Sphinx: A Hybrid Boolean Processor-FPGA Hardware Emulation System

Existing hardware emulators use either FPGA or Boolean processors, which suffer from long compile time and poor debuggability (FPGA-based), or low emulation performance (Boolean processor-based). This work presents Sphinx, a hybrid Boolean processor-FPGA hardware emulation platform aiming to overcome these shortcomings. Sphinx hardware is a new hybrid architecture that integrates software programmable Boolean processors and FPGAs. Sphinx software is a compilation framework that conducts incremental design partitioning and implements the design-under-test components on Boolean processors and the rest on FPGAs. Together, Sphinx enables an incremental emulation flow and demonstrates high emulation performance, fast compile turnarounds, and good debuggability.