CTUCAN Migen Wishbone wrapper

This repository contains a Python package that wraps the CTUCAN FD IP-core in its last-known MIT-licensed version into a Migen module with a Wishbone interface which can be used for creating custom SoC designs, e.g. ones intended for the open source SkyWater 130nm PDK MPW shuttle.

Additionally, this project can be used to generate the Verilog code of the Wishbone wrapper and use it separately without any other dependencies.

Repository structure

The diagram below presents the simplified structure of this repository and includes the most important files and directories.

.
├── ctucan
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── utils
│   └── vhdl
│       └── ...
├── patches
├── requirements.txt
├── scripts
│   ├── generate_verilog_wrapper.py
│   └── generate_vhdl_sources.py
├── setup.py
├── tests
│   ├── test_ctucan.py
│   ├── test_integration.py
│   ├── top_test.v
│   └── ...
└── third-party
    └── ctucanfd_ip_core

ctucan/ - the main directory of the Python package. The implementation of both the main CTUCAN and Wishbone wrapper modules can be found in the __init__.py file. The vhdl/ directory inside the package contains the CTUCAN sources in the MIT version patched with custom changes (from the patches/ directory) which shall be generated by the generate_vhdl_sources.py script. Useful functions not related directly to the created Migen modules can be found in the utils/ directory.
patches/ - contains custom changes made to the MIT version of the CTUCAN IP-core, that allow the core to be converted from VHDL to Verilog using GHDL.
requirements.txt - list of Python packages necessary for development and testing.
scripts/ - contains scripts that can be useful for package management or source code generation. The generate_vhdl_sources.py script is used for producing CTUCAN sources from the original repository, patching them, and writing back to the chosen directory. It can be used to recreate the contents of the ctucan/vhdl directory. Besides that, the generate_verilog_wrapper.py script can be used to produce sources of the Wishbone wrapper for the CTUCAN IP-core.
tests/ - directory with functional and integration tests of the CTUCAN python package. The top_test.v file contains a top-level module used for functional tests, which are placed in the test_ctucan.py script. The test_integration.py file contains tests showing that the Migen modules from the package can correctly be used together with Migen.

Prerequisites

If the vhdl or the external variants of the created CTUCAN module are used, LiteX and Migen are the only required dependencies. When using the verilog variant, you will need also yosys, ghdl, and ghdl-yosys-plugin installed on your machine.

Usage

It is possible to use the package with e.g. LiteX or for generating the Verilog sources of the Wishbone wrapper.

Instantiating the CTUCAN module in a LiteX SoC

The CTUCAN module from this package can be used in the same way as any other Migen module, except that all the registers are implemented in the Verilog code and not as LiteX CSRs. Because of that, there is no need for adding them separately. All you need to do is to create a dedicated memory region for the CAN registers:

# 1. Create main SoC module
soc = BaseSoC(
    sys_clk_freq=int(100e6),
    integrated_rom_size=0x20000
)

# 2. Instantiate the CTUCAN IP-core
can_pads = soc.platform.request("can")                       # get the can pads
soc.submodules.can = CTUCAN(soc.platform, can_pads, "vhdl")  # connect the IP-core with the main SoC
soc.add_interrupt("can")                                     # connect the IRQ line to the used CPU

# 3. Create a separate memory region for the CAN IP-core
soc.add_memory_region("can", None, soc.can.wbwrapper.size, type=[])
soc.add_wb_slave(soc.bus.regions["can"].origin, soc.can.wbwrapper.bus)

When building the LiteX design you should see the following information in the generated log:

The can memory region has been added as a slave:

Bus Slaves: (5)
- rom
- sram
- main_ram
- can
- csr

The CTUCAN IRQ has been connected to the CPU:

IRQ Locations: (3)
- uart   : 0
- timer0 : 1
- can    : 2

Generating the VHDL sources

To generate the VHDL source files call:

make generate-vhdl

Generating the Wishbone wrapper

To generate the Wishbone wrapper, you can use the dedicated script from the scripts directory:

./generate_verilog_wrapper.py > ctucan_wrapper.v

Note that to use the wrapper, you will have to append the sources of the CTUCAN IP-core itself.