Automated functional coverage for a digital system based on a binary differential evolution algorithm

Within functional verification of digital systems there are dynamic methods based on Device Under Verification simulation. We focus on this type of method using functional coverage points. Nowadays, the main problem consists in obtaining high values to exercise all functional coverage points in the device. In this paper we propose a heuristic dynamic verification method based on a Binary Differential Evolution algorithm to obtain sets of vectors that maximize the functional coverage percentage in a synchronous First Input-First Output (FIFO) memory. The experimental results show that using this evolutionary technique with a relatively small population size, high functional coverage values were obtained. Despite the difficulty in exercising a greater amount of coverage points, we observed that the method obtains higher values than ninety percent in different scenarios.