We present an algorithm that checks behavioral consistency between an ANSI-C program and a circuit given in Verilog using Bounded Model Checking. Both the circuit and the program are unwound and translated into a formula that represents behavioral consistency. The formula is then checked using a SAT solver. We are able to translate C programs that include side effects, pointers, dynamic memory allocation, and loops with conditions that cannot be evaluated statically. We describe experimental results on various reactive circuits and programs, including a small processor given in Verilog and its Instruction Set Architecture given in ANSI-C.

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Behavioral consistency of C and Verilog programs using bounded model checking

We describe an algorithm to verify a hardware design given in Verilog using an ANSI-C program as a specification. We use SAT based Bounded Model Checking [1] in order to reduce the equivalence problem to a bit vector logic decision problem. As a case study, we describe experimental results on a hardware and a software implementation of the data encryption standard (DES) algorithm.

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Hardware verification using ANSI-C programs as a reference

Experiences on developing computer vision hardware algorithms using Xilinx system generator

Languages such as SystemC or SpecC offer a new design paradigm that addresses the industry's need for a fast time-to-market. However, formal verification techniques are widely applied in the hardware design industry only for low level designs, such as a netlist or RTL. The higher abstraction levels offered by these new languages are not yet amenable to rigorous, formal verification. This paper describes how to apply predicate abstraction to SpecC system descriptions. The technique supports the concurrency constructs offered by SpecC. It models the bit-vector semantics of the language accurately, and can be used for both property checking and for checking refinement together with a traditional low-level design given in Verilog.

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Verification of SpecC using predicate abstraction

A verilog-HDL source at the register-transfer level (RTL) is converted into a programming language executable on computer. Constructed in an analyzing of elements is a data structure corresponding to the elements of the verilog-HDL source. Created in an analyzing of a data-flow are a first data flow from a state register and a second flow from data-path register. Reconstructed in a reconstructing of a control-structure is the first data flow. Reconstructed in a reconstructing of a data-path is the second data flow so that the reconstructed second data is constituted only by circuitry operating in each state of the control structure. Each reconstructed data flow is mapped in each state of the control structure in a combining of the control-structure/data-flow, to output an behavior-level intermediate language. The intermediate language is converted into a programming language in a generating of an object-code.

Hardware-operation description conversion method and program therefor

A RTL C-based design and verification methodology is presented which enabled the successful high speed validation of a 7 million gate simultaneous multi-threaded (SMT) network processor. The methodology is centered on statically scheduled C-based coding style, C to HDL translation, and a novel RTL-C to RTL-Verilog equivalence checking flow. It leverages improved simulation performance combined with static techniques to reduce the amount of RTL-Verilog and gate-level verification required during development.

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L. Semeria

Papers

RTL C-based methodology for designing and verifying a multi-threaded processor