Test time minimization for system-on-chip with test bus assignment and sizing

Test access is a major problem in testing embedded cores as it directly impacts testing time and hardware cost. Test access mechanism (TAM) is responsible for test data transport and is characterized by its bandwidth capacity. Efficient TAM design is of critical importance in SOC system integration since a test architecture should reduce test cost by minimizing test application time. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm to design test access architectures while investigating test bus sizing concurrently with assigning cores to test buses. We present experimental results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.