[cert] Add page/section-based CERT lowering

[fifield]

Adopt a page-based CERT representation in the AIEX dialect and lower aie.runtime_sequence into it for emission to uC control code.

• CERTOps.td: add CertPageOp, CertSectionOp, CertPreemptOp, CertLoadPdiOp; widen CertJobOp parents to pages/sections.
• AIENpuToCert (aie-npu-to-cert): page-based lowering with Run-op inlining, Configure->Section, page wrapping/splitting (fixes the page-split infinite loop), and PDI-id assignment.
• AIETargetUcCert (aie-cert-to-asm): emit page/section/preempt/load_pdi and a .partition header; outputPath plumbing.
• Tests (npu2): page_legalize, split_blockwrite, cert_to_asm.

The lowering and emission are device-neutral and exercised on npu2 via aie-opt/aie-translate. CERT full-ELF generation in aiecc and the AIE2PS/AIE4 device glue depend on a CERT-capable device target that is not yet upstream; they are deferred to land alongside device enablement.

[github-actions]

Coverage Report

Created: 2026-07-13 23:20

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Filename	Function Coverage	Line Coverage	Region Coverage	Branch Coverage
home/runner/work/mlir-aie/mlir-aie/lib/Dialect/AIEX/Transforms/AIENpuToCert.cpp	72.22%	61.83%	55.53%	46.56%
Totals	72.22%	61.83%	55.53%	46.56%

Generated by llvm-cov -- llvm version 18.1.3

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates the AIEX CERT pipeline to use a page/section-based CERT IR, lowers aie.runtime_sequence into that representation (including configure → cert.section + cert.load_pdi), and extends the uC CERT emitter to output pages/sections and the new CERT opcodes.

Changes:

• Add page/section/PDI/preempt CERT ops and update CERT job parenting to support page/section structure.
• Rework -aie-npu-to-cert to produce page-wrapped jobs, absorb referenced devices into cert.section, and add PDI-id assignment + Run-op inlining.
• Update aie-cert-to-asm emission for pages/sections and add new tests for page legalization, blockwrite splitting, and CERT-to-asm output.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
test/Targets/NPU/cert_to_asm.mlir	New translation test covering aie-cert-to-asm output formatting and emitted chain/data.
test/Targets/AIETargetUcCert/split_blockwrite.mlir	New test for blockwrite splitting behavior as part of -aie-npu-to-cert.
test/Targets/AIETargetUcCert/page_legalize.mlir	New test input for page-legalization / splitting behavior.
test/Conversion/NpuToCert/split_blockwrite.mlir	Adjust FileCheck ordering for split globals vs BD emission.
lib/Targets/AIETargetUcCert.cpp	Add emission for pages/sections/load_pdi/preempt; add outputPath plumbing and .partition header.
lib/Dialect/AIEX/Transforms/AIENpuToCert.cpp	Major rewrite of lowering to page-based CERT, including device absorption and legalization patterns.
include/aie/Targets/AIETargets.h	Extend AIETranslateToUcDma API with optional outputPath.
include/aie/Dialect/AIEX/Transforms/AIEXPasses.td	Change aie-npu-to-cert to a ModuleOp pass and add --device-name option.
include/aie/Dialect/AIEX/Transforms/AIEXPasses.h	Update pass factory signature for the ModuleOp pass.
include/aie/Dialect/AIEX/IR/CERTOps.td	Add cert.page, cert.section, cert.load_pdi, cert.preempt and widen cert.job parents.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

lib/Dialect/AIEX/Transforms/AIENpuToCert.cpp:928

• SplitNpuBlockWriteOpPattern is applied to getOperation() (the whole module) even though processDevice() is intended to operate on one device at a time. This can rewrite other devices earlier than intended, and the failure path doesn't return after signalPassFailure(), so the pass may continue in a failed state. Apply the pattern to currentDevice and return on failure.

    // Split oversized NpuBlockWriteOps before lowering them to cert ops
    {
      RewritePatternSet p(&getContext());
      p.insert<SplitNpuBlockWriteOpPattern>(&getContext());
      if (failed(applyPatternsGreedily(getOperation(), std::move(p))))
        signalPassFailure();

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