

Specman Elite TM

Tutorial
(c) 1999 by Verisity. All rights reserved.

Revision 1.1

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ii Specman Elite Tutorial

Table of Contents

1 Introduction
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Tutorial Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Setting up the Tutorial Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4

2 Understanding the Environment

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
The Design Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
The Interface Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
The Functional Test Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Overview of the Verification Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5

3 Creating the CPU Instruction Structure

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Capturing the Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2
Creating the List of Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-8

4 Generating the First Test

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Defining the Test Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2

Specman Elite Tutorial iii

Table of Contents

Loading the Verification Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-4

Generating the Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6

5 Driving and Sampling the DUT

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1
Defining the Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Running the Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6

6 Generating Constraint-Driven Tests

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1
Defining Weights for Random Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Generating Tests With a User-Specified Seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Generating Tests With a Random Seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5

7 Defining Coverage Points

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Defining Coverage Points for the FSM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Defining Coverage Points for the Generated Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4
Defining Coverage Points for the Corner Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-5

8 Analyzing Coverage
Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
Running Tests with Coverage Groups Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2
Viewing State Machine Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4
Viewing Instruction Stream Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-8
Viewing Corner Case Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-10

9 Writing a Corner Case Test

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-1

iv Specman Elite Tutorial

 Table of Contents

Increasing the Probability of Arithmetic Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2

Linking JMPC Generation to the Carry Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3

10 Creating Temporal and Data Checks

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
Creating the Temporal Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
Creating Data Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
Running the Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-7

11 Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs

Goals for this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-1
What You Will Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-1
Displaying DUT Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-2
Setting Breakpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-5
Stepping the Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-6
Bypassing the Bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-7
Tutorial Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-8

A Setting up the Tutorial Environment

Downloading the Specman Elite Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1
Installing the Specman Elite Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-3
Installing the Tutorial Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-4

B Design Specifications for the CPU

CPU Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
CPU Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
CPU Register List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4

Specman Elite Tutorial v

1 Introduction
Overview
The Specman™ Elite™ verification system provides benefits that result in:

• Drastic reductions in the time and resources required for verification

• Significant improvements in product quality
The Specman Elite system automates verification processes, provides functional coverage
analysis, and raises the level of abstraction for functional coverage analysis from the RTL
to the architectural/specification level. This means that you can:

• Easily capture your design specifications to set up an accurate and appropriate

verification environment

• Quickly and effectively create as many tests as you need

• Create self-checking modules that include protocols checking
• Accurately identify when your verification cycle is complete
The Specman Elite system provides three main enabling technologies that drastically
increase your productivity:

• Constraint-driven test generation — you control automatic test generation by

capturing constraints from the interface specifications and the functional test plan.
Capturing the constraints is easy and straightforward.

Specman Elite Tutorial 1-1

Introduction Overview

• Data and temporal checking — you can quickly create self-checking modules that
ensure data correctness and temporal conformance. For data checking you can use a
reference model or a rule-based approach.

• Functional coverage analysis — because you can measure the progress of your
verification effort against a functional test plan, you avoid creating redundant tests that
waste simulation cycles.

Figure 1-1 on page 1-2 shows the main component technologies of the Specman Elite
system and its interface with an HDL simulator.

Figure 1-1 The Specman Elite System Automates Verification

Interface specification Functional test plan Legacy code

(e language) (e language) (C language)

Specman Elite verification system

Constraint-driven Data and temporal Functional coverage
test generation checking analysis

HDL simulator

HDL models Legacy code

(HDL)

1-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Tutorial Goals Introduction

Tutorial Goals
The goal of this tutorial is to give you first-hand experience in how the Specman Elite
system effectively addresses functional verification challenges.

As you work through the tutorial, you follow the process described in Figure 1-2 on
page 1-3. The tutorial uses the Specman Elite system to create a verification environment
for a simple CPU design.

Figure 1-2 Tutorial Verification Task Flow

Design the verification

environment

Define DUT interfaces

Generate a simple test

Drive and sample DUT

Generate constraint-
driven tests

Define and analyze test

coverage

Create corner-case
tests

Create temporal and

data checks

Analyze and bypass

bugs

Specman Elite Tutorial 1-3

Introduction Setting up the Tutorial Environment

Setting up the Tutorial Environment

Before starting the design verification task flow shown in Figure 1-2 on page 1-3, you need
to set up the tutorial environment. You must perform three main steps to set up the tutorial
environment:

1. Downloading the Specman Elite software and tutorial files

2. Installing the Specman Elite software

3. Installing the tutorial files

Appendix A, “Setting up the Tutorial Environment” describes how to perform these steps.

Note Keep in mind that even if Specman Elite software is currently installed in
your environment, you still have to download and install the tutorial files.

Document Conventions
The tutorial uses the document conventions described in Table 1-1 on page 1-4.

Table 1-1 Document Conventions

Visual Cue Meaning

courier Specman Elite or HDL code. For example,

keep opcode in [ADD, ADDI];

courier bold Text that you need to type exactly as it appears to complete a procedure or
modify a file.

bold In text, bold indicates Specman Elite keywords. For example, in the phrase
“the verilog trace statement,” verilog and trace are keywords.

% In examples that show commands being entered, the % symbol indicates the
UNIX prompt.

1-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

2 Understanding the
Environment
Goals for this Chapter
This tutorial uses a simple CPU design to illustrate the benefits of using the Specman Elite
system for functional verification. This chapter introduces the overall verification
environment for the tutorial CPU design, based on the design specifications, interface
specifications, and the functional test plan.

What You Will Learn

Part of the productivity gain provided by the Specman Elite system results from the ease
with which you can capture the specifications and functional test plan in executable form.
In this chapter, you become familiar with the design specifications, the interface
specifications, and the functional test plan for the CPU design. You also become familiar
with the overall CPU verification environment.

The following sections provide brief descriptions of the:

• Design specifications
• Interface specifications
• Functional test plan
• Overall verification environment

Specman Elite Tutorial 2-1

Understanding the Environment The Design Specifications

For more detailed information on the CPU instructions, the CPU interface, and the CPU’s
internal registers, see Appendix B, “Design Specifications for the CPU”.

The Design Specifications

The device under test (DUT) is an 8-bit CPU with a reduced instruction set.

Figure 2-1 CPU Block-Level Diagram

CPU
clock ALU

rst Fetch & Execute

8 State Machine
data r0

r1

r2 pc

r3 pcs

The state machine diagram for the CPU is shown in Figure 2-2 on page 2-2. The second
fetch cycle is only for immediate instructions.

Figure 2-2 CPU State Machine Diagram

Start

Fetch1 opcode == {ADDI, SUBI, ANDI, XORI, JMP, JMPC, CALL}

Fetch2

Execute

2-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

The Interface Specifications Understanding the Environment

There is a 1-bit signal associated with each state, exec, fetch2, fetch1, start. If no reset
occurs, the fetch1 signal must be asserted exactly one cycle after entering the execute state.

The Interface Specifications

All instructions have a 4-bit opcode and two operands. The first operand is one of four
4-bit registers internal to the CPU. The second operand is determined by the type of
instructions:

• Register instructions — the second operand is another one of the four internal
registers.

Figure 2-3 Register Instruction

byte 1

bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

opcode op1 op2

• Immediate instructions — the second operand is an 8-bit value. When the opcode is
of type JMP, JMPC, or CALL, this operand must be a 4-bit memory location.

Figure 2-4 Immediate Instruction

byte 1 2

bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

opcode op1 don’t op2

care

The Functional Test Plan

We need to create a series of tests that will result in adequate test coverage for most aspects
of the design, including some rare corner cases. There will be three tests in this series.

Specman Elite Tutorial 2-3

Understanding the Environment The Functional Test Plan

Test 1
Test Objective
Create a simple go-no-go test to confirm that the verification environment is working
properly.

Test Strategy
• Generate five instructions.
• Use either the ADD or ADDI opcode.
• Set op1 to REG0.
• Set op2 either to REG1 for a register instruction or to value 0x5 for an immediate
instruction.

Test 2
Test Objective
Create multiple random tests to gain high percentage coverage on commonly executed
instructions.

Test Strategy
• Use constraints to drive random testing towards the more common arithmetic and logic
operations rather than the control flow operations.
• Create 15 sets of tests

Test 3
Test Objective
Generate a corner case test scenario that exercises JMPC opcode when carry bit is asserted.
Note that it is difficult to efficiently cover this scenario by purely random or purely directed
tests.

Test Strategy
• Generate many arithmetic opcodes to increase the chances of carry bit assertion.
• Monitor the DUT and use on-the-fly generation to generate many JMPC opcodes when
the carry signal is high.

2-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Overview of the Verification Environment Understanding the Environment

Overview of the Verification Environment

The overall test strategy, which is shown in Figure 2-5 on page 2-5, is to

• Constrain the Specman Elite test generator to create valid CPU instructions
• Compare the program counter in the CPU to those in a reference model
• Define temporal rules to check the DUT behavior
• Define coverage points for state machine transitions and instructions

Figure 2-5 Design Verification Environment Block-Level Diagram

Constraints

Reference Model
Test Generator
struct cpu {
ins: list of instructions;
simulate(cpu:cpu_state) is {
case opcode { Temporal
[ADD, SUB,…]: Rules
{cpu.jump(cpu.pc +
1);};
.......
Instructions Checker
Design Under Test
Pass
CPU
Fail

Coverage

Functional Coverage Reports

Coverage
Points

Specman Elite Tutorial 2-5

Understanding the Environment Overview of the Verification Environment

Because the focus of this tutorial is the Specman Elite system, we do not include an HDL
simulator. Rather than instantiating an HDL DUT, we model the DUT in e and simulate it
in Specman Elite. The process you use to drive and sample the DUT in e is exactly the
same as a DUT in HDL.

Now you are ready to create the first piece of the verification environment, the CPU
instruction stream.

2-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

3 Creating the CPU
Instruction Structure
Goals for this Chapter
The first task in the verification process is to set up the verification environment. In this
chapter you start creating the environment by defining the inputs to the design, the CPU
instructions.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter you learn how to create a data structure and define specification constraints
that enable the Specman Elite system to generate a legal instruction stream. By the end of
this chapter, you will have created the core structure for the CPU instructions. This core
structure will be used and extended in subsequent chapters to create the tests.

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with one of the Specman Elite
system’s enabling features — easy specification capture. With just a few constructs from
the e language you can define legal CPU instructions exactly as they are described in the
interface specifications.

Specman Elite Tutorial 3-1

Creating the CPU Instruction Structure Capturing the Specifications

This chapter introduces the e constructs shown in Table 3-1 on page 3-2.

Table 3-1 Constructs Used in this Chapter

e Construct How the Construct is Used in this Chapter

<'…'> Delineates the beginning and end of e code.

bits Defines the width of an enumerated type.

extend Adds the data structure for the CPU instructions to the Specman Elite system
of data structures.

keep Specifies rules or constraints for the instruction fields.

list of Creates an array or list without having to keep track of pointers or allocate
memory.

struct Creates a data structure to hold the CPU instructions.

type Defines an enumerated data type for the CPU instructions.

when Implements conditional constraints on the possible values of the instruction

fields.

To create the CPU instruction structure, you need to

• Capture the interface specifications

• Create a list of instructions
The following sections describe how to perform these tasks.

Capturing the Specifications

In this step, you create the data structure for the instruction stream and constrain the test
generator to generate only legal CPU instructions. Individual tests that you create later can
constrain the generator even further to test some particular functionality of the CPU.

For a complete description of the legal CPU instructions, refer to Appendix B, “Design
Specifications for the CPU”.

3-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Capturing the Specifications Creating the CPU Instruction Structure

Procedure
Follow this procedure to capture the design specifications in e:

1. Make a new working directory.

2. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_instr.e file to the working directory.

3. Open the CPU_instr.e file in an editor.

The first part of the file has a summary of the design specifications for the CPU
instructions.

CPU_instr.e: Basic structure of CPU instructions

This module defines the basic structure of CPU instructions,
according to the design and interface specifications.

* All instructions are defined as:

Opcode Operand1 Operand2

* There are 2 types of instructions:

Register Instruction:
bit | 7 6 5 4 | 3 2 | 1 0 |
| opcode | op1 | op2 |
(reg)

Immediate Instruction:
byte | 1 | 2 |
bit | 7 6 5 4 | 3 2 | 1 0 | 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 |
| opcode | op1 | don’t | op2 |
| care |

* Register instructions are:

ADD, SUB, AND, XOR, RET, NOP

* Immediate instructions are:

ADDI, SUBI, ANDI, XORI, JMP, JMPC, CALL

* Registers are REG0, REG1, REG2, REG3

Specman Elite Tutorial 3-3

Creating the CPU Instruction Structure Capturing the Specifications

4. Find the portion of the file that starts with the <' e code delineator and review the
constructs:

<'
defines the legal type cpu_opcode: [ // Opcodes
opcodes as an ADD, ADDI, SUB, SUBI,
enumerated type AND, ANDI, XOR, XORI,
JMP, JMPC, CALL, RET,
NOP
] (bits: 4);

defines the type reg: [ // Register names

internal registers REG0, REG1, REG2, REG3
] (bits:2);

when complete, struct instr {

this structure
defines a valid // defines 2nd op of reg instruction
CPU instruction
// defines 2nd op of imm instruction

lines beginning // defines legal opcodes for reg instr

with // are
comments // defines legal opcodes for imm instr

// ensures 4-bit addressing scheme

};
when complete,
this construct extend sys {
adds the CPU // creates a stream of instructions
instruction set to
the Specman Elite };
system '>

3-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Capturing the Specifications Creating the CPU Instruction Structure

5. Define two fields in the instr structure, one to hold the opcode and one to hold the first
operand.

Use the enumerated types, cpu_opcode and reg, to define the types of these fields. To
indicate that Specman Elite must drive the values generated for these fields into the
DUT, place a % character in front of the field name. You will see how this % character
facilitates packing automation in Chapter 5, “Driving and Sampling the DUT”. The
structure definition should now look like this:

struct instr {
add these two %opcode :cpu_opcode;
lines into the file %op1 :reg;

// defines 2nd op of reg instruction

.
.
.
};

6. Define a field for the second operand.

The second operand is either a 2-bit register or an 8-bit memory location, depending
on the kind of instruction, so you need to define a single field (kind) that specifies the
two kinds of instructions. Because the generated values for kind are not driven into the
design, do not put a % in front of the field name.

struct instr {
%opcode :cpu_opcode;
add this line to %op1 :reg;
define the field kind :[imm, reg];
‘kind’ and define
an enumerated // defines 2nd op of reg instruction
type at the .
same time .
.
};

Specman Elite Tutorial 3-5

Creating the CPU Instruction Structure Capturing the Specifications

7. Define the conditions under which the second operand is a register and those under
which it is a byte of data.

You can use the when construct to do this.

struct instr {
%opcode :cpu_opcode;
%op1 :reg;
kind :[imm, reg];

// defines 2nd op of reg instruction

when reg instr {
%op2 :reg;
};

// defines 2nd op of imm instruction

when imm instr {
%op2 :byte;
};
.
.
.
};

8. Constrain the opcodes for immediate instructions and register instructions to the
proper values.

Whenever the opcode is one of the register opcodes, then the kind field must be reg.
Whenever the opcode is one of the immediate opcodes, then the kind field must be
imm. You can use the keep construct with the implication operator => to easily create
these complex constraints.

3-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

Capturing the Specifications Creating the CPU Instruction Structure

struct instr {
.
.
.
// defines legal opcodes for reg instr
keep opcode in [ADD, SUB, AND, XOR, RET, NOP]
=> kind == reg;

// defines legal opcodes for imm instr

keep opcode in [ADDI, SUBI, ANDI, XORI, JMP, JMPC, CALL]
=> kind == imm;

// ensures 4-bit addressing scheme

};

9. Constrain the second operand to a valid memory location (less than 16) when the
instruction is immediate.

You can use the when construct together with keep and => to create this constraint.

struct instr {
.
.
.
// ensures 4-bit addressing scheme
when imm instr {
keep opcode in [JMP, JMPC, CALL] => op2 < 16;
};
};

Now you have finished defining a legal CPU instruction.

Specman Elite Tutorial 3-7

Creating the CPU Instruction Structure Creating the List of Instructions

Creating the List of Instructions

To create a CPU instruction structure, you extend the Specman Elite system (sys) to
include a list of CPU instructions. sys is a built-in Specman Elite structure that defines a
generic verification environment.

1. Find the lines of code that extend the Specman Elite system:

extend sys {
// creates a stream of instructions

};

2. Create a field for the instruction data of type instr.

When defining a field that is an array or a list, you must precede the field type with the
keyword list of.

extend sys {
// creates a stream of instructions
!instrs: list of instr;
};

The exclamation point preceding the field name instrs tells Specman Elite to create an
empty data structure to hold the instructions. Then, each test tells Specman Elite when
to generate values for the list, either before simulation (pre-run generation) or during
simulation (on-the-fly generation). In this tutorial you use both types of generation.

3. Save the CPU_instr.e file.

Now you have created the core definition of the CPU instructions. You are ready to
extend this definition to create the first test.

3-8 Specman Elite Tutorial

4 Generating the First Test
Goals for this Chapter
As described in the functional test plan, the first test is a simple test to confirm that the
verification environment is set up correctly and that you can generate valid instructions for
the CPU model.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter, you learn how to create different types of tests easily by specifying test
constraints in Specman Elite. Test constraints target the Specman Elite generator to a
specific test described in the functional test plan. This chapter illustrates how the Specman
Elite system can quickly generate an instruction stream. In the next chapter, you will learn
how to drive this instruction stream to verify the DUT.

As you work through this chapter to create the first test, you gain experience with the
following enabling features of the Specman Elite system:

• Extensibility — the ability to add definitions, constraints, and methods to a struct in

order to change or extend its original behavior, without modifying the original
definition.

• Constraint solver — the core technology that intelligently resolves all specification
constraints and test constraints and then generates the desired test.

Specman Elite Tutorial 4-1

Generating the First Test Defining the Test Constraints

This chapter shows new uses of the e constructs introduced in Chapter 3, “Creating the
CPU Instruction Structure”. It also introduces the Specman Elite commands shown in
Table 4-1 on page 4-2.

Table 4-1 Constructs and Commands Used in this Chapter

e Constructs How the Construct is Used in this Chapter

extend Adds constraints to the sys and instr structs defined in Chapter 3,
“Creating the CPU Instruction Structure”.

keep Limits the possible values of the instruction fields and the number of
instructions generated for this test.

when Defines conditional constraints.

Specman Elite Commands

File->Load Loads uncompiled e modules into Specman Elite.

Objects->Modules Lists the e modules you have loaded into Specman Elite.

Test->Test Generates a test based on the constraints you specify.

The steps required to generate the first test for the CPU model are:

1. Defining the test constraints.

2. Loading the verification environment into Specman Elite.

3. Generating the test.

The following sections describe how to perform these steps.

Defining the Test Constraints

The Functional Test Plan for the CPU design describes the objectives and specifications for
this first test.

Test Objectives
The objective is to confirm that the verification environment is working properly.

4-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Defining the Test Constraints Generating the First Test

Test Specifications
To meet the test objectives, the test should

• Generate five instructions.

• Use either the ADD or ADDI opcode.
• Set op1 to REG0.
• Set op2 either to REG1 for a register instruction or to value 0x5 for an immediate
instruction.

Procedure
Follow this procedure to capture the test constraints in e:

1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_tst1.e to the working directory.

2. Open the CPU_tst1.e file in an editor.

3. Find the portion of the file that looks like this:

<'
import CPU_top;

extend instr {
// test constraints

};

extend sys {
// generate 5 instructions

};
.
.
.

Specman Elite Tutorial 4-3

Generating the First Test Loading the Verification Environment

4. Add lines below the comments to constrain the opcode, operands, and number of
instructions:

<'
extend instr {
//test constraints
constrains the keep opcode in [ADD, ADDI];
opcode and keep op1 == REG0;
operands when reg instr { keep op2 == REG1; };
when imm instr { keep op2 == 0x5; };
};

extend sys {
constrains the //generate 5 instructions
number of keep instrs.size() == 5;
instructions };

5. Save the CPU_tst1.e file.

Loading the Verification Environment

To run the first test, you need the following files:

• CPU_tst1.e — imports (includes) CPU_top.e and contains the test constraints for the
first test.

• CPU_top.e — imports CPU_instr.e and CPU_misc.e.

• CPU_instr.e — contains the definitions and specification constraints for CPU
instructions.

• CPU_misc.e — configures settings for print and coverage display.

These files are called modules in Specman Elite. Before Specman Elite can generate the
test, you must load all the modules. Here’s how to do this:

1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_top.e file to the working directory.

2. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_misc.e file to the working directory.

4-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Loading the Verification Environment Generating the First Test

The working directory should now contain four files, CPU_instr.e, CPU_misc.e,
CPU_top.e, and CPU_tst1.e

3. From the working directory, type in the following command at the UNIX prompt to
invoke Specman Elite’s graphical user interface, Specview™:
% specview &

✓ If the Main Specman window does not appear, make sure that you have defined the
Specman Elite environment variables correctly. You can source the
<install_dir>/<release_number>/env.csh file to set these variables.

4. Select File->Load from the menu or click the Load button.

5. When the Select a File window appears, double-click on the CPU_tst1.e file name in
the list of files.

You should see a message in the Main Specman window:

load /tutorial/CPU_tst1.e…
Load complete

✓ If the CPU_tst1.e file name does not appear in the dialog box, you probably did not
invoke Specview from the working directory. Use the list of directories in the dialog
box to navigate to the working directory and select the correct file.

✓ If the CPU_tst1.e file does not load completely because of a syntax error, use the
UNIX diff utility to compare your version of CPU_tst1.e to tutorial/gold/CPU_tst1.e.
Fix the error and click the Reload button. Alternatively, you can click on the blue
hypertext link in the Main Specman window, and the error location will be displayed
in the Debugger window.

Specman Elite Tutorial 4-5

Generating the First Test Generating the Test

6. To see a list of loaded modules, select Objects->Modules or click the Modules button.

There should be four modules loaded:

CPU_instr
CPU_misc
CPU_top
CPU_tst1

Generating the Test

Here’s how to generate the test:

1. In the Main Specman window, select Test->Test or click the Test button.

The print sys.instrs window appears, showing the generated list of five instructions.

✓ If the results you see are significantly different from the results shown here, use the
UNIX diff utility to compare your version of the e files to the files in tutorial/gold/.

2. Review the list to confirm that the instructions follow both the general constraints for
CPU instructions and the constraints for this particular test.

Based on the definition, specification constraints, and test constraints that you have
provided, the Specman Elite generator quickly generated the desired instruction stream.
Now you are ready to drive this instruction stream into the DUT and run simulation.

4-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

5 Driving and Sampling
the DUT
Goals for this Chapter
The objective of this chapter is to drive the DUT with the instruction stream you generated
in the last chapter.

In a typical verification environment, where the DUT is modeled in an HDL, you need to
link the Specman Elite system with an HDL simulator before running simulation. In order
to streamline this tutorial, however, we have modeled the DUT in e.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter, you learn how to describe in e the protocols used to drive test data into the
DUT. Although this tutorial does not use an HDL simulator, the process of driving and
sampling a DUT written in HDL is the same as the process for a DUT written in e.

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with these features of the Specman
Elite verification system:

• DUT signal access — you can easily access signals and variables in the DUT, either
for driving and sampling test data or for synchronizing TCMs.

• Simulator interface automation — you can drive and sample a DUT without having
to write PLI (Verilog simulators) or FLI/CLI (VHDL simulators) code. The Specman
Elite system automatically creates the necessary PLI/FLI calls for you.

Specman Elite Tutorial 5-1

Driving and Sampling the DUT Defining the Protocols

• Time consuming methods (TCMs) — you can write procedures in e that are
synchronized to other TCMs or to an HDL clock. You can use these procedures to drive
and sample test data.

This chapter introduces the e constructs shown in Table 5-1 on page 5-2.

Table 5-1 New Constructs

e Constructs How the Constructs are Used in this Chapter

emit Triggers a named event from within a TCM.

@ Synchronizes the TCMs with an event.

event Creates a temporal object, in this case a clock, that is used to synchronize
the TCMs.

'hdl_signal_name' Accesses a signal in the DUT.

method () is… Creates a procedure (method) that is a member of a struct and manipulates
the fields of that struct. Methods can execute in a single point of time, or
they can be time consuming methods (TCMs).

pack () Converts data from higher level e structs and fields into the bit or byte
representation expected by the DUT.

wait Suspends action in a TCM until the expression is true.

These are the steps for driving and sampling the DUT:

1. Defining the protocols.

2. Running the simulation.

The following sections describe these tasks in detail.

Defining the Protocols

There are two protocols to define for the CPU:

• Reset protocol — drives the rst signal in the DUT.

• Drive instruction protocol — drives instructions into the DUT according to the correct
protocol indicated by fetch1 and fetch2 signals.

5-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Defining the Protocols Driving and Sampling the DUT

Drive instructions protocol has one TCM for pre-run generation, where the complete list
of instructions is generated and then simulation starts. There is another TCM for on-the-fly
generation, where signals in the DUT are sampled before the instruction is generated. The
test in this chapter uses the simple methodology of pre-run generation, while subsequent
tests in this tutorial use the significantly more powerful on-the-fly generation.

All the TCMs required to drive the CPU are described briefly in Table 5-2 on page 5-3. A
complete description of one of the TCMs follows the table. You can also view the
CPU_drive.e file in the tutorial/src directory, if you would like to see the complete
description of the other TCMs in e.

Table 5-2 TCMs Required to Drive the CPU

Name Function
drive_cpu() Calls reset_cpu () and then, depending on whether the list of CPU
instructions is empty or not, calls gen_and_drive_instrs () or
drive_pregen_instrs ().

reset_cpu() Drives the rst signal in the DUT to low for one cycle, to high for five
cycles, and then to low.

gen_and_drive_instrs() Generates the next instruction and calls drive_one_instr ().

drive_pregen_instrs() Calls drive_one_instr () for each generated instruction.

drive_one_instr() Sends the instruction to the DUT and, if the instruction is an

immediate instruction, waits for the fetch2 signal to rise and sends the
second byte of data. Then this TCM waits for the exec signal to rise.

Specman Elite Tutorial 5-3

Driving and Sampling the DUT Defining the Protocols

Figure 5-1 on page 5-4 shows the e code for the drive_one_instr () TCM. The CPU
architecture requires that the tests drive and sample the DUT on the falling edge of the
clock, so all TCMs are synchronized to cpuclk which is defined as follows:
extend sys {
event cpuclk is (fall('top.clk')@tick_end);
};

Figure 5-1 The drive_one_instr () TCM

drive_one_instr(instr: instr) @sys.cpuclk is {

var fill0 : uint(bits : 2) = 0b00;

wait until rise('top.fetch1');

emit instr.start_drv_DUT;

if instr.kind == reg then {

'top.data' = pack(packing.high, instr);
} else {
// immediate instruction
'top.data' = pack(packing.high, instr.opcode,
instr.op1, fill0);
wait until rise('top.fetch2');
'top.data' = pack(packing.high, instr.imm'op2);
};

wait until rise('top.exec');

// execute instr in refmodel

//sys.cpu_refmodel.execute(instr, sys.cpu_dut);
};

The assignment statements in Figure 5-1 on page 5-4 show how to drive and sample
signals in an HDL model. Each pair of single quotation marks identifies an object as an
HDL signal.

The start_drv_DUT event emitted by drive_one_instr is not used by any of the TCMs that
drive the CPU. You will use it in a later chapter to trigger functional coverage analysis.

The last line shown in Figure 5-1 on page 5-4 executes the reference model and is
commented out at the moment. You will use it in a later chapter to trigger data checking.

5-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Defining the Protocols Driving and Sampling the DUT

The pack() function is a Specman Elite built-in function that facilitates the conversion
from higher level data structure to the bit stream required by the DUT. The % character
you used in Chapter 3, “Creating the CPU Instruction Structure”, denotes the fields that
should be driven into the DUT. The pack() function intelligently and automatically
performs the conversion, as shown in Figure 5-2 on page 5-5.

Figure 5-2 A Register Instruction as Received by the DUT

The instruction struct with three fields:

opcode == ADD 0 0 0 0

op1 == REG0 0 0

op2 == REG1 0 1

The instruction packed into a bit stream, using the packing.high ordering

opcode op1 op2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
list of bit [7] list of bit [0]

Specman Elite Tutorial 5-5

Driving and Sampling the DUT Running the Simulation

Running the Simulation

This procedure, which involves loading the appropriate files and clicking the Test button,
is exactly the same as the procedure you used in the last chapter to generate the first test.

The difference is that this time you are including the DUT (contained in CPU_dut.e) and
TCMs that drive it (contained in CPU_drive.e).

Procedure
1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_drive.e to the working directory.

2. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_dut.e to the working directory.

3. Open the working directory’s copy of the CPU_top.e file in an editor.

4. Find the lines in the file that look like this:

// Add dut and drive:

//import CPU_dut, CPU_drive;

5. Remove the comment characters in front of the import line so the lines look like this:

// Add dut and drive:

import CPU_dut, CPU_drive;

6. Save the CPU_top.e file.

7. Click the Reload button to reload the files for test 1.

✓ If you see a message such as

*** Error: No match for 'CPU_dut.e'

you need to check whether the working directory contains the following files:
CPU_instr.e CPU_drive.e
CPU_misc.e CPU_top.e
CPU_dut.e CPU_tst1.e

Add the missing file and then click the Reload button.

5-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

Running the Simulation Driving and Sampling the DUT

8. Click the Modules button to confirm that six modules are loaded:

CPU_instr CPU_drive
CPU_misc CPU_top
CPU_dut CPU_tst1

✓ If some of the modules are missing, first check whether you are loading the
CPU_top.e file that you just modified. The modified CPU_top.e file must be in the
working directory.

Once the modified CPU_top.e file is in the working directory, click the Restore button.
This action should remove all the currently loaded modules from the session. Then
click the Load button and select CPU_tst1.e in the Select A File dialog box.

9. Click the Test button to run the simulation.

You should see the following messages (or something similar) in the Main Specman
window.

Doing setup…
Generating the test using seed 0x1…
Starting the test…
Running the test…
DUT executing instr 0 : ADD REG0x0, REG0x1
DUT executing instr 1 : ADDI REG0x0, @0x05
DUT executing instr 2 : ADD REG0x0, REG0x1
DUT executing instr 3 : ADD REG0x0, REG0x1
DUT executing instr 4 : ADDI REG0x0, @0x05
Last specman tick - stop_run() was called
Normal stop - stop_run() is completed
Checking the test…
Checking is complete - 0 DUT errors, 0 DUT warnings.
Wrote 1 cover_struct to CPU_tst1_1.ecov

You can see from the output that five instructions were executed and no errors were found.
It looks like the verification environment is working properly, so you are ready to generate
a large number of tests.

Specman Elite Tutorial 5-7

6 Generating
Constraint-Driven Tests
Goals for this Chapter
As described in the functional test plan, the second test requires you to generate multiple
tests using constraint-driven test generation. Through this automatic test generation, we
hope to gain high test coverage for the CPU instruction inputs.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter, you learn how to quickly generate different sets of tests by simply changing
the seed used for constraint-driven test generation. You also learn how to use weights to
control the distribution of the generated values to focus the testing on the common CPU
instructions.

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with two of the Specman Elite
verification system’s enabling features:

• Constraint-driven random test generation — this feature lets you focus random test
generation on the areas of the design that need to be exercised the most.

• Random seed generation — by changing the seed used for random generation, you
can quickly cause the Specman Elite system to generate a whole new set of tests.

Specman Elite Tutorial 6-1

Generating Constraint-Driven Tests Defining Weights for Random Tests

This chapter introduces the e constructs and Specview commands shown in Table 6-1 on
page 6-2.

Table 6-1 New Constructs and Commands

e Constructs How the Construct is Used in this Chapter

keep soft Specifies a soft constraint that is kept only if it does not conflict with
other hard keep constraints.

select Used with keep soft to control the distribution of the generated values.

Specview Commands
Config->Generation Used to create a user-defined seed for random test generation.

File->Save Saves the current test environment, including the random seed, to a .esv
file. You can load this file with the File->Restore command.

Test->Test With Generates a set of tests with a new random seed.

Random Seed

The steps required to generate random tests are:

1. Defining weights for random tests.

2. Generating tests with a user-specified seed.

3. Generating tests with a random seed.

The following sections describe these tasks in detail.

Defining Weights for Random Tests

Because of the way that CPUs are typically used, arithmetic and logic operations comprise
a high percentage of the CPU instructions. You can use the select construct with keep soft
to require the Specman Elite system to generate a higher percentage of instructions for
arithmetic and logical operations than for control flow.

Procedure
Follow this procedure to see how to create weighted constraints in e:

1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_tst2.e file to the working directory.

6-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Generating Tests With a User-Specified Seed Generating Constraint-Driven Tests

2. Open the CPU_tst2.e file in an editor.

3. Find the portion of the file that looks like this and review the keep soft constraint:

<'
puts equal weight extend instr {
on arithmetic and keep soft opcode == select {
logical operations 30 : [ADD, ADDI, SUB, SUBI];
and less weight 30 : [AND, ANDI, XOR, XORI];
10 : [JMP, JMPC, CALL, RET, NOP];
on control flow };
operations };

'>

Generating Tests With a User-Specified Seed

You can specify the random seed that the Specman Elite system uses to generate tests.

Procedure
This procedure shows how to create a random seed:

1. Click on the Restore button in the Main Specman window to remove all the e modules
from the current session.

2. Click on the Load button and load the CPU_tst2.e file.

3. Click on the Modules button and confirm that the following modules are loaded:

CPU_instr CPU_drive
CPU_misc CPU_top
CPU_dut CPU_tst2

4. Select Config->Generation in the Main Specman window.

5. In the Seed field of the Specman Elite Configuration Options window, enter your lucky
number.

6. Close the Specman Elite Configuration Options window by clicking OK.

7. Click on the Test button.

Specman Elite Tutorial 6-3

Generating Constraint-Driven Tests Generating Tests With a User-Specified Seed

8. Review the instructions in the print sys.instrs window.

You should see an equal distribution of arithmetic and logic operations and fewer
control flow operations.

6-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Generating Tests With a Random Seed Generating Constraint-Driven Tests

Generating Tests With a Random Seed

You can require the Specman Elite system to generate a random seed.

Procedure
This procedure generates tests using a Specman Elite-generated seed:

1. Select Reload button.

2. Select Test->Test With Random Seed in the Main Specman window.

3. Review the results in the print sys.instrs window.

You should see an equal distribution of arithmetic and logic operations and fewer
control flow operations. The results should be different from the previous run.

4. Optionally you could repeat steps 1-3 several times to confirm that you see different
results each time.

✓ If you see similar results in subsequent runs, it is likely that you forgot to reload the
design before running the test. If you do not reload the design, the test is run with the
current seed.

You can see that using different random seeds lets you easily generate many tests. Quickly
analyzing the results of all these tests would be difficult without Specman Elite’s coverage
analysis technology. The next two chapters show how to use coverage analysis to
accurately measure the progress of your verification effort.

Specman Elite Tutorial 6-5

7 Defining Coverage Points
Goals for this Chapter
The goal for this chapter is to avoid redundant testing and to measure the progress of the
verification effort by generating effective test coverage statistics.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter, you learn how to define coverage points for the DUT internal states, for the
instruction stream, and for an intersection of DUT states and the instruction stream.

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with another one of the Specman
Elite verification system’s enabling features — the Functional Coverage Analyzer. The
Specman Elite coverage analysis feature lets you define exactly what functionality of the
device you want to monitor and report. With coverage analysis, you can see whether
generated tests meet the goals set in the functional test plan and whether these tests
continue to be sufficient as the design develops, the design specifications change, and bug
fixes are implemented.

Specman Elite Tutorial 7-1

Defining Coverage Points Defining Coverage Points for the FSM

This chapter introduces the e constructs shown in Table 7-1 on page 7-2.

Table 7-1 New Constructs

e Constructs How the Construct is Used in this Chapter

cover Defines a group of data collection items.

event Defines a sampling point when coverage data collection occurs.

item Identifies an object to be sampled.

transition Identifies an object whose current and previous values are to be collected
when the sampling point occurs.

The steps required to define coverage points are:

1. Defining coverage points for the finite state machine (FSM).

2. Defining coverage points for the generated instructions.

3. Defining coverage points for the corner case.

The following sections describe these tasks in detail.

Defining Coverage Points for the FSM

You can use the constructs shown in Table 7-1 on page 7-2 to define the following
coverage points for the FSM:

• State machine register

• State machine transition

Procedure
Follow this procedure to define coverage points for the FSM:

1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_cover.e file to the working directory.

2. Open the CPU_cover.e file in an editor.

7-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Defining Coverage Points for the FSM Defining Coverage Points

3. Find the portion of the file that looks like the excerpt below and review the event
declaration that defines the sampling point for the FSM:

extend cpu_env {

defines FSM event cpu_fsm is @sys.cpuclk;

sampling point .
.
.
};

4. Add the cover group and cover items for state machine coverage.

The cover group name (cpu_fsm) must be the same as the event name defined in step 3
above. The item statement declares the name of the coverage item (fsm), its data type
(FSM_type), and the object in the DUT to be sampled. The transition statement says
that the current and previous values of fsm must be collected. In summary this means
that whenever the sys.cpuclk signal changes, Specman Elite collects the current and
previous values of top.cpu.curr_FSM.

extend cpu_env {
event cpu_fsm is @sys.cpuclk;

// DUT Coverage: State Machine

cover cpu_fsm is {
defines the cover item fsm: FSM_type = 'top.cpu.curr_FSM';
group cpu_fsm transition fsm;
};
};

Specman Elite Tutorial 7-3

Defining Coverage Points Defining Coverage Points for the Generated Instructions

Defining Coverage Points for the Generated

Instructions
You can use the constructs shown in Table 7-1 on page 7-2 to define the following
coverage points for the CPU instruction stream:

• opcode
• op1
This coverage group uses as a sampling point an event declared and triggered in the
CPU_drive.e file
drive_one_instr(instr: instr) @sys.cpuclk is {
.
.
.
emit instr.start_drv_DUT;
.
.
.

Thus data collection for the instruction stream occurs each time an instruction is driven
into the DUT.

Procedure
Follow this procedure to extend the instr struct to define these coverage points:

1. Find the portion of the CPU_cover.e file that looks like the excerpt below and review
the cover group declaration.

extend instr {

defines cover start_drv_DUT is {

coverage group
};

};

7-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Defining Coverage Points for the Corner Case Defining Coverage Points

2. Add opcode and op1 items to the start_drv_DUT coverage group.

extend instr {

cover start_drv_DUT is {
item opcode;
item op1;
};
};

Defining Coverage Points for the Corner Case

In order to test the behavior of the DUT when the JMPC (jump on carry) instruction
opcode is issued, we need to be sure that the carry signal is high when the JMPC opcode is
issued. Here, you define a coverage group so you can determine how often that sequence of
events occurs.

1. Add a carry item to the start_drv_DUT coverage group.

extend instr {

cover start_drv_DUT is {
item opcode;
item op1;
item carry: bit = 'top.carry';
};
};

2. Define a cross coverage point between opcode and carry.

Cross coverage lets you define the intersections of two or more coverage items,
generating a more informative report.

Specman Elite Tutorial 7-5

Defining Coverage Points Defining Coverage Points for the Corner Case

extend instr {

cover start_drv_DUT is {
item opcode;
item op1;
item carry: bit = sys.cpu_dut.carry;
cross opcode, carry;
};
};

3. Save the CPU_cover.e file.

Now that you’ve defined the coverage groups, you are ready to simulate and view the
coverage reports.

7-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

8 Analyzing Coverage
Goals for this Chapter
The goal for this chapter is to determine whether the tests you have generated meet the
goals set in the functional test plan and whether additional tests must be created to
complete design verification.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter, you learn how to display coverage reports for individual cover items,
exactly as you have defined them, and to merge reports for individual items so that you can
easily analyze the progress of your design verification.

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with these Specman Elite features:

• Cross Coverage — lets you view the intersections of two or more cover items.
• Apropos — helps you find the information you need in the Specman Elite Online
Documentation.

Specman Elite Tutorial 8-1

Analyzing Coverage Running Tests with Coverage Groups Defined

This chapter introduces the Specview commands shown in Table 8-1 on page 8-2.

Table 8-1 New Commands

Specview Commands
Tools -> Coverage Displays coverage reports and creates cross-coverage reports.
Help Invokes the Specman Elite Online Documentation browser.

The steps required to analyze test coverage for the CPU design are:

1. Running tests with coverage groups defined.

2. Viewing state machine coverage.

3. Viewing instruction stream coverage.

4. Viewing corner case coverage.

The following sections describe these tasks in detail.

Running Tests with Coverage Groups Defined

This procedure is similar to the procedure you have already used to run tests without
coverage.

Procedure
1. Open the working directory’s copy of the CPU_top.e file in an editor.

2. Find the lines in the file that look like this:

// Add Coverage:
//import CPU_cover;

3. Remove the comment characters in front of the import line so the lines look like this:

// Add Coverage:
import CPU_cover;

8-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Running Tests with Coverage Groups Defined Analyzing Coverage

4. Invoke Specman Elite, if it is not already running.

% specview &

5. Click the Reload button to reload the files for test 2.

6. Click the Modules button to confirm that seven modules are loaded:
CPU_instr
CPU_misc
CPU_dut
CPU_drive
CPU_cover
CPU_top
CPU_tst2

7. Click the Test button.

You should see something similar to the following messages in the Main Specman
window. The last line indicates that the coverage data was written to an .ecov file.

test
Doing setup…
Generating the test using seed 0x1
Starting the test…
Running the test…
DUT executing instr 0 : RET REG0x3, REG0x0
DUT executing instr 1 : JMPC REG0x3, @0x02
DUT executing instr 2 : ADD REG0x3, REG0x2
DUT executing instr 3 : AND REG0x3, REG0x1
DUT executing instr 4 : JMPC REG0x3, @0x09
.
.
.
Last specman tick - stop_run() was called
Normal stop - stop_run() is completed
Checking the test…
Checking is complete - 0 DUT errors, 0 DUT warnings.
Wrote 1 cover_struct to CPU_tst2_1.ecov

Specman Elite Tutorial 8-3

Analyzing Coverage Viewing State Machine Coverage

Viewing State Machine Coverage

You have two reports to look at, the state machine register report and the state machine
transition report.

If you are using a different seed or a version of the Specman Elite verification system other
than 3.2, you may see different results in your coverage reports.

Procedure
1. Click the Cover button in the Main Specman window.

The Show Coverage dialog box appears.

2. In the Group field, select cpu_env.cpu_fsm.

3. In the Items field, select fsm and click the Display Item button.

The state machine register report appears in the Coverage Analysis window. From the
report it is easy to see that, for example, the fetch1 state was entered 88 times in the
227 times sampled.

8-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Viewing State Machine Coverage Analyzing Coverage

4. In the Items field, select transition_fsm and click the Display Item button.

As you scroll down the display, perhaps the first thing you notice about the state
machine transition report is that there are a number of transitions that never occurred.
This is because these transitions are illegal.

Specman Elite Tutorial 8-5

Analyzing Coverage Viewing State Machine Coverage

5. To see how to define transitions as illegal so that they do not appear in the coverage
report, click the Help button in the Main Specman window.

The Specman Elite Online Documentation browser appears.

6. Enter the words transition cover item syntax in the Search field and press Return.

The transition construct is a cover item, so this search will find the description of the
correct syntax for this construct.

8-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

Viewing State Machine Coverage Analyzing Coverage

7. When the list of files that describe cover item options appears, select the first item in
the list, eref: transition cover item syntax.

The tag eref indicates that this document is part of the e Language Reference Manual.

8. When the transition construct description appears, scroll down the page to the illegal
cover item option description.
9. Continue scrolling down to the Examples section, and you will find an example
showing the use of the illegal option:
cover state_change is {
item st;
transition st using illegal =
not ((prev_st == START and st == FETCH1)
or (prev_st == FETCH1 and st == FETCH2)
or (prev_st == FETCH1 and st == EXEC)
or (prev_st == FETCH2 and st == EXEC)
or (prev_st == EXEC and st == START));
};

If you like, you can follow this example to enhance the transition statement in
CPU_cover.e to ignore the illegal transitions.

Specman Elite Tutorial 8-7

Analyzing Coverage Viewing Instruction Stream Coverage

Viewing Instruction Stream Coverage

Now we’ll look at the coverage for the CPU instruction stream. To provide more
interesting results to look at, we’ll load the results of a set of regression tests. These
regression tests were run with the second test and many different random seeds.

Procedure
1. Copy tutorial/src/regression_3.2.ecov file to the working directory.

2. Click the Cover button in the Main Specman window.

The Show Coverage dialog box appears.

3. Click the Read… button in the Show Coverage dialog box and select the
regression_3.2.ecov file.

4. Select instr.start_drv_DUT from the scroll list of the Group field.

5. In the Items field, select opcode and click the Display Item button.

8-8 Specman Elite Tutorial

Viewing Instruction Stream Coverage Analyzing Coverage

The opcode coverage report appears in the Coverage Analysis window. These results
show that the current set of tests fulfill the requirement in the functional test plan to
focus on arithmetic and logic operations rather than control flow operations.

Specman Elite Tutorial 8-9

Analyzing Coverage Viewing Corner Case Coverage

6. In the Items field, select op1 and click the Display Item button.

The op1 coverage report appears in the Coverage Analysis window. All possible op1
values appear to be well covered.

7. In the Items field, select opcode and click the Add button under Cross Items.

8. In the Items field, select op1 and click the Add button under Cross Items.

9. Click the Display Cross button to display the intersection of opcode and op1.

This coverage report shows whether the tests have covered every possible combination
of opcode and register.

Viewing Corner Case Coverage

Corner case coverage shows how many times the JMPC opcode was issued when the carry
bit was high.

Procedure
1. Click the Cover button in the Main Specman window.

The Show Coverage dialog box appears.

2. Select instr.start_drv_DUT from the scroll list of the Group field.

3. In the Items field, select cross__opcode__carry and click the Display Item button.

8-10 Specman Elite Tutorial

Viewing Corner Case Coverage Analyzing Coverage

The cross coverage report for opcode and carry appears in the Coverage Analysis
window.

4. Scroll down to the JMPC opcode. (Opcodes are shown in red.)

You can see that the JMPC code was issued 39 times, and that carry was low each time.

The ability to cross test input with the DUT’s internal state yields valuable
information — the tests created so far do not truly test the JMPC opcode. You could raise
the weight on JMPC and hope to achieve the goal. However, many simulation cycles
would be wasted to cover this corner case. The Specman Elite system lets you attack this
type of corner case scenario much more efficiently. In the next chapter you learn how to do
this.

Specman Elite Tutorial 8-11

9 Writing a Corner Case Test
Goals for this Chapter
As described in the Functional Test Plan, you want to create one corner case test that
generates the JMPC opcode when the carry signal is high.

What You Will Learn

As you work through this chapter, you learn an effective methodology for addressing your
corner case scenario testing. With the Specman Elite on-the-fly test generation, you can
direct the test to constantly monitor the state of signals in the DUT and to generate the right
test data — at the right time — to reach a corner case scenario. This feature lets you
effectively generate a corner case test scenario, saving the time-consuming effort required
to write deterministic tests to reach the same result.

This chapter introduces the e constructs shown in Table 9-1 on page 9-1.

Table 9-1 New Constructs

e Constructs How the Construct is Used in this Chapter

'signal' * weight : value An expression containing a DUT signal within the select block of a
keep soft constraint that controls the distribution of generated values.

The steps required to create the corner case test are:

Specman Elite Tutorial 9-1

Writing a Corner Case Test Increasing the Probability of Arithmetic Operations

1. Increasing the probability of arithmetic operations.

2. Linking JMPC generation to the DUT’s carry signal.

The following section describes these tasks in detail.

Increasing the Probability of Arithmetic

Operations
The goal of this test is to generate the JMPC opcode only when the carry signal is high.
The carry signal can only possibly be high when arithmetic operations are performed, so
the test first has to increase generation of arithmetic operations over other types of
operations.

Procedure
1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_tst3.e file to the working directory.

2. Open the CPU_tst3.e file in an editor.

3. Find the portion of the file that contains the keep soft constraint:

extend instr {
keep soft opcode == select {
// high weights on arithmetic

// generation of JMPC controlled by the carry

// signal value

};
};

9-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Linking JMPC Generation to the Carry Signal Writing a Corner Case Test

4. Put a high weight on arithmetic operations and low weights on the others.

extend instr {
keep soft opcode == select {
// high weights on arithmetic
keeps high weight 40 : [ADD, ADDI, SUB, SUBI];
on arithmetic 20 : [AND, ANDI, XOR, XORI];
operations 10 : [JMP, CALL, RET, NOP];

// generation of JMPC controlled by the

// carry signal value
};
};

Linking JMPC Generation to the Carry Signal

If you generate the list of instructions before simulation, there is only a low probability of
driving a JMPC instruction into the DUT when the carry signal is asserted. A better
approach is to monitor the carry signal and generate the JMPC instruction when the carry
signal is known to be high.

This methodology enables you to reach the corner case from multiple paths, in other
words, from different opcodes issued prior to the JMPC opcode. This test shows how the
DUT behaves under various sequences of opcodes.

Specman Elite Tutorial 9-3

Writing a Corner Case Test Linking JMPC Generation to the Carry Signal

Procedure
1. Find the portion of the CPU_tst3.e file that looks like this:

extend instr {
keep soft opcode == select {
// high weights on arithmetic
40 : [ADD, ADDI, SUB, SUBI];
20 : [AND, ANDI, XOR, XORI];
10 : [JMP, CALL, RET, NOP];

// generation of JMPC controlled by the

// carry signal value
};
};

2. On a separate line within the select block, enter a weight for the JMPC opcode,
together with the name of the carry signal.

extend instr {
keep soft opcode == select {
// high weights on arithmetic
40 : [ADD, ADDI, SUB, SUBI];
20 : [AND, ANDI, XOR, XORI];
10 : [JMP, CALL, RET, NOP];

// generation of JMPC controlled by the

//carry signal value
'top.carry' * 90 :JMPC;
};
};

3. Save the CPU_tst3.e file.

You are now ready to run this test to create the corner case test scenario. Before running
this test, you want to address another important part of functional verification:
self-checking module creation. In the next chapter, you learn easy self-checking module
creation, another powerful feature provided by the Specman Elite system.

9-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

10 Creating Temporal and
Data Checks
Goals for this Chapter
The goal for this chapter is to check timing-related dependencies and to automate the
detection of unexpected DUT behavior by adding a self-checking module to the
verification environment.

What You Will Learn

In this chapter, you learn how to create temporal checks for the state machine control
signals. You also learn how to implement data checks using a reference model.

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with two of the Specman Elite
verification system’s enabling features:

• Specman Elite temporal constructs — these powerful constructs let you easily
capture the DUT interface specifications, verify the protocols of the interfaces, and
efficiently debug them. The temporal constructs minimize the size of complex
self-checking modules and significantly reduce the time it takes to implement
self-checking.

Specman Elite Tutorial 10-1

Creating Temporal and Data Checks Creating the Temporal Checks

• Specman Elite data checking — data checking methodology can be flexibly

implemented in the Specman Elite system. For data-mover applications like switches
or routers, you can use powerful built-in constructs for rule-based checking. For
processor-type applications like the application used in this tutorial, reference model
methodology is commonly implemented.

This chapter introduces the e constructs shown in Table 10-1 on page 10-2.

Table 10-1 New Constructs and Commands

e Constructs How the Construct is Used in this Chapter

expect Checks that a temporal expression is true and if not, reports an error.

check Checks that a Boolean expression is true and if not, reports an error.

The steps required to create these checks are:

1. Creating the temporal checks.

2. Creating the data checks.

3. Running the test with checks.

The following sections describe these tasks in detail.

Creating the Temporal Checks

The design specifications for the CPU require that after entering the execute state, the
fetch1 signal must be asserted in the following cycle. This is a temporal check because it
specifies the correct behavior of DUT signals across multiple cycles.

Procedure
Follow this procedure to create the check:

1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_checker.e file to the working directory.

2. Open the CPU_checker.e file in an editor.

10-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Creating the Temporal Checks Creating Temporal and Data Checks

3. Find the portion of the file that looks like this:

// Temporal (Protocol) Checker

event enter_exec_st is
defines start of (change('top.cpu.curr_FSM')and
exec state true('top.cpu.curr_FSM' == exec_st))
@sys.cpuclk;

event fetch1_assert is
(change('top.fetch1')and
true('top.fetch1' == 1)) @sys.cpuclk;
defines rise of
fetch1 //Interface Spec: After entering instruction
//execution state, fetch1 signal must be
//asserted in the following cycle.

4. Define a temporal check for the enter_exec_st event by creating an expect statement.

// Temporal (Protocol) Checker

event enter_exec_st is
(change('top.cpu.curr_FSM')and
true('top.cpu.curr_FSM' == exec_st))
@sys.cpuclk;

event fetch1_assert is
(change('top.fetch1')and
true('top.fetch1' == 1)) @sys.cpuclk;

//Interface Spec: After entering instruction

//execution state, fetch1 signal must be
//asserted in the following cycle.
issues an error expect @enter_exec_st => {@fetch1_assert}
message if fetch1 @sys.cpuclk else
doesn’t rise dut_error("PROTOCOL ERROR");
exactly one cycle
after entering
execute state

5. Save the CPU_checker.e file.

Specman Elite Tutorial 10-3

Creating Temporal and Data Checks Creating Data Checks

Creating Data Checks

To determine whether the CPU instructions are executing properly, you need to monitor
the program counter, which is updated by many of the control flow operations.

Reference models are not required for data checking; you can use a rule-based
methodology instead. However, reference models are part of a typical strategy for
verifying CPU designs. The Specman Elite system supports reference models written in
Verilog, VHDL, C, or, as in this tutorial, e. All you need to do is create checks that
compare the program counter in the DUT to their counterparts in the reference model.

Procedure
This procedure has two parts:

• Adding the data checks

• Synchronizing the reference model execution with the DUT

Adding the Data Checks

1. Find the portion of the CPU_checker.e file where the exec_done event is defined.

Notice that there is an event, exec_done, and associated method, on_exec_done. The
Specman Elite system automatically creates an associated method for every event you
define. The method is empty until you extend it. The method executes every time the
event occurs.

// Data Checker
event definition event exec_done is (fall('top.exec') and
true('top.rst' == 0))@sys.cpuclk;

method on_exec_done() is {
// Compare PC - program counter
associated with };
event .
.
.

10-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Creating Data Checks Creating Temporal and Data Checks

2. Add a check for the program counter by creating a check statement and removing the
comment characters in front of dut_error.

// Data Checker
event exec_done is (fall('top.exec') and
issues an error if true('top.rst' == 0))@sys.cpuclk;
there is a
mismatch in the on_exec_done() is {
program counters // Compare PC - program counter
of the DUT and check that sys.cpu_dut.pc ==
sys.cpu_refmodel.pc else
the reference
dut_error("DATA MISMATCH(pc)");
model };

3. Save the CPU_checker.e file.

Synchronizing the Reference Model with the DUT

1. Open the CPU_drive.e file in the working directory.

2. At the top of the file find the line that imports the CPU reference model.

3. Remove the comment characters from the import line.

<'
imports the import CPU_refmodel;
reference model
extend sys {
event cpuclk is
(fall('top.clk')@tick_end);

cpu_env : cpu_env;
cpu_dut : cpu_dut;
// cpu_refmodel : cpu_refmodel;
};
'>

4. Find the line that extends the Specman Elite system by creating an instance of the CPU
reference model.

Specman Elite Tutorial 10-5

Creating Temporal and Data Checks Creating Data Checks

5. Remove the comment characters.

<'
import CPU_refmodel;

extend sys {
event cpuclk is
(fall('top.clk')@tick_end);

cpu_env : cpu_env;
creates an cpu_dut : cpu_dut;
instance of the cpu_refmodel : cpu_refmodel;
reference model };
'>

6. Find the line in the reset_cpu TCM that resets the reference model.

7. Remove the comment characters.

reset_cpu() @sys.cpuclk is {
'top.rst' = 0;
wait [1] * cycle;
'top.rst' = 1;
wait [5] * cycle;
sys.cpu_refmodel.reset();
resets the
'top.rst' = 0;
reference model };

8. Find the line that executes the reference model when the DUT is in the execute state.

9. Remove the comment characters.

// execute instr in refmodel

sys.cpu_refmodel.execute(instr,sys.cpu_dut);
};

10. Save the CPU_drive.e file.

10-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

Running the Simulation Creating Temporal and Data Checks

Running the Simulation

This procedure, which involves loading the appropriate files and clicking the Test button,
is exactly the same as the procedure you used in previous chapters to generate other tests.

The difference is that this time you are including the reference model and checks.

Procedure
1. Open the working directory’s copy of the CPU_top.e file in an editor.

2. Find the lines in the file that look like this:

// Add Checking:
//import CPU_checker;

3. Remove the comment characters in front of the import line so the lines look like this:

// Add Checking:
import CPU_checker;

4. Save the CPU_top.e file.

5. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_refmodel.e file to the working directory.

6. Invoke the Specman Elite system, if it is not already running.

% specview &

7. Click the Restore button to remove any loaded modules from the current session.

8. Click the Load button and load CPU_tst3.e.

Remember that this is the test that you wrote in Chapter 9, “Writing a Corner Case
Test”.

Specman Elite Tutorial 10-7

Creating Temporal and Data Checks Running the Simulation

9. Click the Test button to run the simulation.

It looks like we hit a bug here. Specman Elite is reporting a protocol violation.

test
Doing setup ...
Generating the test using seed 0x7...
Starting the test ...
Running the test ...
DUT executing instr 0 : SUB REG0x0, REG0x2
DUT executing instr 1 : NOP REG0x2, REG0x3
DUT executing instr 2 : ADDI REG0x1, @0x9e
DUT executing instr 3 : SUBI REG0x1, @0x65
DUT executing instr 4 : SUB REG0x1, REG0x0
DUT executing instr 5 : ADD REG0x0, REG0x2
DUT executing instr 6 : SUB REG0x0, REG0x1
DUT executing instr 7 : SUBI REG0x3, @0xca

*** Dut error at time 525

Checked at line 41 in @CPU_checker
In cpu_env-@0:

PROTOCOL ERROR

Will stop execution immediately (check effect is ERROR)

*** Error: A Dut error has occurred

*** Error: Error during tick command

10. Click on the error hyperlink to view the line in the source that generated this message.

10-8 Specman Elite Tutorial

Running the Simulation Creating Temporal and Data Checks

This message comes from the checker module that you just created.

In the next chapter, you learn how to identify the conditions under which this bug occurs
and how to bypass the bug until it can be fixed.

Specman Elite Tutorial 10-9

11 Analyzing and Bypassing
Bugs
Goals for this Chapter
The goal for this chapter is to debug the temporal error generated during your previous
tutorial session (Chapter 10, “Creating Temporal and Data Checks”). At the end of this
chapter, you also learn how to direct the generator to bypass a test scenario that causes an
error.

What You Will Learn

As you work through this chapter, you gain experience with two of the Specman Elite
system’s enabling features:

• The Specman Elite debugger — Powerful debugging features with visibility into the
HDL design.

• The Specman Elite bypass feature — You can temporarily prevent the Specman Elite
system from generating test data that reveals a bug in the design. This feature lets you
continue testing while the bug is being fixed.

Specman Elite Tutorial 11-1

Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs Displaying DUT Values

This chapter introduces the Specview commands shown in Table 11-1 on page 11-2.

Table 11-1 New Commands

Specview Commands
Debug -> Thread Opens the Thread Browser, which displays all the TCMs
(threads) that are currently active.

Debug -> Show Thread Source… Opens the Debugger window, which displays the source
for the current thread with the current line highlighted.

Debugger: View -> Print Displays the current value of an e variable.

Debugger: Breakpoint -> Sets a breakpoint on the currently highlighted line of

Set Breakpoint e code.

Debugger: Run -> Step Advances simulation to the next line of e code.

The steps for debugging the temporal error are:

1. Displaying DUT values.

2. Setting breakpoints.

3. Stepping the simulation.

4. Bypassing bugs.

The following sections describe how to perform these tasks.

Displaying DUT Values

If you have just completed Chapter 10, “Creating Temporal and Data Checks”, the
PROTOCOL error message is still displayed on the Main Specman window. If you exited
Specview, you will have to reinvoke Specview and run the simulation again, as described
in “Running the Simulation” on page 10-7. Then continue with the procedure below.

11-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Displaying DUT Values Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs

Procedure
1. In the Main Specman window, select Debug->Threads.

The Thread Browser appears.

The Thread Browser indicates the status of each TCM that is currently active in
Specman Elite:

• Clock generation
• Drive and Sample CPU
• DUT

To debug the error, look first at the TCM that drives the DUT.

Specman Elite Tutorial 11-3

Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs Displaying DUT Values

2. On the line for [email protected]_cpu, select Src to bring up the corresponding source
file for this thread.

The Debugger window appears, showing CPU_drive.e. The highlighted line shows
that the drive_one_instr TCM is waiting for the top.exec signal to rise.

For
step 3

For
step 5

3. To find out the current instruction type, highlight the phrase instr.kind, located 9 lines
above the highlighted wait statement.

4. Click the print button.

The value of instr.kind shows an immediate instruction.

5. In a similar fashion, find out the current opcode: instr.opcode.

The value of opcode is JMPC.

6. Optionally you could find out the value of any HDL signals. For example, to display
the value of top.data, highlight the phrase ‘top.data’ and click the print button.

11-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

Setting Breakpoints Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs

Setting Breakpoints
You have determined that the bug appears on an immediate instruction when the opcode is
JMPC. It may be possible to narrow down even further the conditions under which the bug
occurs. You can set a breakpoint on the statement that drives the immediate instruction
data into the DUT to see what the operands of the instruction are.

Procedure
1. Highlight any portion of the line:
'top.data' = pack(packing.high, instr.imm'op2);

2. Select Breakpoints -> Set Breakpoint.

This line should now be underlined to indicate a breakpoint has been set.

3. To activate the breakpoint just before the error occurs (at system time 525), in the
Debugger window, select Breakpoint -> Show Breakpoints.

The Breakpoints window appears.

Edit
Box
for
step 4

4. In the edit box at the top of the window, modify the current breakpoint as follows:
break on line 53 @CPU_drive if (sys.time > 475)

Click Change and Close the window.

Specman Elite Tutorial 11-5

Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs Stepping the Simulation

Stepping the Simulation

You can trace the exact execution order of the e code by stepping the simulation.

Procedure
1. To run the simulation in debug mode, click the Reload button in the Main Specman
window.

2. Click the Test button.

3. The simulation stops at the breakpoint.

4. In the Debugger window, select Run -> Step Anywhere to advance to the next source
line in any subsequent thread.

5. Repeat the Run -> Step Anywhere until the current thread is Thread #3 in the
CPU_DUT.e file, as indicated in the title bar at the top of the window.

11-6 Specman Elite Tutorial

Bypassing the Bug Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs

6. In the Debugger window, continue to click the Step button to step through the
simulation.

After about 22 steps, you will hit the PROTOCOL error. The PROTOCOL error is
displayed in the Main Specman window and the Step button is greyed out.

For the purpose of simplifying this tutorial, we planted an obvious bug in the DUT.
Whenever a JMPC instruction jumps to a location greater than 10, execution requires
two extra cycles to complete.

Bypassing the Bug

A common problem in traditional test generation methodology is that when there is a bug
in the design, verification cannot continue until the bug is fixed. There is no way to prevent
the generator from creating tests that hit the bug.

Specman Elite’s extensibility feature, however, lets you temporarily prevent Specman Elite
from generating the conditions that cause the bug to be revealed.

This particular bug seems to surface when the JMPC operation is performed using a
memory location greater than 10. In order to continue testing other scenarios, you simply
extend the test constraints to prevent Specman Elite from generating this combination.

Procedure
Here is the procedure for bypassing the JMPC bug.

1. Copy the tutorial/src/CPU_bypass.e file to the working directory.

2. Open the CPU_bypass.e file in the editor.

3. Review the keep constraint.

<'
extend instr {

keep (opcode == JMPC) => imm’op2 < 10 ;

};
'>

Specman Elite Tutorial 11-7

Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs Tutorial Summary

4. In the Main Specman window, select Debug->Delete All Breakpoints to exit debug
mode.

5. Click the Reload button.

6. Click the Load button and load the CPU_bypass.e file.

7. Click on the Test button to launch the test.

This time the test runs to completion.

Tutorial Summary
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the major steps required to verify a
design with the Specman Elite verification system. Here’s a review of what you have
accomplished in this tutorial:

• You captured the interface specifications for the CPU instructions in e and created the
instruction stream.

• You used specification constraints to ensure that only legal instructions were generated.
You used test constraints to create a simple go-no-go test.

• You created a Specman Elite TCM (time consuming method) to define the driver
protocol and then drove the generated CPU instruction stream into the DUT. The results
confirmed that you had generated the first test and driven it correctly into the design.

• Using Specman Elite’s powerful constraint-driven generator, you generated 15 sets of

instructions. Using weight to control the generation value distribution, you effectively
focused these sets of instructions on the commonly executed portion of the CPU DUT.

• Using Specman Elite’s unique Functional Coverage Analyzer, you accurately measured
the effectiveness of the coverage of the regression tests. You identified a corner case
“hole” by viewing the graphical coverage reports.

• To address the corner case scenario, you used Specman Elite’s powerful on-the-fly
generation capability to generate a test based on the internal state of the design during
simulation. Compared to the traditional deterministic test approach, this approach tests
the corner case much more effectively from multiple paths.

• Then you used the unique temporal constructs provided by Specman Elite to create a
self-checking monitor that verifies protocol conformance.

11-8 Specman Elite Tutorial

Tutorial Summary Analyzing and Bypassing Bugs

• When the self-checking monitor revealed a bug, the GUI debugger provided extensive
features to debug the design efficiently.

Note that you have created this verification environment, including self-checking modules
and functional coverage analysis, in a short period of time. Once the environment is
established, creating a large number of effective tests is merely one click away! The
ultimate result of using Specman Elite is a drastic reduction in verification time and
resources.

Specman Elite Tutorial 11-9

A Setting up the Tutorial
Environment
In order to set up the tutorial environment, you need a Specman Elite license. You can get
one by sending email to [email protected] or by calling Verisity customer support at
(650) 934-6890.

There are three procedures involved in setting up the tutorial environment:

• Downloading the Specman Elite software and tutorial files

• Installing the Specman Elite software
• Installing the tutorial files
These procedures are described in this appendix. Note that even if Specman Elite software
has already been installed in your environment, you still have to download and install the
tutorial files.

Downloading the Specman Elite Files

Here’s the procedure for downloading the Specman Elite software and the tutorial files
from the Verisity ftp site.

1. Change directory to the directory where you want to store the downloaded files.

Specman Elite Tutorial A-1

Setting up the Tutorial Environment Downloading the Specman Elite Files

2. Log in to the Verisity ftp site.

% ftp ftp.verisity.com
Connected to ftp.verisity.com…
Name (ftp.verisity.com:<your_name>): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password
Password: <your-email-address>
230 Guest login ok. access restrictions apply.

3. Change directory to the private/tutors directory.

ftp> cd private/tutors
250 CWD command successful

4. Change the format type to binary.

ftp> bin
200 Type set to I.

5. Get the Specman Elite software.

ftp> get install_specman<release_number>.sh
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for
install_specman<release_number>.sh
226 Transfer complete…
ftp> get sn_rel<release_number>.main.tar.gz
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for
sn_rel<release_number>.main.tar.gz…
226 Transfer complete…
ftp> get sn_rel<release_number>.<OS>.tar.gz
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for
sn_rel<release_number>.solaris.tar.gz…
226 Transfer complete…

where <OS> is one of the platforms that Specman Elite supports, either solaris or hpux.

6. Get the tutorial files.

ftp> get se_tutor.tar.gz
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for se_tutor.tar.gz…
226 Transfer complete…
ftp>

7. Log out of ftp.

ftp> quit
221 Goodbye.
%

A-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

Installing the Specman Elite Software Setting up the Tutorial Environment

Installing the Specman Elite Software

Here’s the procedure for setting the environment variables, installing the files, and starting
up the license manager. Please refer to README file for installation updates.

1. Log in to the machine where you want to install the Specman Elite software.
% rlogin solaris/hpux-machine

2. Run the installation script.

% sh ./install_specman<release_number>.sh

3. When the Specman Elite Install Script Menu appears, select option 1, “Complete
installation”.

After you have installed the machine-independent files (including the online docs) and
the machine-dependent files, the script will ask you to select a license installation step.

4. Choose option 1, “Install license server” from the “License handling” menu.

The script creates a new license file based on the license file you obtained via e-mail,
activates the license server, updates the SPECMAN_LICENSE_FILE environment
variable, and optionally creates the “rc.specman” file.

5. Exit the installation script after the license handling procedure is completed.

6. Source the Specman Elite environment file (env.csh or env.sh), for example:
% source <install_dir>/<release_number>/env.csh

7. Make sure the Specman Elite object in your PATH is the one you have just installed.
% which specman
<install_dir>/<OS>/specman
%

8. To check the installation, start the Specman Elite graphical interface.

% specview &

✓ If you have difficulty starting Specview or obtaining a license, call Verisity customer
support at (650) 934-6890.

Specman Elite Tutorial A-3

Setting up the Tutorial Environment Installing the Tutorial Files

Installing the Tutorial Files

Here’s the procedure for installing the tutorial files.

1. Change directory to the directory where you want to install the tutorial files.
% cd <tutor_dir>
%

2. Unzip and untar the se_tutor.tar.gz file.

% gunzip se_tutor.tar.gz
% tar -xvf se_tutor.tar

3. List the directory contents to see the file structure.

% ls *

gold:
CPU_bypass.e CPU_instr.e CPU_tst2.e
CPU_checker.e CPU_misc.e CPU_tst3.e
CPU_cover.e CPU_refmodel.e regression_3.2.ecov
CPU_drive.e CPU_top.e
CPU_dut.e CPU_tst1.e

src:
CPU_bypass.e CPU_instr.e CPU_tst2.e
CPU_checker.e CPU_misc.e CPU_tst3.e
CPU_cover.e CPU_refmodel.e regression_3.2.ecov
CPU_drive.e CPU_top.e
CPU_dut.e CPU_tst1.e
%

You can see that there are two sets of files. As you work through this tutorial, you will
be modifying the files in the src directory. If you have trouble making the modifications
correctly, you can view or use the files in the gold directory. The files in the gold
directory are complete and correct.

Now that the files are installed, you are ready to proceed with the design verification task
flow shown in Figure 1-2 on page 1-3. To start the first step in that flow, turn to Chapter 2,
“Understanding the Environment”. In this chapter, you review the design specifications
and functional test plan for the CPU design and define the overall verification environment.

A-4 Specman Elite Tutorial

B Design Specifications for
the CPU
This document contains the following specifications:

• CPU instructions
• CPU interface
• CPU register list

CPU Instructions
The instructions are from three main categories:

• Arithmetic instructions — ADD, ADDI, SUB, SUBI

• Logic instructions — AND, ANDI, XOR, XORI
• Control flow instructions — JMP, JMPC, CALL, RET
• No-operation instructions — NOP
All instructions have a 4-bit opcode and two operands. The first operand is one of four
4-bit registers internal to the CPU. This same register stores the result of the operation, in
the case of arithmetic and logic instructions.

Specman Elite Tutorial B-1

Design Specifications for the CPU CPU Instructions

Based on the second operand, there are two categories of instructions:

• Register instructions — the second operand is another one of the four internal registers
• Immediate instructions — the second operand is an 8-bit value contained in the next
instruction. When the opcode is of type JMP, JMPC, or CALL, this operand must be a
4-bit memory location.

Figure B-1 Register Instruction

byte 1

bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

opcode op1 op2

Figure B-2 Immediate Instruction

byte 1 2

bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

opcode op1 don’t op2

care

Table B-1 on page B-2 shows a summary description of the CPU instructions.

Table B-1 Summary of Instructions

Name Opcode Operands Comments

ADD 0000 register, register ADD; PC <- PC + 1

ADDI 0001 register, immediate ADD immediate; PC <- PC + 2

SUB 0010 register, register SUB; PC <- PC + 1

SUBI 0011 register, immediate SUB immediate; PC <- PC + 2

AND 0100 register, register AND; PC <- PC + 1

ANDI 0101 register, immediate AND immediate; PC <- PC + 2

XOR 0110 register, register XOR; PC <- PC + 1

B-2 Specman Elite Tutorial

CPU Interface Design Specifications for the CPU

Table B-1 Summary of Instructions (continued)

Name Opcode Operands Comments

XORI 0111 register, immediate XOR immediate; PC <- PC + 2

JMP 1000 immediate JUMP; PC <- immediate value

JMPC 1001 immediate JUMP on carry;

if carry = 1 PC <- immediate value
else PC <- PC + 2

CALL 1010 immediate Call subroutine;

PC <- immediate value;
PCS <- PC + 2

RET 1011 Return from call; PC <- PCS

NOP 1100 Undefined command

CPU Interface
The CPU has three inputs and no outputs, as shown in Table B-2 on page B-3.

Table B-2 Interface List

Function Direction Width Signal Name

CPU instruction input 8 bits data

clock input 1 bit clock

reset input 1 bit rst

When the CPU is reset by the rst, rst must return to its inactive value no sooner than
min_reset_duration and no later than max_reset_duration.

Specman Elite Tutorial B-3

Design Specifications for the CPU CPU Register List

CPU Register List

The CPU has six 8-bit registers and one 4-bit register, as shown in Table B-3 on page B-4.

Table B-3 Register List

Function Width Register Name

state machine register 4 bits curr_FSM

program counter 8 bits pc

program counter stack 8 bits pcs

register 0 8 bits r0

register 1 8 bits r1

register 2 8 bits r2

register 3 8 bits r3

B-4 Specman Elite Tutorial