ALU_VERIFICATION TESTBENCH ARCHITECTURE(SV)

ALU Verification Project (UVM)

📌 Project Overview

An Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) is a digital circuit that performs arithmetic and logical operations.
It is a fundamental building block of a CPU. The performance and efficiency of the ALU directly impact the overall speed and capability of a computer system.

This project focuses on verifying the ALU design using SystemVerilog and the UVM methodology.

The main objectives are:

• To construct a verification planar that includes test plan, functional coverage plan and assertion plan.

• To Design and built a ALU Testbench architecture (SV) along with a structured code plan for testbench components.

• To implement functional coverage and assertions in the ALU testbench and validate the ALU’s functional correctness along with its timings and find its design flaws.

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⚡ DUT Specification

ALU Signals

Signal	Direction	Width/Size	Description
Clock	Input	1	Positive edge-triggering signal
Reset	Input	1	Active-high synchronous reset (resets outputs to 0)
Clock Enable	Input	1	Active-high signal to enable ALU operations
Mode	Input	1	1 → Arithmetic 0 → Logical
Command	Input	Param (4-bit default)	Selects arithmetic/logical operation (see below)
Input Valid	Input	2	Operand select 00: None 01: A 10: B 11: A & B
Operand A	Input	Parameterized	Operand A input
Operand B	Input	Parameterized	Operand B input
Carry in	Input	1	1-bit carry input
Result	Output	Parameterized	Computed ALU result
Overflow	Output	1	Indicates arithmetic overflow
Carry out	Output	1	Indicates carry generation
Equal	Output	1	A == B
Greater	Output	1	A > B
Lesser	Output	1	A < B
Error	Output	1	Indicates invalid input or unsupported operation

Arithmetic Commands

CMD	Operation
0	ADD
1	SUB
2	ADD with Carry
3	SUB with Carry
4	INC_A
5	DEC_A
6	INC_B
7	DEC_B
8	COMPARE
9	INCREMENT AND MULTIPLY
10	SHIFT AND MULTIPLY

Logical Commands

CMD	Operation
0	AND
1	NAND
2	OR
3	NOR
4	XOR
5	XNOR
6	NOT A
7	NOT B
8	SHR1_A
9	SHL1_A
10	SHR1_B
11	SHL1_B
12	ROL_A_B
13	ROR_A_B

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🛠 Testbench Components & Flow

• Transaction – Defines randomized and non-randomized input signals with constraints, copy, and display methods. Used to generate DUT inputs.

• Generator – Creates and randomizes transactions, then sends them to the driver via mailbox.

• Driver – Drives input transactions to the DUT. It applies inputs and forwards them to the reference model.

• Monitor – Captures DUT outputs, packages them into transactions, and sends them to the scoreboard.

• Scoreboard – Compares DUT results with reference model results; updates pass/fail counters.

• Reference Model – Mimics ALU functionality and provides expected results for comparison.

• Environment – Instantiates and connects all components (generator, driver, monitor, scoreboard, reference model) using mailboxes.

• Test – Builds the environment, configures components, and runs the verification flow.

• Top – Generates clock instantiates the DUT, interface, and test components, and launches simulation.

• Interface – Groups DUT signals, defines clocking blocks and modports for driver, monitor, and reference model.

• DUV (Design Under Verification) – The ALU module being tested against its functional specification.

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🧪 Verification Results

🔴 Design Flaws Detected

During Normal Operation (without 16 clock cycle):

1. DUT Result width is not matching with the testbench result width.

2. Input Valid Selection flaws: When input valid is 0, it will not produce the expected error result during single operand operation as well as two operand operation.

3. DUT Functionality flaws:

Mode	Command	Failure Reason
Arithmetic	Sub	Overflow condition failed when both operands are equal
Arithmetic	Sub Cin	Overflow condition failed when both operands are equal
Arithmetic	INC_A	Increment A functionality failed
Arithmetic	INC_A	Failed to produce carry-out result on INC_A
Arithmetic	DEC_A	Failed to produce Overflow result on DEC_A
Arithmetic	INC_B	Increment B functionality failed
Arithmetic	INC_B	Failed to produce carry-out result on INC_B
Arithmetic	DEC_B	Decrement B functionality failed
Arithmetic	DEC_B	Failed to produce Overflow result on DEC_B
Arithmetic	Shift and multiply	Shift and multiply functionality failed
Logical	Logical OR	Failed to perform logical OR operation
Logical	Shift Right A	Shift right on A operation failed
Logical	Shift Right B	Shift right on B operation failed
Logical	Rotate right A on B	Error bit from [7:4] on Operand B failed

During 16 cycle Operation (with 16 clock cycle):

1. Whenever the 16-cycle operation is implemented on both arithmetic and logical operation it will not produce error result when input valid is 0 or 1 or 2. It will only pass when input valid is 3.

2. Whenever the count is greater than or equal to 16 and input valid is either 0, 1, or 2. It will not produce error result. It will pass when input valid is 3.

📊 Coverage Report

• Input Coverage ✅

  

• Output Coverage ✅

  

• Assertion Coverage ✅

  

• Overall Coverage ✅

  

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📂 Resources

• Verification Report: ALU_VERIFICATION_REPORT
• Test Plan: TEST PLAN LINK
• Functional Coverage Plan: COVERAGE LINK
• Assertions: ASSERTION LINK

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👨‍💻 Author

Jason Linus Rodrigues