popolato incrementalmente man mano che avanza lo sviluppo V2.
[2026-09-05] EXP-0001/EXP-0002 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor.v
test: 7 cases (16/32/8/8/8/8/64-input jobs; ACT_NONE + ACT_RELU;
extreme INT8 saturation; back-to-back zero-idle-gap tiles)
vectors: regular positive, mixed-sign cancellation, extreme INT8
(-128,-127,-1,0,1,126,127,127 in one 8-lane tile), back-to-back
jobs, 8-tile (64-input) job
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing) -- see decisions.log
DEC-0004 for why Icarus v13.0 is not trusted for this testbench
cycles: not separately profiled at this milestone (throughput/stall
cycle counting deferred to M9 per §22)
PASS/FAIL: 7/7 PASS (ACC_WIDTH=32); 7/7 PASS (ACC_WIDTH=24, EXP-0002)
bit-exact result: V1.y === V2.result_data for every case, both widths
stall cycles / memory wait / utilization: N/A (no Memory Manager yet,
M1 operands fed directly by testbench per the roadmap)
[2026-09-05] EXP-0003 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor_array.v
(N_PROCESSORS=4)
test: 7 cases (single-processor sanity; 4-way same-cycle concurrent
launch with different tile counts; staggered-start 2-processor test)
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 7/7 PASS
bit-exact result: N/A at this milestone (hand-computed expected
values, arithmetic itself already bit-exact-certified vs V1 at M1)
concurrency: confirmed genuine -- in the staggered test, the
later-launched, shorter job (processor 1) completes BEFORE the
earlier-launched, longer job (processor 0), proving independent
progress rather than serialization.
[2026-09-05] EXP-0004 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_buffers.v
test: 10 cases across activation_buffer/weight_buffer/result_buffer
vectors: extreme INT8 (-128, 127, -100, 100), regular values, full
64-bit tile round-trip (weight_buffer), re-reads confirming earlier
writes undisturbed
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 10/10 PASS
[2026-09-05] EXP-0005 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_memory_manager.v
test: 3 end-to-end jobs (3-tile/saturating, 1-tile/non-saturating,
5-tile/steady-state-swap), real V1 PSRAM backend chain (unmodified),
real M1 neural_processor
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 3/3 PASS
bit-exact result: PSRAM-read-back result byte matches hand-computed
expectation in every case (independent oracle, not derived from the
RTL under test)
cycles: 446 (3 tiles), 166 (1 tile), 728 (5 tiles) -- real PSRAM
latency dominates, not memory_manager's own control overhead
[2026-09-05] EXP-0006 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_director.v
test: 4 cases (3-jobs-2-slots first-free dispatch + queueing,
backpressure fill/recover)
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 4/4 PASS
[2026-09-05] EXP-0007 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_dependency_manager.v
test: 4 cases on a 4-node DAG (2 independent + 1 dual-dependency +
1 single-dependency-shared-producer)
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 4/4 PASS
[2026-09-05] EXP-0008 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_dataflow_core.v
test: full end-to-end M1-M6 integration through dataflow_core.v (M7),
a 3-node DAG (node0/node1 independent, node2 depends on BOTH) run
through the REAL dependency_manager -> neural_director -> N_SLOTS x
(memory_manager + neural_processor) chain for the first time, each
slot backed by its own independent behavioral byte memory
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 4/4 PASS -- node0=48, node1=8 (both real neural_processor
computations via the full stack), node2=40 dispatched only after
BOTH node0 and node1 genuinely completed (continuously polled every
cycle up to completion, not just checked at the end) -- the
dependency-manager-to-director wake-up loop closes correctly
end-to-end with real hardware in between, not just in isolation
(M6's own testbench already proved the wake-up logic alone)
[2026-09-05] EXP-0009 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_multiprocessor.v
test: same 3-node DAG as EXP-0008 (node0/node1 independent, node2
depends on both), routed through neural_multiprocessor.v (M8): the
REAL, UNMODIFIED V1 PSRAM backend chain (int8_memory_access ->
memory_interface -> psram_controller -> psram_model) shared across
N_SLOTS=2 genuinely concurrent memory_manager instances via the new
slot_mem_arbiter.v -- node0 and node1 are registered back-to-back
with no dependencies, so both dispatch to their slots essentially
simultaneously and genuinely contend for the one real PSRAM port.
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 4/4 PASS after fixing a real dropped-request bug in the
first arbiter draft (errors.log ERR-0008) -- node0=48, node1=8
(concurrent, real PSRAM, real arbitration), node2=40 dispatched only
after both genuinely completed. 444 cycles end-to-end (vs 20000-cycle
watchdog timeout with the buggy first draft, where node1's request
was silently dropped and its slot hung forever).
regression: hardware/v2/sim/tb_memory_manager.v (M4) re-run unchanged
(no M4 file touched) -- still 3/3 PASS, identical cycle counts
(446/166/728), confirming slot_mem_arbiter.v is purely additive.
[2026-09-05] EXP-0013 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_multiprocessor.v,
M10 cycle-accounting instrumentation (closes decisions.log DEC-0011's
deferred stall %/utilization gap with real data, testbench-only
addition, no RTL touched)
test: same EXP-0009 scenario (3-node DAG, N_SLOTS=2, real V1 PSRAM
chain, real slot_mem_arbiter contention), instrumented with cycle
counters (shared PSRAM port busy cycles via
u_nmp.u_arbiter.owner!=0, each slot's memory_manager busy cycles via
its own state!=MM_IDLE), measured from the first node registration
to test completion.
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 4/4 PASS (unchanged from EXP-0009), plus real measured
data: 684 total cycles measured; shared PSRAM port busy 559/684
(81.7% utilization, 18.3% idle); slot 0 (memory_manager) busy
651/684 (95.2%); slot 1 (memory_manager) busy 446/684 (65.2%).
note: slot 0's higher utilization is at least partly explained by it
serving TWO sequential jobs in this run (node0, then whichever slot
frees first serves node2 -- likely slot 0, first-free/lowest-index)
while slot 1 only ever serves node1 -- NOT conclusive evidence of
harmful priority starvation on its own; see decisions.log DEC-0010's
original fairness deferral, now informed by this real (if small)
data point.
[2026-09-05] EXP-0014 -- hardware/v2/sim/tb_benchmark_suite.v (final
benchmark campaign, post-M10)
test: 6 workloads (16/64/128/256 independent neurons + 10-node
multilayer with random data + 6-node 2-hop DAG), each bit-exact
verified against a software golden model, at N_SLOTS=1/2/4/8 (24
total runs) through the real full neural_multiprocessor.v (real V1
PSRAM chain, real slot_mem_arbiter)
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: 24/24 PASS bit-exact (11,520 individual neuron/node
comparisons, zero mismatches) after fixing 3 real issues found
during this campaign (errors.log ERR-0009: 1 real RTL bug in
neural_director.v at N_SLOTS=1, never exercised before; 2 testbench
sizing bugs -- psram_model DEPTH too small, N_NODES too small
causing a real node-id wraparound deadlock)
full data/analysis: hardware/v2/docs/benchmarks/final-benchmark.md
[2026-09-05] EXP-0015 -- regression + real improvement measurement
after word-level burst-read rewrite (DEC-0015)
test: hardware/v2/sim/tb_memory_manager.v (M4, updated to connect
memory_manager directly to memory_interface.v, skipping
int8_memory_access.v), hardware/v2/sim/tb_dataflow_core.v (M7,
sim_byte_mem -> sim_word_mem), hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_multiprocessor.v
(M8, UNCHANGED -- black-box on neural_multiprocessor.v, no edits
needed), hardware/v2/sim/tb_benchmark_suite.v (final campaign,
UNCHANGED, re-run at N_SLOTS=1/2/4/8)
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: M4 3/3 PASS (166/446/728 -> 84/204/322 cycles, bit-exact).
M7 4/4 PASS (wd=67->43 cycles to first dependency check). M8 4/4
PASS (684->337 cycles). Final campaign 24/24 PASS bit-exact,
D-Stress cycles roughly halved to a bit more at every N_SLOTS
(see benchmark.log EXP-0015 for the full table).
errors: none found during this implementation (clean first-pass
correctness at every regression point).
[2026-09-05] EXP-0016 -- regression + real improvement measurement
after adding shared activation_cache.v (DEC-0016)
test: hardware/v2/sim/tb_memory_manager.v (M4, updated: memory_manager
now wired to a real activation_cache instance + a real 2-port
arbiter, N_SLOTS=1 scope), hardware/v2/sim/tb_dataflow_core.v (M7,
updated: sim_word_mem array widened to N_SLOTS+1, X data poked once
into the shared cache's own backing memory instead of duplicated
per-slot), hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_multiprocessor.v (M8,
UNCHANGED -- black-box), hardware/v2/sim/tb_benchmark_suite.v (final
campaign, UNCHANGED, re-run at N_SLOTS=1/2/4/8)
simulator: Verilator 5.050 (--binary --timing)
PASS/FAIL: M4 3/3 PASS (bit-exact, cycle counts higher than DEC-0015
alone for this SPECIFIC single-instance test -- expected, no sharing
benefit possible with only one memory_manager, only the cache's real
arbitration overhead shows up here). M7 4/4 PASS. M8 4/4 PASS
(unchanged testbench). Final campaign 24/24 PASS bit-exact,
D-Stress cycles reduced a further 1.66-2.00x on top of DEC-0015's
own reduction (see benchmark.log EXP-0016 for the full table) --
the real sharing benefit this cache targets only manifests with
multiple neurons genuinely sharing one x_base, which only the full
campaign's dense-layer workloads (not M4/M7/M8's own small tests)
exercise.
errors: 2 real bugs found and fixed during implementation (errors.log
ERR-0010): a target-bank/pending-bank race (same class as ERR-0006,
a new instance in the activation-cache side of memory_manager.v),
and a repeat of ERR-0009's N_SLOTS=1 zero-width replication bug
(this time in activation_cache.v itself).
[2026-09-15] DEC-0043 verification -- Verilator 5.053 (-DSIM for PLL
behavioral bypass on tb_fpga_neural_v2_top_smoke.v; plain build for
tb_nms_dstress_sdram_unified.v, -GN_SLOTS_CFG override)
test=tb_fpga_neural_v2_top_smoke, config=fpga_neural_v2_top N_SLOTS=4
(default): 11/11 PASS, unchanged.
test=tb_nms_dstress_sdram_unified (D-Stress, 256 neurons, 128 inputs
each), config=N_SLOTS_CFG=4: PASS, 256/256 bit-exact vs golden,
total_cycles=49927 (IDENTICAL to pre-fix), sdram_busy=81.56%,
weight_stall=89.37% of total_cycles*N_SLOTS, useful_mac_cycles=2.04%
of slot-cycles.
test=tb_nms_dstress_sdram_unified (D-Stress), config=N_SLOTS_CFG=8:
PASS, 256/256 bit-exact vs golden, total_cycles=49909 (IDENTICAL to
pre-fix, matches DEC-0042's own recorded N=8 cycle count exactly),
sdram_busy=81.62%, weight_stall=94.54% of total_cycles*N_SLOTS,
useful_mac_cycles=1.02% of slot-cycles (HALF of N=4's fraction --
more slots sharing one SDRAM channel does not proportionally
increase useful work).
Result: zero behavioral/cycle-count regression from the slot_mem_
arbiter.v/slot_mem_arbiter_wide.v/nms_dataflow_core_sdram.v runtime-
index fix (DEC-0043). Real, disclosed evidence the system is
memory-bound at both N=4 and N=8 on a single SDRAM bank, independent
of the arbiter fix or Fmax -- relevant to Phase 3/4 of the current
brief.