Hardware Verification With C

Describes a small verification library with a concentration on user adaptability such as re-useable components, portable Intellectual Property, and co-verification. Takes a realistic view of reusability and distills lessons learned down to a tool box of techniques and guidelines.

Verification is increasingly complex, and SystemVerilog is one of the languages that the verification community is turning to. However, no language by itself can guarantee success without proper techniques. Object-oriented programming (OOP), with its focus on managing complexity, is ideally suited to this task. With this handbook—the first to focus on applying OOP to SystemVerilog—we’ll show how to manage complexity by using layers of abstraction and base classes. By adapting these techniques, you will write more "reasonable" code, and build efficient and reusable verification components. Both a learning tool and a reference, this handbook contains hundreds of real-world code snippets and three professional verification-system examples. You can copy and paste from these examples, which are all based on an open-source, vendor-neutral framework (with code freely available at www.trusster.com). Learn about OOP techniques such as these: Creating classes—code interfaces, factory functions, reuse Connecting classes—pointers, inheritance, channels Using "correct by construction"—strong typing, base classes Packaging it up—singletons, static methods, packages

This advanced textbook presents an almost complete overview of techniques for hardware verification. It covers all approaches used in existing tools, such as binary and word-level decision diagrams, symbolic methods for equivalence and temporal logic model checking, and introduces the use of higher-order logic theorem proving for verifying circuit correctness. Each chapter contains an introduction and a summary as well as a section for the advanced reader, aiding an understanding of the advantages and limitations of each technique. Backed by many examples and illustrations, this text will appeal to a broad audience, from beginners in system design to experts. XXXXXXX Neuer Text This is a complete overview of existing techniques for hardware verification. It covers all approaches used in existing verification tools, such as symbolic methods for equivalence checking, temporal logic model checking, and higher-order logic theorem proving for verifying circuit correctness. The book helps readers to understand the advantages and limitations of each technique. Each chapter contains a summary as well as a section for the advanced reader.

Hardware/software co-verification is how to make sure that embedded system software works correctly with the hardware, and that the hardware has been properly designed to run the software successfully -before large sums are spent on prototypes or manufacturing. This is the first book to apply this verification technique to the rapidly growing field of embedded systems-on-a-chip(SoC). As traditional embedded system design evolves into single-chip design, embedded engineers must be armed with the necessary information to make educated decisions about which tools and methodology to deploy. SoC verification requires a mix of expertise from the disciplines of microprocessor and computer architecture, logic design and simulation, and C and Assembly language embedded software. Until now, the relevant information on how it all fits together has not been available. Andrews, a recognized expert, provides in-depth information about how co-verification really works, how to be successful using it, and pitfalls to avoid. He illustrates these concepts using concrete examples with the ARM core - a technology that has the dominant market share in embedded system product design. The companion CD-ROM contains all source code used in the design examples, a searchable e-book version, and useful design tools. * The only book on verification for systems-on-a-chip (SoC) on the market * Will save engineers and their companies time and money by showing them how to speed up the testing process, while still avoiding costly mistakes * Design examples use the ARM core, the dominant technology in SoC, and all the source code is included on the accompanying CD-Rom, so engineers can easily use it in their own designs

This state-of-the-art monograph presents a coherent survey of a variety of methods and systems for formal hardware verification. It emphasizes the presentation of approaches that have matured into tools and systems usable for the actual verification of nontrivial circuits. All in all, the book is a representative and well-structured survey on the success and future potential of formal methods in proving the correctness of circuits. The various chapters describe the respective approaches supplying theoretical foundations as well as taking into account the application viewpoint. By applying all methods and systems presented to the same set of IFIP WG10.5 hardware verification examples, a valuable and fair analysis of the strenghts and weaknesses of the various approaches is given.

Co-Design is the set of emerging techniques which allows for the simultaneous design of Hardware and Software. In many cases where the application is very demanding in terms of various performances (time, surface, power consumption), trade-offs between dedicated hardware and dedicated software are becoming increasingly difficult to decide upon in the early stages of a design. Verification techniques - such as simulation or proof techniques - that have proven necessary in the hardware design must be dramatically adapted to the simultaneous verification of Software and Hardware. Describing the latest tools available for both Co-Design and Co-Verification of systems, Hardware/Software Co-Design and Co-Verification offers a complete look at this evolving set of procedures for CAD environments. The book considers all trade-offs that have to be made when co-designing a system. Several models are presented for determining the optimum solution to any co-design problem, including partitioning, architecture synthesis and code generation. When deciding on trade-offs, one of the main factors to be considered is the flow of communication, especially to and from the outside world. This involves the modeling of communication protocols. An approach to the synthesis of interface circuits in the context of co-design is presented. Other chapters present a co-design oriented flexible component data-base and retrieval methods; a case study of an ethernet bridge, designed using LOTOS and co-design methodologies and finally a programmable user interface based on monitors. Hardware/Software Co-Design and Co-Verification will help designers and researchers to understand these latest techniques in system design and as such will be of interest to all involved in embedded system design.

I am glad to see this new book on the e language and on verification. I am especially glad to see a description of the e Reuse Methodology (eRM). The main goal of verification is, after all, finding more bugs quicker using given resources, and verification reuse (module-to-system, old-system-to-new-system etc. ) is a key enabling component. This book offers a fresh approach in teaching the e hardware verification language within the context of coverage driven verification methodology. I hope it will help the reader und- stand the many important and interesting topics surrounding hardware verification. Yoav Hollander Founder and CTO, Verisity Inc. Preface This book provides a detailed coverage of the e hardware verification language (HVL), state of the art verification methodologies, and the use of e HVL as a facilitating verification tool in implementing a state of the art verification environment. It includes comprehensive descriptions of the new concepts introduced by the e language, e language syntax, and its as- ciated semantics. This book also describes the architectural views and requirements of verifi- tion environments (randomly generated environments, coverage driven verification environments, etc. ), verification blocks in the architectural views (i. e. generators, initiators, c- lectors, checkers, monitors, coverage definitions, etc. ) and their implementations using the e HVL. Moreover, the e Reuse Methodology (eRM), the motivation for defining such a gui- line, and step-by-step instructions for building an eRM compliant e Verification Component (eVC) are also discussed.

This report describes the partially completed correctness proof of the Viper 'block model'. Viper [7,8,9,11,23] is a microprocessor designed by W. J. Cullyer, C. Pygott and J. Kershaw at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern, England, (henceforth 'RSRE') for use in safety-critical applications such as civil aviation and nuclear power plant control. It is currently finding uses in areas such as the de ployment of weapons from tactical aircraft. To support safety-critical applications, Viper has a particulary simple design about which it is relatively easy to reason using current techniques and models. The designers, who deserve much credit for the promotion of formal methods, intended from the start that Viper be formally verified. Their idea was to model Viper in a sequence of decreasingly abstract levels, each of which concentrated on some aspect ofthe design, such as the flow ofcontrol, the processingofinstructions, and so on. That is, each model would be a specification of the next (less abstract) model, and an implementation of the previous model (if any). The verification effort would then be simplified by being structured according to the sequence of abstraction levels. These models (or levels) of description were characterized by the design team. The first two levels, and part of the third, were written by them in a logical language amenable to reasoning and proof.