Comprehensive Functional Verification

One of the biggest challenges in chip and system design is determining whether the hardware works correctly. That is the job of functional verification engineers and they are the audience for this comprehensive text from three top industry professionals.As designs increase in complexity, so has the value of verification engineers within the hardware design team. In fact, the need for skilled verification engineers has grown dramatically--functional verification now consumes between 40 and 70% of a project's labor, and about half its cost. Currently there are very few books on verification for engineers, and none that cover the subject as comprehensively as this text. A key strength of this book is that it describes the entire verification cycle and details each stage. The organization of the book follows the cycle, demonstrating how functional verification engages all aspects of the overall design effort and how individual cycle stages relate to the larger design process. Throughout the text, the authors leverage their 35 plus years experience in functional verification, providing examples and case studies, and focusing on the skills, methods, and tools needed to complete each verification task. Comprehensive overview of the complete verification cycle Combines industry experience with a strong emphasis on functional verification fundamentals Includes real-world case studies

This book describes in detail all required technologies and methodologies needed to create a comprehensive, functional design verification strategy and environment to tackle the toughest job of guaranteeing first-pass working silicon. The author first outlines all of the verification sub-fields at a high level, with just enough depth to allow an engineer to grasp the field before delving into its detail. He then describes in detail industry standard technologies such as UVM (Universal Verification Methodology), SVA (SystemVerilog Assertions), SFC (SystemVerilog Functional Coverage), CDV (Coverage Driven Verification), Low Power Verification (Unified Power Format UPF), AMS (Analog Mixed Signal) verification, Virtual Platform TLM2.0/ESL (Electronic System Level) methodology, Static Formal Verification, Logic Equivalency Check (LEC), Hardware Acceleration, Hardware Emulation, Hardware/Software Co-verification, Power Performance Area (PPA) analysis on a virtual platform, Reuse Methodology from Algorithm/ESL to RTL, and other overall methodologies.

This book addresses a means of quantitatively assessing functional verification progress. Without this process, design and verification engineers, and their management, are left guessing whether or not they have completed verifying the device they are designing. Using the techniques described in this book, they will learn how to build a toolset which allows them to know how close they are to functional closure. This is the first book to introduce a useful taxonomy for coverage of metric classification. Using this taxonomy, the reader will clearly understand the process of creating an effective coverage model. This book offers a thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of its subject for anybody who is really serious about functional verification.

The Integrated Circuit (IC) industry has gone without a standardized verification approach for decades. This book defines a uniform, standardizable methodology for verifying the logical behavior of an integrated circuit, whether an I/O controller, a microprocessor, or a complete digital system. This book will help Engineers and managers responsible for IC development to bring a single, standards-based methodology to their R & D efforts, cutting costs and improving results.

mental improvements during the same period. What is clearly needed in verification techniques and technology is the equivalent of a synthesis productivity breakthrough. In the second edition of Writing Testbenches, Bergeron raises the verification level of abstraction by introducing coverage-driven constrained-random transaction-level self-checking testbenches all made possible through the introduction of hardware verification languages (HVLs), such as e from Verisity and OpenVera from Synopsys. The state-of-art methodologies described in Writing Test benches will contribute greatly to the much-needed equivalent of a synthesis breakthrough in verification productivity. I not only highly recommend this book, but also I think it should be required reading by anyone involved in design and verification of today's ASIC, SoCs and systems. Harry Foster Chief Architect Verplex Systems, Inc. xviii Writing Testbenches: Functional Verification of HDL Models PREFACE If you survey hardware design groups, you will learn that between 60% and 80% of their effort is now dedicated to verification.

The purpose of the book is to train verification engineers on the breadth of technologies available and to give them a utilitarian methodology for making effective use of those technologies. The book is easy to understand and a joy to read. Its organization follows a ‘typical’ verification project from inception to completion, (planning to closure). The book elucidates concepts using non-technical terms and clear entertaining explanations. Analogies to other fields are employed to keep the book light-hearted and interesting.

This book addresses a means of quantitatively assessing functional verification progress. Without this process, design and verification engineers, and their management, are left guessing whether or not they have completed verifying the device they are designing. Using the techniques described in this book, they will learn how to build a toolset which allows them to know how close they are to functional closure. This is the first book to introduce a useful taxonomy for coverage of metric classification. Using this taxonomy, the reader will clearly understand the process of creating an effective coverage model. This book offers a thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of its subject for anybody who is really serious about functional verification.

Addressing the need for full and accurate functional information during the design process, this guide offers a comprehensive overview of functional verification from the points of view of leading experts at work in the electronic-design industry.