---
layout: docs
title:  "Blackboxes"
section: "user-guide"
---
Chisel *BlackBoxes* are used to instantiate externally defined modules. This construct is useful
for hardware constructs that cannot be described in Chisel and for connecting to FPGA or other IP not defined in Chisel.

Modules defined as a `BlackBox` will be instantiated in the generated Verilog, but no code
will be generated to define the behavior of module.

Unlike Module, BlackBox has no implicit clock and reset. Ports declared
in the IO Bundle will be generated with the requested name (ie. no preceding `io_`).

### Parameterization

**This is an experimental feature and is subject to API change**

Verilog parameters can be passed as an argument to the BlackBox constructor.

For example, consider instantiating a Xilinx differential clock buffer (IBUFDS) in a Chisel design:

```scala
import chisel3._
import chisel3.util._
import chisel3.experimental._ // To enable experimental features

class IBUFDS extends BlackBox(Map("DIFF_TERM" -> "TRUE",
                                  "IOSTANDARD" -> "DEFAULT")) {
  val io = IO(new Bundle {
    val O = Output(Clock())
    val I = Input(Clock())
    val IB = Input(Clock())
  })
}
```

In the Chisel-generated Verilog code, `IBUFDS` will be instantiated as:

```verilog
IBUFDS #(.DIFF_TERM("TRUE"), .IOSTANDARD("DEFAULT")) ibufds (
  .IB(ibufds_IB),
  .I(ibufds_I),
  .O(ibufds_O)
);
```

### Providing Implementations for Blackboxes
The Chisel Execution Harness (see [Running Stuff](Running-Stuff)) provides the following ways of delivering the code underlying the blackbox.  Consider the following blackbox that adds two real numbers together.  The numbers are represented in chisel3 as 64-bit unsigned integers.
```scala
class BlackBoxRealAdd extends BlackBox {
  val io = IO(new Bundle() {
    val in1 = Input(UInt(64.W))
    val in2 = Input(UInt(64.W))
    val out = Output(UInt(64.W))
  })
}
```
The implementation is described by the following verilog
```
module BlackBoxRealAdd(
    input  [63:0] in1,
    input  [63:0] in2,
    output reg [63:0] out
);
  always @* begin
  out <= $realtobits($bitstoreal(in1) + $bitstoreal(in2));
  end
endmodule
```

### Blackboxes with Verilog in a Resource File
In order to deliver the verilog snippet above to the backend simulator, chisel3 provides the following tools based on the chisel/firrtl [annotation system](Annotations-Extending-Chisel-and-Firrtl).  Add the trait ```HasBlackBoxResource``` to the declaration, and then call a function in the body to say where the system can find the verilog.  The Module now looks like
```scala
class BlackBoxRealAdd extends BlackBox with HasBlackBoxResource {
  val io = IO(new Bundle() {
    val in1 = Input(UInt(64.W))
    val in2 = Input(UInt(64.W))
    val out = Output(UInt(64.W))
  })
  setResource("/real_math.v")
}
```
The verilog snippet above gets put into a resource file names ```real_math.v```.  What is a resource file? It comes from a java convention of keeping files in a project that are automatically included in library distributions. In a typical chisel3 project, see [chisel-template](https://github.com/ucb-bar/chisel-template), this would be a directory in the source hierarchy
```
src/main/resources/real_math.v
```

### Blackboxes with In-line Verilog
It is also possible to place this verilog directly in the scala source.  Instead of ```HasBlackBoxResource``` use ```HasBlackBoxInline``` and instead of ```setResource``` use ```setInline```.  The code will look like this.
```scala
class BlackBoxRealAdd extends BlackBox with HasBlackBoxInline {
  val io = IO(new Bundle() {
    val in1 = Input(UInt(64.W))
    val in2 = Input(UInt(64.W))
    val out = Output(UInt(64.W))
  })
  setInline("BlackBoxRealAdd.v",
    s"""
      |module BlackBoxRealAdd(
      |    input  [15:0] in1,
      |    input  [15:0] in2,
      |    output [15:0] out
      |);
      |always @* begin
      |  out <= $realtobits($bitstoreal(in1) + $bitstoreal(in2));
      |end
      |endmodule
    """.stripMargin)
}
```
This technique will copy the inline verilog into the target directory under the name ```BlackBoxRealAdd.v```

### Under the Hood
This mechanism of delivering verilog content to the testing backends is implemented via chisel/firrtl annotations.  The two methods, inline and resource, are two kinds of annotations that are created via the ```setInline``` and ```setResource``` methods calls.  Those annotations are passed through to the chisel-testers which in turn passes them on to firrtl.  The default firrtl verilog compilers have a pass that detects the annotations and moves the files or inline test into the build directory.  For each unique file added, the transform adds a line to a file black_box_verilog_files.f, this file is added to the command line constructed for verilator or vcs to inform them where to look.
The [dsptools project](/ucb-bar/dsptools) is a good example of using this feature to build a real number simulation tester based on black boxes.

### The interpreter
The [firrtl interpreter](/ucb-bar/firrtl-interpreter) uses a separate system that allows users to construct scala implementations of the black boxes.  The scala implementation code built into a BlackBoxFactory which is passed down to the interpreter by the execution harness.  The interpreter is a scala simulation tester.  Once again the dsptools project uses this mechanism and is a good place to look at it.
> It is planned that the BlackBoxFactory will be replaced by integration with the annotation based blackbox methods stuff soon.
