gemmini

<p align="center">
  <img width="1000" src="./img/full-logo.svg">
</p>

Gemmini
====================================

The Gemmini project is developing a full-system, full-stack DNN hardware exploration and evaluation platform.
Gemmini enables architects to make useful insights into how different components of the system and software stack (outside of just the accelerator itself) interact to affect overall DNN performance.

Gemmini is part of the [Chipyard](https://github.com/ucb-bar/chipyard) ecosystem, and was developed using the [Chisel](https://www.chisel-lang.org/) hardware description language.

This document is intended to provide information for beginners wanting to try out Gemmini, as well as more advanced in-depth information for those who might want to start hacking on Gemmini's source code.

![Gemmini's high-level architecture](./img/gemmini-system.png)

Quick Start
==========

We provide here a quick guide to installing Gemmini's dependencies (Chipyard and Spike), building Gemmini hardware and software, and then running that software on our hardware simulators.

Dependencies
---------

Before beginning, install the [Chipyard dependencies](https://chipyard.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Chipyard-Basics/Initial-Repo-Setup.html#default-requirements-installation).

Installing Chipyard and Spike
-----------------------------

Run these steps to install Chipyard and Spike (make sure to checkout the correct Chipyard and Spike commits as shown below):

```shell
git clone https://github.com/ucb-bar/chipyard.git
cd chipyard
./build-setup.sh

source env.sh

cd generators/gemmini
make -C software/libgemmini install
```


Building Gemmini Software
-------------------------

Run the steps below to compile Gemmini programs, including large DNN models like ResNet50, and small matrix-multiplication tests.

```shell
cd chipyard/generators/gemmini/software/gemmini-rocc-tests
./build.sh
```

Afterwards, you'll find RISC-V binaries in `build/`, for "baremetal" environments, Linux environments, and "proxy-kernel" environments.

Linux binaries are meant to be executed on SoCs that run Linux.
These binaries are dynamically linked, and support all syscalls.
Typically, our users run them on [FireSim](https://fires.im/) simulators.

Baremetal binaries are meant to be run in an environment without any operating system available.
They lack support for most syscalls, and do not support virtual memory either.
Our users typically run them on cycle-accurate simulators like Verilator or VCS.

"Proxy-kernel" binaries are meant to be run on a stripped down version of Linux, called the ["RISC-V Proxy Kernel."](https://github.com/riscv-software-src/riscv-pk)
These binaries support virtual memory, and are typically run on cycle-accurate simulators like Verilator.

**Warning:** Proxy-kernel binaries have limited heap space, so some Gemmini programs that work correctly in baremetal or Linux environments may fail on the proxy-kernel.

Building Gemmini Hardware and Cycle-Accurate S