RTL Functional Verification

Paradigm Can Help with Your RTL Functional Verification

RTL functional verification, register-transfer level functional verification, is able to answer these questions for your designs: Does this machine do what it should? Does it accomplish the goals you established? Does the design perform the tasks it was intended to perform? 

When creating a new circuit or design for electronics, aerospace, or other areas, functional verification often takes the most time and resources of any other step in the process. That is because functional verification is one of the most important parts of the process. After all, if the system doesn’t do what it was designed to do, it isn’t functional and won’t be successful. Functional verification falls into the larger category of design verification, which also tests things like a design’s power, timing, and layout.

Because RTL functional design is so important, it can be overwhelming for many companies, especially those that don’t have the time and resources to perform a thorough validation. The team of professionals at Paradigm Consulting are experts at functional verification and can efficiently and accurately find if a design really is functional or if it needs to go back to the drawing board.

Methods of Functional Verification

Functional verification is crucial to a design’s success, but it is also a long and daunting process. For even the simplest designs, there are often millions or billions of potential test cases. To tackle this large number of requirements to fully verify a design, there are a number of methods for functional verification. In order to truly be successful, the right method should be used. That’s another reason to trust Paradigm because the experienced team knows the best verification methods to use for each type of aerospace, defense, or commercial design.

The options for RTL functional verification include logic simulation, which simulates the logic before the device is built. This test runs through the logic behind the design to make sure it is functional and intuitive. Formal verification uses math to ensure that certain design requirements are met and that certain undesirable outcomes are impossible. For example, formal verification could use an algorithm or equation to test that an electronic circuit can send a drone in the air but that it isn’t possible for the drone to malfunction in poor weather. Another method is intelligent verification, which uses automation to adjust to changes in the RTL code. This method helps test for changes that might occur as the device is used in various scenarios.

Another option is emulation, which uses programmable logic to build a version of the system. This method can be used to boost the operating system of a device and is good for larger and more powerful circuits, but it is expensive and can be slower to test than using real hardware. Instead of emulation, devices can also be verified using simulation, which runs through various simulations of the design to test what will occur with different inputs. One of the largest benefits of simulation-based verification is that it can be scaled and adjusted more easily than many other methods.

How Paradigm Can Help

No matter the method used, the key aspect of RTL functional verification is to ensure the design will be functional early in the design process. For assistance in all aspects of design and verification, turn to the engineering experts at Paradigm Consulting. Contact us today to learn more.