Exploiting Auto-Adaptive µGP for Highly Effective Test Programs Generation

Integrated-circuit producers are shoved by competitive pressure; new devices require increasingly complex verifications to be performed at increasing pace. This paper presents a methodology to automatically induce a test program for a microprocessor that maximizes a given verification metric. The methodology is based on an auto-adaptive evolutionary algorithm and exploits a syntactical description of microprocessor assembly language and an RT-level functional model. Experimental results clearly show the effectiveness of the approach. Comparisons reveal how auto-adaptive mechanisms dramatically enhance both performances and quality of the results.