Report Number: CSL-TR-94-622
Institution: Stanford University, Computer Systems Laboratory
Title: A Synthesis-for-Test Design System
Author: Avra, LaNae J.
Author: Gerbaux, Laurent
Author: Giomi, Jean-Charles
Author: Martinolle, Francoise
Author: McCluskey, Edward J.
Date: May 1994
Abstract: Hardware synthesis techniques automatically generate a structural hardware implementation given an abstract (e.g., functional, behavioral, register transfer) description of the behavior of the design. Existing hardware synthesis systems typically use cost and performance as the main criteria for selecting the best hardware implementation, and seldom even consider test issues during the synthesis process. We have developed and implemented a computer-aided design tool whose primary objective is to generate the lowest-cost, highest-performance hardware implementation that also meets specified testability requirements. By considering testability during the synthesis process, the tool is able to generate designs that are optimized for specific test techniques. The input to the tool is a behavioral VHDL specification that consists of high-level software language constructs such as conditional statements, assignment statements, and loops, and the output is a structural VHDL description of the design. Implemented synthesis procedures include compiler optimizations, inter-process analysis, high-level synthesis operations (scheduling, allocation, and binding) and control logic generation. The purpose of our design tool is to serve as a platform for experimentation with existing and future synthesis-for-test techniques, and it can currently generate designs optimized for both parallel and circular built-in self-test architectures.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/csl/tr/94/622/CSL-TR-94-622.pdf