Improving PSS Test Generation Using Model Checking and Conformance Testing

SoC architectures are complex and notoriously hard to verify. Current industrial practice is still mainly based on testing, with the recent standard PSS easing the generation of system-level tests. In this paper, we suggest to formally express the behavior of a PSS model as a composition of communicating labeled transition systems. This improves the PSS methodology in two ways. First, it becomes possible to formally verify temporal logic properties of the model and increase the confidence in the model and the generated tests. Second, conformance testing techniques improve the coverage of the generated tests.