NoC‐Based SoC Test Scheduling Using Ant Colony Optimization

In this paper, we propose a novel ant colony optimization (ACO)‐based test scheduling method for testing network‐on‐chip (NoC)‐based systems‐on‐chip (SoCs), on the assumption that the test platform, including specific methods and configurations such as test packet routing, generation, and absorption, is installed. The ACO metaheuristic model, inspired by the ant's foraging behavior, can autonomously find better results by exploring more solution space. The proposed method efficiently combines the rectangle packing method with ACO and improves the scheduling results by dynamically choosing the test‐access‐mechanism widths for cores and changing the testing orders. The power dissipation and variable test clock mode are also considered. Experimental results using ITC’02 benchmark circuits show that the proposed algorithm can efficiently reduce overall test time. Moreover, the computation time of the algorithm is less than a few seconds in most cases.     

MTNet: Design of a Wireless Test Framework for Heterogeneous Nanometer Systems-on-Chip

The rapid migration to nanometer design processes has brought an unprecedented level of integration by allowing system designers to pack a wide variety of functionalities on-chip, namely, systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). In the meantime, electronic testing becomes an enabling technology for this SoC paradigm, since the integration of various core tests is a big challenge, and has revealed a widening gap between design and manufacturing. In particular, the increasing complexity and density of nanometer SoCs have led to the problem of visibility and accessibility in testing. In this paper, we propose an integrated wireless test framework to resolve the acerbated core accessibility problem and to eliminate the incompatibility between the existing SoC test strategies and the next generation billion-transistor SoC specification. Under such a test strategy, the intra-chip wireless links form the wireless test access mechanism (TAM) to transport test data chip-wide. We present a self-configurable multi-hop wireless test micronetwork, dubbed MTNet, with simple and efficient data transmission protocols, and develop a system level design-for-testability structure. Consequently, we propose a geographic routing algorithm to find the test access paths for the deeply embedded cores and a path driven test scheduling algorithm to design and integrate the MTNet-based SoC test access architecture. Extensive simulation study show the feasibility and applicability of MTNet.     

基于片上网络的系统芯片测试研究

文章介绍了基于片上网络对系统芯片进行测试的原理和实例，这是一种新的设计方法。首先讨论了未来系统芯片存在的各方面测试挑战，并提出了基于片上网络结构的解决方案。其次，在OSI网络堆栈参考模型的基础上．提出了面向测试的片上网络协议堆栈以及对应的测试服务。最后，介绍了基于片上网络的模块化测试方法。     

SoC测试结构复用技术研究

在设计基于IP模块的SoC同时,必须引入可测性设计以解决SoC的测试问题.为了简化SoC中的可测性设计的工作,本文设计了一种新型测试结构复用技术,通过分析SoC内部的各种测试应用情况,实现了一个兼容IEEE1149.1标准的通用测试访问逻辑IP.在运动视觉SoC中的应用以及仿真结果验证了这种测试复用结构的有效性,并有助于提高SoC的测试覆盖率.     

Low-Area Wrapper Cell Design for Hierarchical SoC Testing

System-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits are designed and fabricated with multiple levels of hierarchy. However, most previous works on wrapper design, test access mechanism optimization and test scheduling did not take care of the hierarchy properly, thus the corresponding test schedules were often invalid for SoCs with hierarchical cores. We propose a low-area wrapper cell design which can treat SoCs with hierarchy properly and allows simultaneous testing of parent and child cores. The proposed cell uses 13%∼23% less area than a recently proposed cell design in equivalent gate count. As a result we achieve up to 21% area reduction for hierarchical ITC ’02 SoCs compared to the most recently proposed designs.     

基于聚类的异步时钟SoC测试

为进一步减少片上系统(System-on-Chip,SoC)测试耗时、降低测试成本,本文结合异步时钟测试机制,提出一种基于聚类的测试调度方法.该方法利用了SoC各测试的特征以及异步时钟测试的特点,对测试数据进行预处理.在ITC'02基准SoC集上,将本文方法与未采用异步时钟机制以及基于混合整型线性规划模型求解的方法进行对比.结果表明,本文的方法分别能平均减少测试耗时20.39％和5.53％,提升了调度算法的优化效率.并且在功耗约束较强时,最终调度结果与耗时下界仅相差0.9％.     

基于云进化算法的3D NoC测试端口优化选择

针对于三维片上网络测试时,如何选择测试端口以提高测试效率的难题,采用基于云模型的进化算法对三维片上网络测试端口进行位置寻优,并对IP核的测试数据进行合理分配,在测试功耗约束条件下,以重用片上网络作为测试访问机制,基于XYZ路由算法和非抢占式测试调度方式,对三维片上网络IP核实施并行测试,以提高测试效率。研究结果表明,该方法可对测试端口的位置及组合方案进行精确寻优,且有效减少了测试时间。     

Test Scheduling for Network-on-Chip Using XY-Direction Connected Subgraph Partition and Multiple Test Clocks

It is attractive to reuse the on-chip functional interconnects as test access mechanism (TAM) in network-on-chip (NoC) system testing. However, in the methodology of NoC-reuse as TAM, the influence factors in NoC testing significantly increased. To further reduce test time and show significant gains over other work, we propose XY-direction connected subgraph partition (XYCSP) approach to eliminate the path conflicts before testing, and concurrently determine the position of test access points. We then present a multiple test clock strategy to bridge the gap between the NoC channel bandwidth and the core test wrapper bandwidth. With the help of adaptive probability gate quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm (APGQEA) strategy, which blends adaptive strategy and multi-nary oriented techniques, the proposed NoC test scheduling algorithm permits quick exploration and exploitation of the solution space. Moreover, power constraints are also taken into account. Experimental results for the ITC’02 benchmarks show that the proposed scheme can achieve shorter test time compared to prior works.     

Optimization of test resources for 3D SoC based on game theory

The ever-increasing complexity of on-chip interconnection poses great challenges for the architecture of conventional system-on-chip (SoC) in semiconductor industry. The rapid development of process technology enables the creation of stacked 3-dimensional (3D) SoC by means of through-silicon-via (TSV). Stacked 3D SoC testing consists of two major issues, test architecture optimization and test scheduling. This paper proposed game theory based optimization of test scheduling and test architecture to achieve win-win result as well as individual rationality for each player in a game. Game theory helps to achieve equilibrium between two correlated sides to find an optimal solution. Experimental results on handcrafted 3D SoCs built from ITC’2 benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves comparable or better test times at negligible computing time.     

A New Multi‐site Test for System‐on‐Chip Using Multi‐site Star Test Architecture

As the system‐on‐chip (SoC) design becomes more complex, the test costs are increasing. One of the main obstacles of a test cost reduction is the limited number of test channels of the ATE while the number of pins in the design increases. To overcome this problem, a new test architecture using a channel sharing compliant with IEEE Standard 1149.1 and 1500 is proposed. It can significantly reduce the pin count for testing a SoC design. The test input data is transmitted using a test access mechanism composed of only input pins. A single test data output pin is used to measure the sink values. The experimental results show that the proposed architecture not only increases the number of sites to be tested simultaneously, but also reduces the test time. In addition, the yield loss owing to the proven contact problems can be reduced. Using the new architecture, it is possible to achieve a large test time and cost reduction for complex SoC designs with negligible design and test overheads.     

基于遗传算法的NoC互连测试研究

针对互连测试难题的分析,提出一种基于遗传算法的NoC互连测试方案。该方案采用NoC重用测试机制的方法,在功耗限制条件下,选取合适的测试端口和最短测试路径,同时根据互连测试中实际存在的问题,对算法进行适当改进,建立基于遗传算法的NoC互连测试模型,旨在获取最优矢量集的同时,测试代价更小。当NoC的规模达到一定程度时,采用划分测试方法,缩短测试路径,降低测试时间,提高测试效率。以SoCIN结构电路为仿真平台,分别对不同规模的NoC进行实验仿真。实验结果表明,遗传算法能快速有效地收敛到最优解,在测试运行代数及测试生成时间上取得了良好的测试效果。     

基于云进化算法的NoC测试端口优化选择方法

针对片上网络(NoC)中大量节点的测试难题,提出了一种结合二维云进化算法优化选取NoC中测试端口位置,提高测试效率的方法。该方法结合NoC网格结构特点,采用重用测试访问机制和XY路由方式,由测试功耗限制确定端口对数,通过二维云模型对端口坐标进行统一建模,云进化算法自适应控制遗传变异的程度和搜索空间的范围,在测试功耗约束条件下,优化选取最佳测试端口的位置,达到总测试时间最少的目的。以SoCIN结构电路为仿真平台,分别对4×4网格和8×8网格结构NoC进行了实验仿真,结果表明,在NoC节点测试问题上,云进化算法能快速收敛到最优解,有效提高整体测试效率。     

Design of reconfigurable access wrappers for embedded core based SoC test

Testing of embedded core based system-on-chip (SoC) ICs is a well known problem, and the upcoming IEEE P1500 Standard on Embedded Core Test (SECT) standard proposes DFT solutions to alleviate it. One of the proposals is to provide every core in the SoC with test access wrappers. Previous approaches to the problem of wrapper design have proposed static core wrappers, which are designed for a fixed test access mechanism (TAM) width. We present the first report of a design of reconfigurable core wrappers which allow for a dynamic change in the width of the TAM executing the core test. Analysis of the corresponding scheduling problem indicates that good approximate schedules can be achieved without significant computational effort. Specifically, we derive a O(N/sub C//sup 2/B) time algorithm which can compute near optimal SoC test schedules, where N/sub C/ is the number of cores and B is the number of top level TAMs. Experimental results on benchmark SoCs are presented which improve upon integer programming based methods, not only in the quality of the schedule, but also significantly reduce the computation time.     

Efficient Test Data Compression and Low Power Scan Testing in SoCs

Testing time and power consumption during the testing of SoCs are becoming increasingly important with an increasing volume of test data in intellectual property cores in SoCs. This paper presents a new algorithm to reduce the scan‐in power and test data volume using a modified scan latch reordering algorithm. We apply a scan latch reordering technique to minimize the column hamming distance in scan vectors. During scan latch reordering, the don't‐care inputs in the scan vectors are assigned for low power and high compression. Experimental results for ISCAS 89 benchmark circuits show that reduced test data and low power scan testing can be achieved in all cases.     

Process-Variation and Temperature Aware SoC Test Scheduling Technique

High temperature and process variation are undesirable phenomena affecting modern Systems-on-Chip (SoC). High temperature is a well-known issue, in particular during test, and should be taken care of in the test process. Modern SoCs are affected by large process variation and therefore experience large and time-variant temperature deviations. A traditional test schedule which ignores these deviations will be suboptimal in terms of speed or thermal-safety. This paper presents an adaptive test scheduling method which acts in response to the temperature deviations in order to improve the test speed and thermal safety. The method consists of an offline phase and an online phase. In the offline phase a schedule tree is constructed and in the online phase the appropriate path in the schedule tree is traversed based on temperature sensor readings. The proposed technique is designed to keep the online phase very simple by shifting the complexity into the offline phase. In order to efficiently produce high-quality schedules, an optimization heuristic which utilizes a dedicated thermal simulation is developed. Experiments are performed on a number of SoCs including the ITC’02 benchmarks and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique significantly improves the cost of the test in comparison with the best existing test scheduling method.     

High-level customization framework for application-specific NoC architectures

Network-on-Chip (NoC) has been recognized as the new paradigm to interconnect and organize a high number of cores. NoCs address global communication issues in System-on-Chips (SoC) involving communication-centric design and implementation of scalable communication structures evolving application-specific NoC design as a key challenge to modern SoC design. In this paper we present a SystemC customization framework and methodology for automatic design and evaluation of regular and irregular NoC architectures. The presented framework also supports application-specific optimization techniques such as priority assignment, node clustering and buffer sizing. Experimental results show that generated regular NoC architectures achieve an average of 5.5 % lower communication-cost compared to other regular NoC designs while irregular NoCs proved to achieve on average 4.5×higher throughput and 40 % network delay reduction compared to regular mesh topologies. In addition, employing a buffer sizing algorithm we achieve a reduction in network’s power consumption by an average of 45 % for both regular and irregular NoC design flow.     

复用NoC测试IP芯核测试存取链优化配置

论述了层次型IP芯核不同测试模式之间的约束关系,给出了层次型IP芯核的测试壳结构,提出了一种复用片上网络测试内嵌IP芯核的启发式测试存取链优化配置方法.该方法可有效减小测试数据分组数量和被测芯核的测试时间.使用片上网络测试平台,在测试基准电路集ITC'02中的基准电路p22810上进行了实验验证.     

3D NoC测试规划研究与实现

针对3D NoC资源内核的测试,采用NoC重用测试访问机制和XYZ路由方式,建立功耗模型,并通过云进化算法将IP核的测试数据划分到各TAM上进行并行测试,从而降低了测试时间。实验以ITC 02标准电路作为测试对象,其结果表明,文中方法可以有效地减少测试时间,提高了测试效率。     

LI-BIST: A Low-Cost Self-Test Scheme for SoC Logic Cores and Interconnects

For system-on-chips (SoC) using deep submicron (DSM) technologies, interconnects are becoming critical determinants for performance, reliability and power. Buses and long interconnects being susceptible to crosstalk noise, may lead to functional and timing failures. Existing at-speed interconnect crosstalk test methods propose inserting dedicated interconnect self-test structures in the SoC to generate vectors which have high crosstalk defect coverage. However, these methods may have a prohibitively high area overhead. To reduce this overhead, existing logic BIST structures like LFSRs could be reused to deliver interconnect tests. But, as shown by our experiments, use of LFSR tests achieve poor crosstalk defect coverage. Additionally, it has been shown that the power consumed during testing can potentially become a significant concern.In this paper, we present Logic-Interconnect BIST (LI-BIST), a comprehensive self-test solution for both the logic of the cores and the SoC interconnects. LI-BIST reuses existing logic BIST structures but generates high-quality tests for interconnect crosstalk defects, while minimizing the area overhead and interconnect power consumption. The application of the LI-BIST methodology on example SoCs indicates that LI-BIST is a viable, low-cost, yet comprehensive solution for testing SoCs.