Circuit Architecture Test Verification Based on Hardware Software Co-design with ModelSim

Abstract

In view of the recent paradigm shift from system-on-board to designs embracing embedded cores-based system-on-chips (SOCs), the complexity of digital circuits has enormously increased. This growing complexity has resulted in a huge challenge in developing their appropriate and efficient fault testing environment. Despite significant efforts directed toward implementing effective testing strategies of very large scale integrated circuit chips with reasonable cost, new frontiers emerged with advances in technology. The subject paper endeavors to develop method to test verify circuit architecture under hardware software co-design environment, targeting specifically embedded cores-based SOCs. The concept of design-for-testability is utilized in the paper together with ModelSim simulation and verification tool to test synthesize the entire design. Some simulation results on the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) 85 combinational and ISCAS 89 full-scan sequential benchmark circuits are also included with a comparison of the results with some earlier works.

Keywords:

• Built-in self-test
• Embedded cores-based system-on-chips
• Fault injection
• Fault simulation
• Module under test
• Test pattern generator
• Verilog hardware description language

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sunil R. Das

Sunil R. Das received the B.Sc. degree (with honors) in physics and the M.Sc. (Tech) and Ph.D. degrees in radiophysics and electronics from the University of Calcutta, Calcutta, India. He previously held academic and research positions with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Center for Reliable Computing, Computer Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (on sabbatical leave), Institute of Computer Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C. and Center of Advanced Study, Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics, University of Calcutta. He is currently an Emeritus Professor of electrical and computer engineering with the School of Information Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada and is also a Professor of computer science with the Department of Computer Science, College of Arts and Sciences, Troy University, Montgomery, AL, USA. He has published numerous papers in the areas of switching and automata theory, digital logic design, threshold logic, fault-tolerant computing, built-in self-test with emphasis on embedded cores-based system-on-chip, microprogramming and microarchitecture, microcode optimization, applied theory of graphs and combinatorics. Dr. Das has served on the technical program committees and organizing committees of many IEEE and non-IEEE international conferences, symposia, and workshops and has acted as Session Organizer, Session Chair and Panelist. He also served in the Editorial Boards of many IEEE and non-IEEE publications. He is the recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s highly esteemed Technical Achievement Award, co-recipient of the IEEE’s Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award, recipient of the C. V. Ramamoorthy Distinguished Scholar Award of the Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS) and of Troy University’s Wallace D. Malone Distinguished Faculty Award, among others. He is listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. Dr. Das is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, a Life Member and Distinguished Scientist of the ACM, an Emeritus Fellow of the CAE, a Fellow of the EIC and of the SDPS (USA). He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Computers, Information Technology and Engineering (IJCITAE) published by Serials Publications, Delhi, India (first issue was in June 2007). E-mail: [email protected]

Jun-Feng Li

Jun-Feng Li received the B.Sc. degree in electrical information engineering from the School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University in 2003 and M.Sc. degree in system science from the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada in 2008.

Since April 2008, he has been employed by Skywave Mobile Communications – a global provider of satellite communication equipment and airtime services for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, where he works as a Software Verification Engineer. His research interests include software automation testing and software verification engineering. E-mail: [email protected].

Amiya R. Nayak

Amiya R. Nayak received the B.Math. in computer science, combinatorics and optimization from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada in 1981 and Ph.D. in systems and computer engineering from the Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada in 1991. He has over 17 years of industrial experience in software engineering, avionics, navigation systems, simulation and systems level performance analysis. He is in the Editorial Board of several journals including IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, International Journal of Parallel, Emergent and Distributed Systems, International Journal of Computers and Applications and EURASIP Journal of Wireless Communications and Networking. Currently, he is a Full Professor at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Dr. Nayak is a Senior Member of the IEEE. His research interests are in the area of fault tolerance, distributed systems and algorithms and mobile ad hoc networks. E-mail: [email protected].

Mansour H. Assaf

Mansour H. Assaf joined the University of the South Pacific (USP) in 2010. Prior to that, he was an Associate Professor at the Center for Information and Communications Technology, University of Trinidad and Tobago. Before that, he served as a Research Scholar and Lecturer at the School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE) of the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Ottawa where he also received his M.A.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and B.A.Sc. degree in telecommunications. He also holds a B.Sc. degree in Applied Physics from the Lebanese University. His research interests are in the areas of computer architecture, mixed-signal analysis, hardware/software co-design and test, fault-tolerant computing, distributed detection in sensor networks, and RFID technologies. Dr. Assaf is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Member of the ACM. He is the co-recipient of the IEEE’s Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award in 2003. E-mail: [email protected].

Emil M. Petriu

Emil M. Petriu is a Professor and University Research Chair in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. His research interests include system-on-chip (SOC) design, biology-inspired robot sensing and soft computing. During his career he has published more than 300 technical papers, authored two books, edited two other books and received two patents. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada. He is the co-recipient of the 2003 IEEE’s prestigious Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award. He also received the 2003 IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Technical Award and 2009 IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Distinguished Service Award. E-mail: [email protected].

Satyendra N. Biswas

Satyendra N. Biswas received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1991. He also received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and electronic engineering from the Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, Japan in 1996 and 1999, respectively. Dr. Biswas was an R&D Engineer with the General Cybernetics, Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada. From 2003 to 2005, he was a Research Assistant at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada. He was an Assistant Professor of electrical engineering and technology at the Georgia Southern University, USA from 2005 to 2009. Dr. Biswas served as an Associate Professor at the Norfolk State University, VA, USA from 2009 to 2010. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Independent University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dr. Biswas has published many papers in journals and refereed conference proceedings. His current research interests include very large-scale integration (VLSI) circuit design and testing, data compression in built-in self-testing, dynamic image/video processing and reconfigurable computing. Dr. Biswas is a registered Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) and a Member of the IEEE and of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE). E-mail: [email protected].