Use the following instructions to import a SAIF file.
To import a SAIF file:
From the File
menu in Designer, select Import Auxiliary Files. Click Add to browse to your SAIF file and
select it. When you have selected a SAIF file, click OK
to continue.
If you have not yet completed the layout of the design, the design
software guides you through place-and-route so that you can import the
SAIF file. In order to successfully annotate your SAIF values to the design,
Designer must complete place-and-route even if you generated your SAIF
file using timing simulation (post-layout).
You may wish to import multiple SAIF files. If these files conflict
(attempt to set a different frequency for the same net of your design,
for example), the latest imported value takes precedence.
Specify your SAIF import
options. Use the SAIF Import Options
window to specify the instance name of your design in the simulation testbench
(the instance name is the instance name of your design instantiated in
the simulation testbench). You must include
the hierarchy with the instance name.
The example below shows how to identify the instance name of your design
in the SAIF file. For example, the instance name of the design in the
following SAIF file is TEST_BENCH/UUT.
(SAIFILE
(SAIFVERSION "1.1")
(DESIGN 2ff)
(DATE "Fri May 10 14:48:46 2002")
(TIMESCALE 1ns)
(DURATION 50000)
(INSTANCE TEST_BENCH/UUT (PORT (OUT_PORT (TC 26) (IG 0) (T1 25994)
(T0 22000) (TX 2006))))
(INSTANCE TEST_BENCH/UUT/\outpad/U0/U1\ (PORT (Y (TC 26) (IG 0)
(T1 25995) (T0 22000) (TX 2005))))
(INSTANCE TEST_BENCH/UUT/\ff1/U0\ (PORT (Q (TC 27) (IG 0) (T1 26000)
(T0 22997) (TX 1003))))
(INSTANCE TEST_BENCH/UUT/\clkpad/U0/U0\ (PORT (Y (TC 99) (IG 0)
(T1 25000) (T0 24999) (TX 1))))
Click OK to continue.
Check the Log
window for notification that you successfully imported the SAIF file (The
Import command succeeded...). Even if the Import command succeeds, Actel
recommends that you use SmartPower to verify which of the pins have been
affected after you import the file.
Verify results of the imported file in the Activity tab screen in SmartPower. To view the results of your imported SAIF file, launch SmartPower and navigate to the Activity tab screen to view pins with annotated switching activities. If your file was imported successfully, you will see a list of pins with annotated switching activity and specific individual frequencies.
It may be that some pins of your design are not annotated by a SAIF import command. This sometimes happens if you simulate a pre-synthesis netlist. It is normal; not all logic elements are in the pre-synthesis netlist. Thus it is better to do a post-layout simulation with a back-annotated netlist for the most accurate power estimation.