Coverage-directed verification of microprocessor units based on cycle-accurate contract specifications

In this paper we describe a method for simulation-based verification of microprocessor units based on cycle-accurate contract specifications. Such specifications describe behavior of a unit in the form of preconditions and postconditions of microoperations. Test sequence generation is based on traversal of FSM constructed automatically from specifications and test coverage definition. We have successfully applied the method to several units of the industrial MIPS64-compatible microprocessor.