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ADE-XL: How to force individual result directories for each Monte Carlo point?

dontpanic

Hi! I am having an issue with the way ADE-XL (6.1.6-64b.500.11) is treating the results directories when running Monte Carlo simulations.

I have in my testbench a custom VA component that samples and dumps signals to the disk. For example, if I run a simulation in "Single run, sweeps and corners" mode with 3 corners, my dumped results are stored in the following directories and files:

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/Interactive.7/1/sch__noiseless/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/Interactive.7/2/sch__noiseless/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/Interactive.7/3/sch__noiseless/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv

The problem is when I switch to "Monte Carlo Sampling" mode. For instance, if I run 48 MC points for only 1 corner (and setting in my Job Setup options "Max. Jobs"=8), I see the following directories are being created:

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/1/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/1/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/7/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/7/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/13/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/13/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/19/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/19/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/25/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/25/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/31/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/31/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/37/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/37/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/43/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv
[...]/[my_lib]/[my_cell]/adexl/results/data/MonteCarlo.3/43/sch__noiseless/groupRunDataDir/psf/myDumpedSimData/vOUTdiff.csv~

So even though all the 48 MC points run without problems, ADE-XL is arranging/processing the results directories in a way that the files with the dumped signals are being overwritten, and in the end I am only left with 8 individual "vOUTdiff.csv" files (+8 old "vOUTdiff.csv~").

The root of the problem seems to be in the way the simulations are being launched, since in the individual spectre.out logs I see the warnings coming from my VA code messages about the files being overwritten (see attached excerpt below), and also that the MC points are being treated as "iterations".

How can I avoid this behavior, and force ADE-XL/spectre to keep the individual results directories for every MC point, while being able to run many MC points in parallel?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,

Jorge

Parents
  • Andrew Beckett

    Hi Jorge,

    Without even looking at Frank's case, the reason why this works is that when using a pre-run script with Monte Carlo, it expects to run the pre-run script for each point in the monte carlo. This means that each monte carlo point will be a separate simulation. The fact that you have a pre-run script at all forces this - rather than just having to ask for as many jobs as there are points (which would try to run them all in parallel) - even if the pre-run script doesn't do anything.

    You can't see Frank's case - normally cases are private.

    I will take a look (later today, I hope) to create a solution for this (ideally the AE who dealt with Frank's case would have proposed one for me to review). Then I'll post a pointer to that.

    Thanks - I'd hop on it right away, but I'm in the middle of something at the moment...

    Cheers,

    Andrew.

Reply
  • Andrew Beckett

    Hi Jorge,

    Without even looking at Frank's case, the reason why this works is that when using a pre-run script with Monte Carlo, it expects to run the pre-run script for each point in the monte carlo. This means that each monte carlo point will be a separate simulation. The fact that you have a pre-run script at all forces this - rather than just having to ask for as many jobs as there are points (which would try to run them all in parallel) - even if the pre-run script doesn't do anything.

    You can't see Frank's case - normally cases are private.

    I will take a look (later today, I hope) to create a solution for this (ideally the AE who dealt with Frank's case would have proposed one for me to review). Then I'll post a pointer to that.

    Thanks - I'd hop on it right away, but I'm in the middle of something at the moment...

    Cheers,

    Andrew.

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