RTL simulation

Emulation performance is a key metric in verification. But it is far from being the only consideration. How long it takes to get a design onto a verification platform and aspects such as debug are as important. These factors will control how verification platforms are deployed during a project's life cycle.

Is it worth trying to iron out all the bugs in an SoC before taping out, or should design teams anticipating a re-spin go to silicon earlier and use the chips that come back as verification accelerators?

Trying to balance your use of simulation and FPGA prototyping is tough. Acceleration used with Accelerated VIP offers simulation-like visibility and debug with near FPGA performance.

Can emulation save energy and space, as well as time, during the verification process? Some argue so.

Timing closure is a key challenge for today’s complex system-on-chip designs. Static timing analysis (STA) tools automatically analyze signal paths in a design and identify timing-critical paths that limit the clock frequency that can be achieved. Paths that can never be functionally activated or that require multiple cycles for correct operation can be identified as [...]

GateRocket's RocketDrive facilitates integration of an FPGA into an HDL simulator to provide a "native" execution of a design on its target FPGA device. The companion RocketVision tool provides software-debugging capabilities that directly identify and enable the rapid resolution of bugs. This article considers the use of these tools in a "device native" verification and [...]

Traditional verification tools struggle to deal with today’s increasingly sophisticated power management technologies. One major limitation is that they cannot deal with varying power states because they make a built-in assumption that devices are always fully powered on. Further, power-aware verification at the register-transfer level is proving increasingly problematic, although it is also becoming increasingly […]