一顆與ARM7TDMI相容微處理器之功能驗證

Functional Verification of a Compatible ARM7TDMI Microprocessor

江在民(Tsai-Min Chiagn)

指導教授 ： 林榮彬

元智大學/工程學院/電機與資訊工程研究所/碩士(1998年)

摘要

本篇論文提出一個功能驗證(functional verification)方法來協助驗證我們所設計的一顆和ARM7TDMI相容的微處理器，稱之為C-ARM。為了協助功能測試的實現，我們建構了一個稱作CAVE的C-ARM驗證環境。在這個CAVE驗證環境上，我們將驗證的流程分為兩個階段：首先是驗證每個時脈週期所送出的結果、再來是驗證每個指令的執行結果，這兩種驗證方法都能夠非常有效地找出錯誤。然而，沒有功能測試向量(test patterns)，功能驗證也將無法實現，為了產生那些測試向量，我們首先根據ARM7TDMI的指令集架構及C-ARM微架構來建立系統圖(system graph)，則在功能模型之上我們對於每一個功能單元找出其可能的功能錯誤模型(functional fault model)。根據系統圖以及功能錯誤模型，可以針對每一個功能單元來產生測試向量。我們再把這些針對個別功能單元所產生的測試向量組合成一組測試程式，利用此測試程式來驗證C-ARM於設計及實作階段的功能是否符合ARM7TDMI的規格要求。因C-ARM正在整合測試中，這些測試向量之效能則有待進一步的評估。

關鍵字

功能驗證 ； 系統圖 ； 測試 ； 功能錯誤模型 ； 暫存傳輸層

並列摘要

This thesis proposes a methodology to perform functional verification of a compatible ARM7TDMI microprocessor C-ARM designed by a colleague in our laboratory. To facilitate carrying out the functional test, a C-ARM verification Environment (CAVE) is created. Based on CAVE, the verification process goes through two stages: cycle-by-cycle and instruction-by-instruction verification. We find out that these two verification techniques are quite effective in uncovering bugs. Functional verification can not be performed without functional test patterns. To generate these patterns, the functional fault models for each functional unit are first identified based on its corresponding functional model. Then, system graphs are created based on the ARM7TDMI instruction set architecture and C-ARM micro-architecture. Test patterns are generated for each functional unit based on the system graphs and its functional fault models. The test patterns for each individual functional units are assembled into a testfixture to verify the functionality of C-ARM during design and implementation. Since C-ARM is under integration and testing, the effectiveness of these test patterns is yet to be found out.

並列關鍵字

functional verification ； system graph ； verification environment ； functional fault models ； cycle-by-cycle ； instruction-by-instruction ； ARM7TDMI ； ARM

參考文獻

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