A Comparative Study on Simulation Frameworks for AI Accelerator Evaluation

Domain-Specific Hardware Accelerators (DSHA) are natural components in the evolution of general computers. However, designing and simulating hardware in Hardware Description Languages (HDL) often requires more effort for the developers and might not be suitable in all scenarios, which makes high-level language-based software simulators for computer hardware attractive. Yet, choosing which simulation framework to use can be challenging due to the lack of comparative studies of high-level language-based simulators. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of state-of-the-art simulation frameworks that simulate computer hardware in high-level languages like C++. The contemporary simulators used in this study were selected from the 79 articles introducing novel AI accelerators referenced in our previous survey. We have identified six simulators that are suitable for AI accelerator evaluation, and provide a deeper analysis of three of them.