Leveraging Semi-Formal and Sequential Equivalence Techniques for Multimedia SOC Performance Validation

For multimedia SOCs supporting real time, high throughput and data intensive applications, performance validation of memory subsystems is needed to uncover the bottlenecks in the RTL implementation. Traditional validation techniques are either too slow, non-exhaustive (like performance simulations or running pseudo applications on FPGA platforms), or are not accurate enough to guarantee conformance (like abstract interpretation and analysis). In this paper we present an approach for performance validation which uses (a) semi-formal techniques rather than pure simulation for providing a wider coverage, (b) actual RTL implementations wherever available for more accurate analysis, and (c) sequential equivalence checking for validating the abstract models for IP´s whose RTL is either not present or from which datapath has been abstracted out. We illustrate this approach using two case studies from video signal processing platforms. In the first study, performance issues found in silicon were detected using the proposed approach, and in the second study a number of performance bottlenecks were detected much before the RTL was frozen.