Assertion-Based Verification: Industry Myths to Realities (Invited Tutorial)

Debugging, on average, has grown to consume more than 60% of today's ASIC and SoC verification effort. Clearly, this is a topic the industry must address, and some organizations have done just that. Those that have adopted an assertion-based verification (ABV) methodology have seen significant reduction in simulation debugging time (as much as 50% [1]) due to improved observability. Furthermore, organizations that have embraced an ABV methodology are able to take advantage of more advanced verification techniques, such as formal verification, thus improving their overall verification quality and results. Nonetheless, even with multiple published industry case studies from various early adopters--each touting the benefits of applying ABV--the industry as a whole has resisted adopting assertion-based techniques. This tutorial provides an industry survey of today's ABV landscape, ranging from myths to realities. Emerging challenges and possible research opportunities are discussed. The following extended abstract provides a reference on which the tutorial builds.