Model of an FPGA

Question

Is there a publicly available model of an FPGA? A performance model or a functional model or something similar. Basically, I am looking for something that I can play with (as in, change its parameters like the number of logic blocks in it or the size of memory in it, etc.) to see how the resulting FPGA would behave (as in, whether a given HDL design would fit on the FPGA with new parameters or not, or what impact would the new parameters have on the usage of the FPGA).

Answer 1

Welcome to the world of virtual FPGA architectures:)

Have a look at the Verilog to Routing (VTR) tool [1].

It's an active open source [2] academic toolkit which enables you to elaborate a Verilog input down to a placed and routed design - on your own architecture. It cannot be (out-of-the-box) used for a bitstream generation targeting a comercialy available FPGA, but there is a full access to all the details of the virtual FPGA architecture, which can also be modified.

The primary purpose of this tools is to offer a "playground" for FPGA architecture and CAD tools studies, so it can be a good starting point to your adventure.

[1] https://verilogtorouting.org/

[2] https://github.com/verilog-to-routing/vtr-verilog-to-routing

Answer 2

It depends very much on the vendor of the FPGA that you intend to program.

For example if you go with Microsemi (used to be Actel) and download their FPGA tool, Libero, you can by using their free license (Silver) do simulations using a ModelSim plugin inside the tool.