Optimizing test access mechanism under constraints by genetic local search algorithm

Test access mechanism is an important issue in the testing of core-based system-on-chip (SOC) designs. For an embedded core, which is often deeply embedded in the system chip, direct access to its peripheries is usually not available; hence, additional access mechanism is required. In this paper we propose an approach based on genetic local search algorithm to deal with design problem of test access mechanism under some constraints such as core-cluster and core-placement constraints. The optimizing of test access mechanisms of two example SOCs are given to show the effectiveness of our approach.