Functional Verification Coverage Measurement and Analysis (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) [Hardcover]

Andrew Piziali (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1402080255 | ISBN-13: 978-1402080258 | Publication Date: June 7, 2004 | Edition: 1

This book addresses a means of quantitatively assessing functional verification progress. Without this process, design and verification engineers, and their management, are left guessing whether or not they have completed verifying the device they are designing. Using the techniques described in this book, they will learn how to build a toolset which allows them to know how close they are to functional closure. This is the first book to introduce a useful taxonomy for coverage of metric classification. Using this taxonomy, the reader will clearly understand the process of creating an effective coverage model. This book offers a thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of its subject for anybody who is really serious about functional verification.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Functional Verification Coverage Measurement and Analysis addresses a means of quantitatively assessing functional verification progress.  Without this process, design and verification engineers, and their management, are left guessing whether or not they have completed verifying the device they are designing.  Using the techniques described in this book, they will learn how to build a toolset which allows them to know how close they are to functional closure. Functional Verification Coverage Measurement and Analysis is the first book to introduce a useful taxonomy for coverage metric classification.  Using this taxonomy, the reader clearly understands the process of creating an effective coverage model.  A must read! - Harry Foster, Jasper Design Automation, Co-Author of Assertion-Based Design   Andrew's book is the most thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of coverage I have seen.  I recommend reading (and re-reading) this book to anybody who is really serious about functional verification. - Yoav Hollander, CTO, Verisity Design   In the last few years, coverage has become a must in hardware verification and in software testing.  From having to push people to use coverage, the situation changed to great interest... Andrew's excellent and comprehensive book on coverage, the first of its kind, could not have come at a better time. -Shmuel Ur, Research Scientist, IBM

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (June 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402080255
• ISBN-13: 978-1402080258
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,470,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars no silver bullet, November 30, 2005

By 

Jeff Li - See all my reviews

This review is from: Functional Verification Coverage Measurement and Analysis (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) (Hardcover)

This book covers features of related tools extensively without talking about specific tools.

Before buying this book, it is a good idea to read the discussion between the author and others at http://verificationguild.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=185#185 if you are interested in using coverage measurement. There, none of the experts were able to address the following question:

Coverage tools are often used to set goals for simulation efforts. The flexible functional coverage allows such goals to be set too high or too low. Has any user made such mistakes? What can people do to get back on track quickly when the goals are too ambitious or too conservative?

This book also suggests using functional coverage for setting goals for simulation, but it also avoids the above question. The recent answers from some other authors are available:

Authors of http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/494/victor.html set the coverage goals conservatively and assure each coverage point got hit many times.

A.Adir, H.Azatchi, E.Bin, O.Peled, and K.Shoikhet of "A generic micro-architectural test plan approach for microprocessor verification" in Proceedings of the 42nd Design Automation Conference (paper 47.1 from www.dac.com) suggested setting functional coverage goals according to project budgets.

Peet James' book (ISBN: 1402076193) seems to recommend using functional coverage but not to use it for setting goals.

Andreas Meyer's book (ISBN: 0750676175) provides an option to avoid using coverage because it can be too much work to explain the coverage data.

After reading some of the above, it can be easier to decide how useful this book is.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New, August 21, 2005

By 

J Howe (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Functional Verification Coverage Measurement and Analysis (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) (Hardcover)

First, this book is short for the price, it only weighs in at 135 pages, excluding a unnecessary BNF description of the "e" language, and the more useful definitions. Furthermore, the book wasn't typeset well, it has widow and orphan lines all over - while this probably won't bother most, I find it jarring to my reading.

I'm somewhat familiar with coverage analysis, but no expert. I think the book serves as a OK introduction to the subject, but I found it wanting in concrete suggestions. When should I choose one technique over another? What coverage methods uncover the most bugs? Can I expect to get 100% line coverage? How do I make expression coverage more valuable and reduce false negatives? I'd like statistics, more what-to-do when, and more coverage of recent techniques based on PSL/OVL assertions - currently limited to two pages.

To summarize, it lacks the detail I'd want to make it worth the price. If you desire an introduction to coverage, I think you are better off with a recent book on general verification tecniques.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book in Functional Coverage: At last !, February 15, 2005

By 

Laurent Fournier - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Functional Verification Coverage Measurement and Analysis (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing and Storage) (Hardcover)

In the field of functional verification, coverage has been traditionally seen as a luxury activity which is done if time permits (and we all know what that means !). In recent years, along with the exponential growth of design complexity, this situation has drastically changed. Coverage is now typically a mandatory part of the verification process. However, in most cases, it is still effectuated in an ad-hoc manner, since there is no agreed upon methodology in this field yet. Andy's book comes in time to fill this gap.

The book's content spans from the basics of functional verification and functional coverage up to state of the art topics such as coverage-driven verification and usage of Hybrid models to improve coverage fidelity. In between, Andy reviews the different types of coverage, namely functional, code, and assertion coverage.

There is no assumption of prior knowledge, and the concepts are very clearly articulated. Examples are mostly shown using the e language (Andy works for the late Verisity), but it is done in a generic manner which allows to implement the core ideas in any environment.