- RTL source: lines in the source code of the design
- Assumptions: under-constrained verification problems
- Assertions: errors or missing signals in assertions
- A location in the source code
- A hint for performing a fix
- A rank for targeting high priority sources
- A waveform with correction values
- A summary of debug information
- Conceptual or high level errors
- State transition bugs
- Bugs in assertions
- Bugs in assumptions and constraints
- Incorrect assignments
- Wrong operations
- Wrong if/case conditions
- Problems with module instantiation
- Bad module wiring
- and many more...
Vennsa OnPoint™
A Breakthrough in Debug
Today, engineers have few tools to aid them with their debugging needs. Waveform viewers, visualization tools, navigation aids, and built-in debug features require manual intervention and provide no automation.
OnPoint offers a significant breakthrough in circuit debugging and error localization. Once verification fails, OnPoint uses proprietary technology to automatically analyze the design and return the root cause of errors. There is no need for manually tracing signals, performing "what if" analysis, and annotating values in the source code. OnPoint performs these task automatically, analyzes the results and returns the error sources to the user. As shown in the table below, it is the only tool offering error source localization thus drastically reducing the debug time.
| Category | Vennsa OnPoint | Schematic and Waveform Debug tools | Formal Verification Tools | Simulators and Debugging Environments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waveform viewer | ||||
| Schematic viewer | some | some | ||
| Cross-referencing | ||||
| Root Cause Analysis | ||||
| Pin-point lines of code | ||||
| Categorized Errors | ||||
| RTL suspects | ||||
| Assertion suspects | ||||
| Missing assumptions | ||||
| Ranked high priority sources | ||||
| Correction hints | ||||
| Correction value waveforms |
OnPoint works with existing formal flows to automatically locate the source of failure at the register transfer level (RTL) or in assertions and assumptions. It integrates in minutes and requires less than a day of training.
The OnPoint Advantage
OnPoint is a root causes analysis tool that identifies the source of errors, or suspects, and categorizes them by:
Vennsa OnPoint can find almost any kind of functional bug in the design, assertion, or assumptions. A sample list of errors is shown below.