Session-09

Advanced Verification Features

Session delivered by:

Padmanaban K .

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 Session Objectives
• To learn the concept of Direct Programming interface
• To understand the concept of System Verilog regions
• To learn the concept of Program and Clocking blocks

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 Session Topics
• Direct Programming interface
• Programming Language Interface
• System Verilog regions
• Program and Clocking Blocks

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 Verilog PLI
• The Verilog Programming Language Interface (PLI) provides
a mechanism for Verilog code to call functions written in the
C programming language.
• The venerable Verilog PLI is one of the reasons the Verilog
language has been so successful for hardware design.
• Using the PLI companies and end-users can extend the
capabilities of commercial Verilog simulators.
• Recently a new ―SystemVerilog‖, an extension to the IEEE
Verilog standard, which includes a new way for Verilog code
to call C and C++ functions.
• This interface eliminates the complexity of the earlier PLI
(programming language interface) that required users to
access HDL objects through a set of API and setup-explicit
callback methods.
• With earlier methods such as PLI, the user must setup an
explicit table to link HDL with C.

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 System Verilog DPI
• SystemVerilog DPI eliminates all this by allowing HDL
compiler to create the C interface and data access.
• DPI is an interface between System Verilog and a foreign
programming language.
• These Foreign languages can be a System C, C, C++ as well
as others.
• It consists of two separate layers: the System Verilog layer
and a foreign language layer.
• Both the layers are isolated from each other.
• Different programming languages can be used and supported
with the same intact System Verilog layer.

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 System Verilog DPI
• However, System Verilog defines a foreign language layer
only for the C programming language.
• The methodological requirement is that the interface should
allow a diversified system to be built (a design or a testbench)
in which some components can be written in a language (or
more
• languages) other than System Verilog, hereinafter called the
foreign language.
• On a practical aspect for an easy and efficient way to connect
existing code is to write in C or C++, without the knowledge
and the overhead of PLI or VPI.

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 Two layers of the DPI
• DPI consists of two separate layers: the SystemVerilog layer
and a foreign language layer.
• The SystemVerilog layer does not depend on which
programming language is actually used as the foreign
language.
• SystemVerilog code shall look identical and its semantics
shall be unchanged for any foreign language layer.
• Different SystemVerilog requires only that its
implementation shall support C protocols and linkage.

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 SystemVerilog layer
• The SystemVerilog side of DPI does not depend on the
foreign programming language.
• In the function call protocol and argument passing
mechanisms used in the foreign language are transparent and
irrelevant to SystemVerilog.
• SystemVerilog code shall look identical to the foreignside of
the interface.
• This clause does not constitute a complete interface
specification.
• It only describes the functionality, semantics, and syntax of
the SystemVerilog layer of the interface.

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 Foreign language layer
• The foreign language layer of the interface specifies how
actual arguments are passed and how they can be accessed
from the foreign code and are represented.
• It reveals how they are translated to and from some
predefined C-like types.
• The data types allowed for formal arguments and results of
imported functions or exported functions are generally
SystemVerilog types.
• Software tools, like a SystemVerilog compiler, can facilitate
the mapping of SystemVerilog types onto foreign native
types by generating the appropriate function headers.
• The same SystemVerilog code (compiled accordingly) shall
be usable with different foreign language layers, regardless of
the data access method assumed in a specific layer.

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 Example DPI
Example:- import "DPI" function void myInit();
// from standard math library
import "DPI" pure function real sin(real);
// from standard C library: memory
management
import "DPI" function chandle malloc(int size);
// standard C function
import "DPI" function void free(chandle ptr); //
standard C function

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 Disabling DPI tasks and functions
• It is possible for a disable statement to disable a block that is
currently executing a mixed language call chain.
• When a DPI import task or function is disabled, the C code is
required to follow a simple disable protocol.
• The protocol gives the C code the opportunity to perform any
necessary resource cleanup, such as closing open file handles,
closing open VPI handles, or freeing heap memory.

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 Advantages and Limitations of DPI
• The ability to import a C function and then directly call the
function using the DPI is much simpler than the Verilog PLI.
• Using the DPI, the Verilog code can directly call the sin
function from the C math library, directly pass inputs to the
function, and directly receive value from the C function.
• Using the PLI, several steps are required to create a user
defined system task that indirectly calls and passes values to
the sin function.

Eg:- import "DPI" function real sin(real in);

always @(posedge clock)
begin slope <= sin(angle);
end
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 Advantages and Limitations of DPI
• DPI applications cannot schedule writing values into
simulation at a later stages simulation time.
• Verilog PLI applications can schedule value changes to
transpire at any future time.
• DPI task or function can have is limited types of formal
arguments data type that can have logic value.
• Where in verilog PLI can have function/task arguments with
both verilog and system verilog variables, net data types,
module instance and null arguments.

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 Advantages and Limitations of DPI
• DPI receives values directly from C functions as a functions
returns value.
• Other programming languages indirectly.
• C function can call verilog functions and task. No other
programmer has this facility.
• Concurrent calls to task use the C stack.
• The DPI import declaration contains a prototype of the
imported function arguments.
• The PLI does not define prototypes of system tasks and
functions.

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 Features
• The SystemVerilog Direct Programming Interface provides
an ideal solution for integratingVerilog models with System
C models.
• The DPI import declarations allow Verilog code to directly
call C code without the complexity and overhead of the
Verilog PLI.
• As DPI is a standard integrating model, Interfacing of
Verilog and SystemC becomes a simple and straightforward
process.
• To overcome the disadvantages of the Verilog PLI, DPI has
been introduced has got many advantages as listed.
• On the new era of system verilog DPI will replace PLI as it
has got many advanced features over PLI.

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System Verilog Regions

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IEEE Std 1800-2005 regions

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IEEE Std 1800-2005 regions

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SystemVerilog Event Regions and Advantages
• Active and NBA regions are designed for correct RTL
functionality.
• Preponed, Reactive, Re-Inactive and Postponed regions for
correct verification execution.
• Preponed, Observed, and Reactive regions for concurrent
assertion checking.

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 Preponed Events Region
• This region is to sample values that are used by concurrent
assertions.
• The Preponed region is executed only once in each timestep,
immediately after advancing simulation time.
• Concurrent assertions means the values of variables that are
used in assertions are sampled in the Preponed region of a
time slot, and the assertions are evaluated during the
Observed region.
• For a simulator its not necessary to know about any future
events, it only needs to ensure that the values present in the
• Preponed region are available to the sampling constructs,
when the clocking expression is actually triggered and while
processing the later regions.

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 Active Events Region
• Execute all module blocking assignments
• Evaluate the Right-Hand-Side (RHS) of all nonblocking
assignments and schedule updates into the NBA region.
• Execute all module continuous assignments
• Evaluate inputs and update outputs of Verilog primitives.
• Execute the $display and $finish commands.

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 Inactive Events Region
• Inactive region is where #0 blocking assignments are
scheduled.
• We should not make #0 RTL procedural assignments as per
the guideline.
• If we continue to use #0 assignments then we are trying to
defeat a race condition that might exist in the code due to
assignments made to the same variable from more than one
always block, which cause violation of Race Avoidance
Guideline #6.
• For good coding practices there are no need for #0 RTL
assignments and hence, the Inactive region will be deleted
from the rest of the events.

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 Nonblocking Assignment Region (BA).
• The main principal function of NBA region is to execute the
updates to the Left-Hand-Side (LHS) variables that were
scheduled in the Active region for all currently executing
nonblocking assignments.
• As Race Avoidance Guideline #1(for sequential logic use
non blocking assignment) dictates that all RTL clocked logic
modeled using an always block should be coded using
nonblocking assignments to ensure that the sequential logic
will execute in the NBA region and correctly model the
pipelined nature of sequential elements.

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 Observed Region
• This region evaluates the concurrent assertions using the
values sampled in the Preponed region.
• Assertions that execute a pass or fail action block, actually
schedule a process associated with the pass and fail code into
the Reactive region, not in the Observed region.
• This is because concurrent assertions are designed to behave
strictly as monitors and are not allowed to modify the state of
the design

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 Reactive Region
• Reactive region is to execute the verification processes call
forth by program blocks.
• The Reactive region is located towards the end of the time
step; at the same time will have an access to three key pieces
of information:
• The current set of steady-state values – at the start of the
current time step.
• The next set of steady-state values, after clock and signal
propagation.
• The disposition of all concurrent assertions triggered in this
timestep.

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 Re-Inactive Region
• Re-Inactive region run with the Reactive region until all
Reactive/Re-Inactive events have completed.
• RTL regions (Active-Inactive-NBA) will re-trigger if the
program execution scheduled any events in those regions in
the same timestep.
• Events are scheduled into the Re-Inactive region by
executing #0 in a program process.
• Re-Inactive region is the dual of the Inactive RTL region
which is not recommended.

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 Postponed Region
• Postponed Region execute the $strobe and $monitor
commands that will show the final updated values for the
current timestep.
• This region is also used to collect functional coverage for
items that use strobe sampling.
• There is no feedback path from the Postponed region back
into the RTL or Reactive-loop regions, so the values
displayed and the coverage collected will be the final values
for that timestep.

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 Clocking Blocks
• In Verilog, the communication between blocks is specified
using module ports.
• SystemVerilog adds the interface, a key construct that
encapsulates the communication between blocks, thereby
enabling users to easily change the level of abstraction at
which the inter-module communication is to be modeled.
• An interface can specify the signals or nets through which a
test bench communicates with a device under test.
• However, an interface does not explicitly specify any timing
disciplines, synchronization requirements, or clocking
paradigms.

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 Clocking Blocks
• SystemVerilog adds the clocking block that identifies clock
signals, and captures the timing and synchronization
requirements of the blocks being modeled.
• A clocking block assembles signals that are synchronous to a
particular clock, and makes their timing explicit.
• The clocking block is a key element in a cycle-based
methodology, which enables users to write test benches at a
higher level of abstraction.
• Rather than focusing on signals and transitions in time, the
test can be defined in terms of cycles and transactions.
• Depending on the environment, a test bench can contain one
or more clocking blocks, each containing its own clock plus
an arbitrary number of signals.

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 Example for Clocking Block
clocking ck1 @(posedge clk);
default input #1step output negedge; // legal
// outputs driven on the negedge clk
input ... ;
output ... ;
endclocking
clocking ck2 @(clk); // no edge specified!
default input #1step output negedge; // legal
input ... ;
output ... ;
endclocking
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 Example for Clocking Block
clocking bus @(posedge clock1);
default input #10ns output #2ns;
input data, ready, enable = top.mem1.enable;
output negedge ack;
input #1step addr;
endclocking

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 Program Block
• The module is the basic building block in Verilog. Modules
can contain hierarchies of other modules, wires, task and
function declarations, and procedural statements within
always and initial blocks.
• This construct works extremely well for the description of
hardware.
• However, for the test bench, the emphasis is not in the
hardware-level details such as wires, structural hierarchy, and
interconnects, but in modeling the complete environment in
which a design is verified.
• A lot of effort is spent getting the environment properly
initialized and synchronized, avoiding races between the
design and the test bench, automating the generation of input
stimuli, and reusing existing models and other infrastructure.

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 Program Block
• The program block serves three basic purposes:
1) It provides an entry point to the execution of testbenches.
2) It creates a scope that encapsulates program-wide data.
3) It provides a syntactic context that specifies scheduling in the
Reactive region.

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 Program Block
• The program construct serves as a clear separator between
design and testbench, and, more importantly, it specifies
specialized execution semantics in the Reactive region for all
elements declared within the program.
• Together with clocking blocks, the program construct
provides for race-free interaction between the design and the
testbench, and enables cycle and transaction level
abstractions.

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 Example
program test (input clk, input [16:1] addr, inout
[7:0] data);
initial ...
endprogram
or
program test ( interface device_ifc );
initial ...
endprogram

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 Summary
• SystemVerilog DPI eliminates all this by allowing HDL
compiler to create the C interface and data access
• The main principal function of NBA region is to execute the
updates to the Left-Hand-Side (LHS) variables that were
scheduled in the Active region for all currently executing
nonblocking assignments
• The SystemVerilog Direct Programming Interface provides
an ideal solution for integratingVerilog models with System
C models.

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