A Study in Coverage-Driven Test Generation

Mike Benjamin; Daniel Geist; Alan Hartman; Yaron Wolfsthal; Gerard Mas; Ralph Smeets

doi:10.1145/309847.310108

A Study in Coverage-Driven Test Generation

Mike Benjamin, Daniel Geist, Alan Hartman, Yaron Wolfsthal, Gerard Mas, Ralph Smeets

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

One possible solution to the verification crisis is to bridge the gap between formal verification and simulation by using hybrid techniques. This paper presents a study of such a functional verification methodology that uses coverage of formal models to specify tests. This was applied to a modern superscalar microprocessor and the resulting tests were compared to tests generated using existing methods. The results showed some 50% improvement in transition coverage with less than a third the number of test instructions, demonstrating that hybrid techniques can significantly improve functional verification.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 36th Conference on Design Automation
Editors	Mary Jane Irwin
Publisher	ACM Press
Pages	970-975
Number of pages	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/309847.310108
State	Published - 1999
Externally published	Yes
Event	Proceedings of the 1999 36th Annual Design Automation Conference (DAC) - New Orleans, LA, USA Duration: 21 Jun 1999 → 25 Jun 1999

Conference

Conference	Proceedings of the 1999 36th Annual Design Automation Conference (DAC)
City	New Orleans, LA, USA
Period	21/06/99 → 25/06/99

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Hardware and Architecture
Control and Systems Engineering

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10.1145/309847.310108

https://doi.org/10.1145/309847.310108

Cite this

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title = "A Study in Coverage-Driven Test Generation",

abstract = "One possible solution to the verification crisis is to bridge the gap between formal verification and simulation by using hybrid techniques. This paper presents a study of such a functional verification methodology that uses coverage of formal models to specify tests. This was applied to a modern superscalar microprocessor and the resulting tests were compared to tests generated using existing methods. The results showed some 50\% improvement in transition coverage with less than a third the number of test instructions, demonstrating that hybrid techniques can significantly improve functional verification.",

author = "Mike Benjamin and Daniel Geist and Alan Hartman and Yaron Wolfsthal and Gerard Mas and Ralph Smeets",

year = "1999",

doi = "10.1145/309847.310108",

language = "English",

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editor = "Irwin, \{Mary Jane\}",

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publisher = "ACM Press",

note = "Proceedings of the 1999 36th Annual Design Automation Conference (DAC) ; Conference date: 21-06-1999 Through 25-06-1999",

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T1 - A Study in Coverage-Driven Test Generation

AU - Benjamin, Mike

AU - Geist, Daniel

AU - Hartman, Alan

AU - Wolfsthal, Yaron

AU - Mas, Gerard

AU - Smeets, Ralph

PY - 1999

Y1 - 1999

N2 - One possible solution to the verification crisis is to bridge the gap between formal verification and simulation by using hybrid techniques. This paper presents a study of such a functional verification methodology that uses coverage of formal models to specify tests. This was applied to a modern superscalar microprocessor and the resulting tests were compared to tests generated using existing methods. The results showed some 50% improvement in transition coverage with less than a third the number of test instructions, demonstrating that hybrid techniques can significantly improve functional verification.

AB - One possible solution to the verification crisis is to bridge the gap between formal verification and simulation by using hybrid techniques. This paper presents a study of such a functional verification methodology that uses coverage of formal models to specify tests. This was applied to a modern superscalar microprocessor and the resulting tests were compared to tests generated using existing methods. The results showed some 50% improvement in transition coverage with less than a third the number of test instructions, demonstrating that hybrid techniques can significantly improve functional verification.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0032667939

U2 - 10.1145/309847.310108

DO - 10.1145/309847.310108

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:0032667939

SP - 970

EP - 975

BT - Proceedings of the 36th Conference on Design Automation

A2 - Irwin, Mary Jane

PB - ACM Press

T2 - Proceedings of the 1999 36th Annual Design Automation Conference (DAC)

Y2 - 21 June 1999 through 25 June 1999

ER -

A Study in Coverage-Driven Test Generation

Abstract

Conference

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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