FRAME is a framework for chip planning where modules can be implemented as rectilinear
blocks.
If we consider floorplanning as an evolutive process, a floorplan can be represented at different levels of abstraction. Depending on the level of detail, a module can be seen as a point, a circle, a rectangle or a rectilinear shape. When floorplanning is automated, a sequence of optimization tasks based on mathematical models is typically envisioned, as shown in the figure below.
Modern floorplans require shapes beyond the conventional rectangles, e.g., L-shapes, T-shapes or even C-shapes. Moreover, a close interaction with the designer is often required, e.g., by fixing blocks or by defining non-rectangular dies. Using a simple trick, non-rectangular dies can be represented by including fake blocks that determine the blockages inside the rectangular die, as shown in the following figure.
The die where the system must be floorplanned may contain dedicated regions. A typical example is an FPGA die with slices dedicated to BRAMs or DSPs, as shown in the figure below.
Modules may use resources from different regions and floorplanning must take into account where these resources are located on the die.
Install Python 3 and Git. Then, open a terminal and execute the following commands, depending on your operating system:
git clone https://github.com/jordicf/FRAME.git
cd FRAME
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install setuptools
pip install -e .
git clone https://github.com/jordicf/FRAME.git
cd FRAME
python -m venv venv
.\venv\Scripts\activate
pip install setuptools
pip install -e .
If you use PyCharm, to configure the project Python interpreter go to File | Settings... |
Project: FRAME | Python Interpreter.
Then click the gears icon, Add..., and choose Existing environment and select Interpreter as the one
in the FRAME/venv folder.
To run all the tests, execute the following command from the project folder:
python -m unittest discover -v -s tests