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what is the different of simulator and emulator?

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godson

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feel confused
 

Simply put,
simulator is just a piece of SW with no HW involved.

Emulator, depending on what type it is has various types of HW, from simple JTAG based that uses the internal JTAG functions of a processor or controlller to huge arrays of FPGAs for ASIC emulation etc.

That was the simplest way I could explain it,

BR,
/Farhad
 

simulator:
pure soft code that simulates artificially some operation such as a DSP or a µp.

emulator:
best example is 8086 emulator on your desktop PC
in this the instruction codes are converted by the emulator and your ASM code is really run on your very own pentium processor!!!!
 

One of difference between simulator and emulator is the simulation speed.
Because the emulator have the simulation acceleration feature, its simulation speed is much higher than simulator's.
 

A simulator is a program which runs on the development system (i.e. your PC) and imitates the architecture of the target processor. For example an 8051 simulator will contain simulated registers, RAM and other stuff on your PC screen. You can run your program in this simulator and verify the functionality. You can single step your program, run it upto a certain address, add breakpoints etc.
Some simulators have small separate window which can be used to simulate the serial port as well. Some are able to simulate LCDs, LEDs, Keypads, ADCs etc. Note that it is usually not possible to debug time dependent bugs using a simulator since the simulator does not run your program at full speed, the speed at which your 8051 would run it.

An emulator is a piece of hardware which contains a processor that replaces your target processor. The emulator processor is under the control of development system. This allows you to execute your software at full target speeds but under PC control. Also you can trace the real time events and like a simulator you can single step, run upto a certain address, add breakpoints and so many other nice features.

An emulator is far more expensive than a simultor. But the benifit of accelerated development time easily justifies the cost.
 

simulator is a software platform to model the system in virtue circumstance. Such as Matlab ,NCVerilog etc.
emulator is a hardware platform to verify the system in real environment. Such as running DSProssor ,FPGA or Quickturn in real world.
 

Simulator is a simple piece of software which helps in obtaining a tentative result of what the output might be.. the result obtained wudnt be accurate by approximate..

Modelsim is one such simulator.. take for example FPGA advantage

this has Design browser the frontend..modelsim as backend and leonado specrtum as ur synthesis tool.
when u consider XILINX ISE 6.2, here u have the webpack the frontend and u can use this emulator to download ur program onto the chip and implement it.

suitable tools can be linked to obtain the desired results.

we also have power analysis tools such as prime power which helps in actually obtaining the power consumed by the circuit

Simulators first introduced didnt match the actualy emulation on the hardware, but nowadays almost results can be obtained using these simulator tools.

Hope this helps

with regards,
 

ok, except simulation speed and SW/HW, which of simulator and emulator is more beleiveable and accurate ? ? i thought that emulator is better for fpga is more close real chip. However we know simulator run bench cycle by cycle, and emulator software like mentor' vstation is designed by traction level model which is not cycle by cycle and maybe not accurate like simulator , won't it?
 

How wud u define accuracy.. emulator puts ur logic on the chip the actual. when compared to a simulator which works according to predefined results.. i guess a emulator works with the actualy physical environment! doesnt it?

i guess the closeness of the result wud result on the actual output which is expected and which is obtained.

with regards,
 

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