Timed verification of the generic architecture of a memory circuit using parametric timed automata

Using a variant of Clariso-Cortadella’s parametric method for verifying asynchronous circuits, we analyse some crucial timing behaviors of the architecture of SPSMALL memory, a commercial product of STMicroelectronics. Using the model of parametric timed automata and model checker HYTECH, we formally derive a set of linear constraints that ensure the correctness of the response times of the memory. We are also able to infer the constraints characterizing the optimal setup timings of input signals. We have checked, for two different implementations of this architecture, that the values given by our model match remarkably with the values obtained by the designer through electrical simulation.

[1]  Sergio Yovine,et al.  KRONOS: a verification tool for real-time systems , 1997, International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer.

[2]  Amir Pnueli,et al.  Timing analysis of asynchronous circuits using timed automata , 1995, CHARME.

[3]  Joseph Sifakis,et al.  Automatic Verification Methods for Finite State Systems , 1989, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[4]  Wang Yi,et al.  Uppaal in a nutshell , 1997, International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer.

[5]  Jordi Cortadella,et al.  Verification of timed circuits with symbolic delays , 2004, ASP-DAC 2004: Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference 2004 (IEEE Cat. No.04EX753).

[6]  Jianmin Hou,et al.  Verification of Asynchronous Circuits using Timed Automata , 2002, Theory and Practice of Timed Systems @ ETAPS.

[7]  Patrick Cousot,et al.  Abstract interpretation: a unified lattice model for static analysis of programs by construction or approximation of fixpoints , 1977, POPL.

[8]  David A. Patterson,et al.  Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach , 1969 .

[9]  David L. Dill,et al.  Timing Assumptions and Verification of Finite-State Concurrent Systems , 1989, Automatic Verification Methods for Finite State Systems.

[10]  Laurent Fribourg,et al.  Timing analysis of an embedded memory: SPSMALL , 2006 .

[11]  Oded Maler,et al.  On Timing Analysis of Combinational Circuits , 2003, FORMATS.

[12]  Jordi Cortadella,et al.  The octahedron abstract domain , 2004, Sci. Comput. Program..

[13]  Nicolas Halbwachs,et al.  Delay Analysis in Synchronous Programs , 1993, CAV.

[14]  Thomas A. Henzinger,et al.  A User Guide to HyTech , 1995, TACAS.

[15]  R. Chevallier,et al.  Timed verification of the SPSMALL memory ∗ , 2022 .

[16]  Rajeev Alur,et al.  A Theory of Timed Automata , 1994, Theor. Comput. Sci..

[17]  Emmanuelle Encrenaz-Tiphène,et al.  Verification of the Generic Architecture of a Memory Circuit Using Parametric Timed Automata , 2006, FORMATS.

[18]  Carl-Johan H. Seger,et al.  Asynchronous Circuits , 1995, Monographs in Computer Science.