Bluespec Adds SystemVerilog Assertion Support as It Continues to Build Comprehensive ESL21 December 2004
This latest development, on the heels of Bluespec's announcement of an integrated debug environment with Novas, continues to build an ESL solution that is familiar, fits into existing flows, and delivers significant productivity, while generating high quality RTL without compromise.
Bluespec synthesizes SVAs into Verilog 95 RTL, which allows engineers to use verification assertions with their current tools. In addition, this capability allows verification assertions to be checked both in simulation and on hardware, whether it's rapid prototyping FPGAs, hardware emulation or acceleration platforms, or even in the final ASIC or FPGA itself, providing a significant boost in verification capability over assertion environments that only test assertions during simulation.
"There are times when you want to run billions of cycles and only a hardware-based environment will do. One beauty of synthesizing assertions into hardware is that you can run long regressions, but zoom in to debug very easily. And you can get creative about what happens when the assertion fails," said Dr. Rishiyur Nikhil, Bluespec CTO.
Describing designer intent, verification assertions allow a design to be annotated with stipulations about expected functionality. When the design is simulated, the assertions are checked for violations. Bluespec's toolset, comprised of the Bluespec Compiler and Bluespec Simulator, enables SVAs to be used as internal checks of bus and interface protocols, design parameters and functionality beyond what is tested with traditional functional verification. Beyond the traditional use of assertions in software simulation, synthesizing assertions into hardware opens a variety of possibilities. Bluespec can automatically link these assertions to configuration and status registers, which allows the engineer to selectively include self-diagnostics, remote diagnostics, and self-correction for both pre and post-silicon debugging. There are a number of areas where this is useful functionality including: mil/aero, automotive, consumer applications where there is an increasing amount of unpredictable software, autonomic or self-healing systems, and field support.
About Bluespec
Bluespec Inc. manufactures an industry standards-based Electronic Design Automation (EDA) toolset that significantly raises the level of abstraction for hardware design while retaining the ability to automatically synthesize high quality RTL, without compromising speed, power or area. The toolset allows ASIC and FPGA designers to significantly reduce design time, bugs and re-spins that contribute to product delays and escalating costs.
Copyright 2004 Bluespec, Inc. Bluespec is a trademark of Bluespec, Inc. All other brands, products, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of the companies with which they are associated.
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Source: Business Wire
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