Cohesive Coverage Management for Simulation and Formal Property Verification

Relating formal verification coverage and simulation coverage is a challenge in pre-silicon validation. In this paper we propose the use of a test plan language as a formal basis for unifying the coverage goals for simulation and formal property verification. We present methods for computing the coverage of test points individually through simulation and formal property verification and for using the coverage due to one to ease the verification effort on the other. We demonstrate the efficiency of our approach through a study of the ARM AMBA pre-silicon verification plan.