Synthesis of synchronous assertions with guarded atomic actions

Michael Pellauer, Muriel Bittencourt de Liz, D. Baltus, R. Nikhi · 2005

The SystemVerilog standard introduces SystemVerilog Assertions (SVA), a synchronous assertion package based on the temporal-logic semantics of PSL. Traditionally assertions are checked in software simulation. We introduce a method for synthesizing SVA directly into hardware modules in Bluespec SystemVerilog. This opens up new possibilities for FPGA-accelerated testbenches, hardware/software co-emulation, dynamic verification and fault-tolerance. We describe adding synthesizable assertions to a cache controller, and investigate their hardware cost.

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