Customizable Embedded Processors Design Technologies and Applications

Chapter 12. Processor Verification

Daniel Groβe, Robert Siegmund, and Rolf Drechsler

The preceding chapters focused on designing and modeling of embedded processors. As ensuring the correct functional behavior has become a major factor for successful circuit and system design, the present chapter addresses this issue for embedded processors and gives an overview on existing verification techniques. We start with the classical approaches based on simulation using directed and constrained random testing, with a particular focus on assertion-based verification. Then semiformal techniques are studied, and we end with proof techniques, such as property and assertion checking. For each method, the advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The most ...