UVM Scoreboard Methodology.

Principles and Concepts

• Verify transaction functional correctness with the following approaches
• constrained-randomization
• coverage driven
• transaction-level compartment
• Use sequences
• Use scoreboard
• Use configuration-db
• Use SystemVerilog to provide aggregate types for transaction storage and search
• Dynamic Arrays, Associative Arrays, Queues, Classes
• UVM analysis ports is easier to use than callbacks
• UVM_transaction provides compare() / do_compare() methods
• UVM factor for extension, replacement and reuse.

Plan of Attack

• Analysis_port
• port, export and imp classes used for transaction analysis
• uvm_analysis_port - broadcasts a value to all subscribers implementing a uvm_analysis_imp
• uvm_analysis_imp - receives all transactions broadcasted by a uvm_analysis_port.
• Transaction Predictor
• Required when the compared transaction is not the same format as input (ex. protocol bridges)
• Design transforms data (ex. encryption, filter, encoder)
• To Re-Use
• encapsulation : a separate class
• uvm_analysis_port / imp to connect
• UVM factory to extend, replace existing objects
• Replace complex predictors with several simpler scoreboards
• Storage (for read scoreboard and for write scoreboard)
• FIFO : queues
• OOO : dynamic arrays, queues
• MEM : associative array (indexed by address)
• Associative array of queues
• TLM Model
• Used when you have multiple different transaction paths/routes
• Used when behavior depends on the address or opcodes or other attributes of transactions
• Using Factory
• Interconnect
• Automate by Randomization
• Checks and Coverage
• Assertions
• Pool

Transactions

• Transaction content
• Data, address, Attributes, Opcode, Response, 
• Data types:
• memory -> scalar, bytes, integers, 
• Data path:
• Scalar
• Transaction Item Class
• Transaction ordering
• FIFO
• OOO
• Precedence relationship
• Test Data/Transactions -> Item of Sequences -> Sequences -> Sequencer -> Driver -> VIF -> DUT
• DUT -> monitor -> Analysys_ports -> Scoreboard