ModelSim error: unexpected internal error in Questa

[FOudm]

Dear all,

I'm trying to simulate the following piece of code:

module peak_detect #( parameter BATCH_SIZE, parameter DATA_WIDTH )( input wire clk, input wire reset, input wire sink_sop, input wire sink_eop, input wire sink_valid, input wire [DATA_WIDTH-1:0] sink_re, input wire [DATA_WIDTH-1:0] sink_im, output bit source_sop, output bit source_eop, output bit source_valid, output int source_freq, output int source_mag, output int source_phaseA, output int source_phaseB );   // more parameters localparam BIN_WIDTH = 10; localparam NPEAKS = 4; localparam shortint EXPEAKS[NPEAKS] = '{200, 400, 600, 800}; localparam PEAKDEV = 50;   typedef struct { shortint bin; byte delta; int re[0:2]; int im[0:2]; int mag[0:2]; } chunk;   task automatic chunk_reset(ref chunk chnk); chnk.bin <= 0; chnk.delta <= 0; for (byte i = 0; i < 3; i++) begin chnk.re[i] <= 0; chnk.im[i] <= 0; chnk.mag[i] <= 0; end endtask   task automatic chunk_shift(ref chunk chnk); chnk.bin <= chnk.bin + 1; for (byte i = 0; i < 2; i++) begin chnk.re[i] <= chnk.re[i+1]; chnk.im[i] <= chnk.im[i+1]; chnk.mag[i] <= chnk.mag[i+1]; end chnk.re[2] <= sink_re; chnk.im[2] <= sink_im; chnk.mag[2] <= hypot(sink_re, sink_im) <<< 8; endtask   chunk buffer; chunk peaks[0:NPEAKS-1]; bit [$clog2(BATCH_SIZE)-1:0] sink_pos; bit sink_done; bit [$clog2(NPEAKS)-1:0] source_pos; bit source_done;   always @(posedge clk) begin if (reset || sink_eop) begin chunk_reset(buffer); for (byte i = 0; i < NPEAKS; i++) chunk_reset(peaks[i]); sink_pos <= 0; sink_done <= 0; source_pos <= 0; source_done <= 0; source_valid <= 0; end else if (!sink_done && sink_valid) begin for (byte i = 0; i < NPEAKS; i++) if (EXPEAKS[i]-PEAKDEV <= sink_pos && sink_pos < EXPEAKS[i]+PEAKDEV && buffer.mag[1] > peaks[i].mag[1]) peaks[i] <= buffer; chunk_shift(buffer); sink_done <= (sink_pos == BATCH_SIZE - 1) ? 1 : 0; sink_pos <= sink_pos + 1; end else begin source_valid <= 0; end end   endmodule

The code is perfectly synthesisable in Quartus Prime Lite, but ModelSim returns an error when compiling: "Error: C:/[path]/peak_detect.sv(35): Questa has encountered an unexpected internal error: ../../src/vlog/vgencode.c(118)"

If I comment out the calling of the task, ModelSim still gives the same error. So it's something with the task, but I don't know what exactly. Does anyone have an idea how to solve this problem? Am I doing really bad things with my code, or is it a bug in ModelSim?

[Abe]

Looks like the both the automatic tasks are causing this error. Have you tried commenting out both the automatic functions and checking if it compiles without errors. You may want to use normal tasks and remove the ref keyword and compile.

Convert the tasks to normal without the reference.

[GuaBin_N_Intel]

Agreed to Abe. To debug further, try not to use passing reference in the argument in the task.

[FOudm]

Thanks for both answers.

It had indeed something to do with the reference passing in combination with the non-blocking assignments. It's weird that the Quartus synthesizer no problems found, but Modelsim did.

I've solved the problem by completely eliminating both tasks by integrating them into the always-block.

[GuaBin_N_Intel]

​Pass by reference in task or function is supported in Quartus synthesis https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/programmable/quartushelp/current/index.htm#hdl/vlog/vlog_list_sys_vlog_d1627e885.htm. Couldn't find the support list of Modelsim.