Get Running

One command installs the RouteRTL SDK and launches RouteWave. The binary is auto-downloaded on first use — no manual setup.

Install

First Launch

Open RouteWave with a waveform file to jump straight into analysis. It accepts VCD, FST, GHW, and ILA CSV formats.

At launch, the Signal Hierarchy panel loads the full design tree. Double-click any signal to add it to the waveform view.

WSL2 (Windows)

RouteWave runs natively on WSL2. A fresh Ubuntu install needs OpenGL libraries first — one line, then you're set.

The Layout

RouteWave has four main panels. Understanding where things live will make everything else in this guide click.

Signal Hierarchy

The left panel shows your entire design tree. Modules are expandable folders; signals are leaf nodes with coloured eye badges. Double-click a signal to add it to the waveform view. The eye badge turns bright blue when a signal is currently displayed.

Waveform View

The center canvas renders your signals at 60 FPS using GPU-accelerated rendering. Each signal occupies a horizontal row with its name and current value on the left. Bus signals display as diamond-shaped lozenges with their hex value inside.

The timeline ruler at the top shows time ticks with auto-scaling units (ns, μs, ms, s). Use the unit selector in the toolbar to force a specific unit.

Mission Control

The right panel provides live context about your current view:

• ▸Cursor State — positions and delta of all active cursors
• ▸View Info — zoom level, time window, active channel count
• ▸Hover Measurements — signal name, value, frequency, period, width, and duty cycle at the mouse position
• ▸Display — rendering settings and visual options

Console

The bottom panel is a scriptable command console. Focus it with Ctrl+J. Every action in RouteWave — adding signals, changing views, attaching decoders — can be done through the console. This makes RouteWave fully automatable.

Navigate

Fast navigation is essential for waveform debugging. RouteWave supports mouse, keyboard, and console-based navigation — use whichever fits your flow.

Zoom & Pan

Cursors

RouteWave uses a cursor stack. Click on the waveform to place the primary cursor. Use C to push additional cursors onto the stack. The Mission Control panel shows cursor positions and the delta between them.

The delta measurement between cursors is shown in Mission Control as "Δ" with the time difference. Use this to measure clock periods, pulse widths, or protocol timing without leaving the main view.

Edge Jumping

When you're focused on a specific signal, use edge jumping to snap between transitions:

Edge jumping works on the currently selected signal. Click a signal name in the hierarchy or waveform to select it, then use N and Shift+N to walk through its transitions.

Bookmarks

Save viewport positions for quick recall during long debugging sessions:

Or use M to add a named marker at the current cursor position. Markers appear as labeled vertical lines on the timeline.

Work with Signals

RouteWave goes beyond simple signal viewing — you can create virtual buses, search for values, and group related signals together.

Add & Remove

There are multiple ways to add signals to the waveform view:

• ▸Double-click a signal in the hierarchy tree
• ▸Use the console: show clk, show data[7:0]
• ▸Use Ctrl+F to search and add

To remove a signal, right-click it in the waveform and select "Hide", or use hide signalname in the console.

Reorder & Group

Drag and drop signals in the waveform view to reorder them. You can also create visual groups to separate related signals with dividers and labels.

Change Radix

Bus signals default to hexadecimal display. Change the display radix using keyboard shortcuts or the console:

Select a signal first, then press the number key. ASCII mode is particularly useful for UART data buses where you want to see the transmitted characters directly on the waveform.

Virtual Buses

Combine individual signals into a virtual bus for grouped analysis:

Virtual buses appear in the waveform just like real bus signals — with lozenges showing the combined hex value. They persist across sessions when saved in a .ltrace session file.

Find Values

Search a bus signal for a specific value — essential for tracking down a particular address access or data pattern:

You can also use the Find value button in the toolbar. Search results are highlighted on the timeline with small markers.

Analyze

RouteWave includes built-in analysis tools that let you decode protocols, measure timings, and compare waveforms — without leaving the viewer.

Measurements

The measure command computes timing properties of a signal:

For quick hover measurements, just move your mouse over any signal. Mission Control updates live with the signal name, current value, and timing properties at the cursor position.

Handshake Analyzer

Bind a valid/ready pair to visualize handshake transfers as coloured overlay bands on the waveform:

Or press H with two signals selected. The handshake overlay appears as semi-transparent bands across the waveform, making protocol bottlenecks immediately visible.

Protocol Decoders

RouteWave includes built-in decoders for common serial protocols:

Decoded data appears as annotated labels directly on the waveform timeline. For UART, you'll see individual bytes with their ASCII representation.

Waveform Diff

Compare two simulation runs side-by-side to find the exact point where behaviour diverges:

Waveform Comparison

Compare two simulation runs to find where behaviour diverges. Load a reference file and use the compare command to overlay differences on individual signals:

Automate

Every action in RouteWave can be done through the console. This makes it fully scriptable — set up complex signal views once, save them as scripts, and replay instantly.

Console Commands

Open the console with Ctrl+T. Here are the most commonly used commands:

Macro Recording

Record a sequence of console commands to a .ltr file and replay them later:

Script Files

Save your setup as a script file (.ltr) and source it on startup. This is the power-user path to reproducible debugging sessions:

CSV Export

Export the visible waveform data to CSV for post-processing in Python, MATLAB, or spreadsheet tools:

Reference

Keyboard Shortcuts

File Formats

CLI Flags

Memory Management

For large waveform files, RouteWave includes a compression engine using delta-varint timestamps and RLE values to reduce memory usage: