Implementing the response checking mechanism in a self-checking environment remains the most time-consuming task. The VMM Data Stream Scoreboard package facilitates the implementation of verifying the correct transformation, destination and ordering of ordered data streams. This package is intuitively applicable to packet-oriented design, such as modems, routers and protocol interfaces. This package can also be used to verify any design transforming and moving sequences of data items, such as DSP data paths and floating-point units. Out-of-the-box, the VMM data stream scoreboard can be used to verify single-stream designs that do not modify the data flowing through them. For example, it can be used to verify FIFOs, Ethernet media access controllers (MACs) and bridges.
The VMM data scoreboard can also be used to verify multi-stream designs with user-defined data transformation and input-to-output stream routing. The transformation from input data items into expected data items is not limited to one-to-one transformation. An input data item may be transformed into multiple expected data items (e.g. segmenters) or none (e.g. reassemblers). Compared to this, the functionality available through UVM in-order comparator or the algorithmic comparator is significantly less. Thus, users might want to have access to the functionality provided by the VMM DS Scoreboard in a UVM environment. Using the UBUS example available in $VCS_HOME/doc/examples/uvm/integrated/ubus as a demo vehicle, this article shows how simple adapters are used to integrate the VMM DS scoreboard in a UVM environment and thus get access to more advanced scoreboarding functionality within the UVM environment
The UBUS example uses an example scoreboard to verify that the slave agent is operating as a simple memory. It extends from the uvm_scoreboard class and implements a memory_verify() function to makes the appropriate calls and comparisons needed to verify a memory operation. An uvm_analysis_export is explicitly created and implementation for ‘write’ defined. In the top level environment, the analysis export is connected to the analysis port of the slave monitor.
ubus0.slaves[0].monitor.item_collected_port.connect(scoreboard0.item_collected_export);
The simple scoreboard with its explicit implementation of the comparison routines suffices for verifying the basic operations, but would require to be enhanced significantly to provide more detailed information which the user might need. For example, lets take the ‘test_2m_4s’ test. Here , the environment is configured to have 2 Masters and 4 slaves.. Depending on how the slave memory map is configured, different slaves respond to different transfers on the bus. Now, if we want to get some information on how many transfer went into the scoreboard for a specific combination (eg: Master 1 to Slave 3), how many were verified to be processed correctly etc, it would be fair enough to conclude that the existing scoreboarding schemes will not suffice..
Hence, it was felt that the Data Stream Scoreboard with its advanced functionality and support for data transformation, data reordering, data loss, and multi-stream data routing should be available for verification environments not necessarily based on VMM. From VCS 2011.12-1, this integration have meed made very simple. This VMM DS scoreboard implements a generic data stream scoreboard that accepts parameters for the input and output packet types. A single instance of this class is used to check the proper transformation, multiplexing and ordering of multiple data streams. The scoreboard class now leverages a policy-based design and parameterized specializations to accepts any ‘Packet’ class or d, be it VMM, UVM or OVM.
The central element in policy-based design is a class template (called the host class, which in this case in the VMM DS Scoreboad), taking several type parameters as input, which are specialized with types selected by the user (called policy classes), each implementing a particular implicit method (called a policy), and encapsulating some orthogonal (or mostly orthogonal) aspect of the behavior of the instantiated host class. In this case, the ‘policies’ implemented by the policy classes are the ‘compare’ and ‘display’ routines.
By supplying a host class combined with a set of different, canned implementations for each policy, the VMM DS scoreboard can support all different behavior combinations, resolved at compile time, and selected by mixing and matching the different supplied policy classes in the instantiation of the host class template. Additionally, by writing a custom implementation of a given policy, a policy-based library can be used in situations requiring behaviors unforeseen by the library implementor .
So, lets go through a set of simple steps to see how you can use the VMM DS scoreboard in the UVM environment
Step 1: Creating the policy class for UVM and define its ‘policies’
Step 2: Replacing the UVM scoreboard with a VMM one extended from “vmm_sb_ds_typed” and specialize it with the ubus_transfer type and the previous created uvm_object_policy.
class ubus_example_scoreboard extends vmm_sb_ds_typed #(ubus_transfer,ubus_transfer, uvm_object_policy);
`vmm_typename(ubus_example_scoreboard)
…
endclass: ubus_example_scoreboard
Once, this is done, you can either declare an VMM TLM Analysis export to connect to the Bus Monitor in the UBUS environment or use the pre-defined on in the VMM DS scoreboard
vmm_tlm_analysis_export #(ubus_example_scoreboard,ubus_transfer) analysis_exp;
Given that for any configuration, one master and slave would be active, define the appropriate streams in the constructor (though this is not required if there are only single streams, we are defining this explicitly so that this can scale up to multiple input and expect streams for different tests)
this.define_stream(0, “Slave 0″, EXPECT);
this.define_stream(0, “Master 0″, INPUT);
Step 2 .a: Create the ‘write’ implementation for the Analysis export
Since, we are verifying the operation of the slave as a simple memory, we just add in the appropriate logic to insert a packet to the scoreboard when we do a ‘WRITE’ and an expect/check when the transfer is a ‘READ’ with an address that has already been written to.
Step 2.b: Implement the stream_id() method
You can use this method to determine to which stream a specific ‘transfer’ belongs to based on the packet’s content, such as a source or destination address. In this case, the BUS Monitor updates the ‘slave’ property of the collected transfer w.r.t where the address falls on the slave memory map.
Step 3: Create the UVM Analysis to VMM Analysis Adapter
The uvm_analysis_to_vmm_analysis is used to connect any UVM component with an analysis port to any VMM component via an analysis export. The adapter will convert all incoming UVM transactions to a VMM transaction and drive this converted transaction to the VMM component through the analysis port-export. If you are using the VMM UVM interoperability library, you do not have to create the adapter as it will be available in the library
Create the ‘write’ implementation for the analysis export in the adapter
The write method, called via the <analysis_export> would just post the receive UBUS transfer from the UVM analysis port to the VMM analysis port.
Step 4: Make the TLM connections
In the original example, the item_collected_port of the slave monitor was connected to the analysis export of the example scoreboard. Here, the DataStream scoreboard has an analysis port which expects a VMM transaction. Hence, we need the adapter created above to intermediate between the analysis port of the UVM Bus monitor and the analysis export of the VMM DS scoreboard..
Step 5: Define Additional streams if required for multi-master multi-slave configurations
This step is not required for a single master/slave configuration. However, would need to create additional streams so that you can verify the correctness on all the different permutations in terms of tests like “test_2m_4s” .
In this case, the following is added in the test_2m_2s in the connect_phase()
Step 6: Add appropriate options to your compile command and analyze your results
Change the Makefile by adding –ntb_opts rvm on the command line and add +define+UVM_ON_TOP
vcs -sverilog -timescale=1ns/1ns -ntb_opts uvm-1.1+rvm +incdir+../sv ubus_tb_top.sv -l comp.log +define+UVM_ON_TOP
And that is all, as far and you are ready to go and validate your DUT with a more advanced scoreboard with loads of built-in functionality. This is what you will get when you execute the “test_2m_4s” test
Thus, not only do you have stream specific information now, but you now have access to much more functionality as mentioned earlier. For example, you can model transformations, checks for out of order matches, allow for dropped packets, and iterate over different streams to get access to the specific transfers. Again, depending on your requirements, you can use the simple UVM comparator for your basic checks and switch over to the DS scoreboard for the more complex scenarios with the flip of a switch in the same setup. This is what we did for a UVM PCIe VIP we developed earlier ( From the Magician’s Hat: Developing a Multi-methodology PCIe Gen2 VIP) so that the users has access to all the information they require. Hopefully, this will keep you going, till we have a more powerful UVM scoreboard with some subsequent UVM version
