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SILICON VALIDATION

Our solution includes complete hardware design and software development. We enable hardware and software verification in the post-silicon bring-up phase using a well-defined Silicon Validation Services methodology and capabilities across the pre-silicon development cycle. These include electrical checks, device characterization, function and performance qualification, etc.

Verification Solutions

 

  • On FPGA systems, proof-of-concept and   performance tweaking
  • Generation of a test bench and test scripts
  • Verification of behavioral models/components
  • Pre-silicon RTL verification

Bring-up Software Solutions

 

  • Start developing software on FPGA or emulator Platforms
  • Solutions for downloading and flashing
  • Diagnostic test cases
  • Device drivers
  • Scripting allows for test automation
  • Operating system porting
  • Bootstrap code

We consider ourselves for Identifying and making a list of features to be validated as part of pre & post-silicon validation. As a part of Post-Silicon Validation, we do work on the development of a High-level Test plan get it reviewed by design engineers and develop the algorithms for various test flow design documents and code.

Applying software validation techniques in PSV is the key to solving the puzzle. This can provide a significant reduction in the validation schedule while also improving and monitoring the coverage requirement. We consider this as an art more than just a technical skill. At Faststream Technologies, we combine our expertise in the whole gamut of silicon realization to provide our customers with a whole spectrum of silicon validation services. We always aim to reduce the schedule and cost for silicon validation while ensuring the required functional coverage is achieved.

VALIDATION

Following are typical phases that are performed as part of Post Silicon Validation:

 

  • Preparation of test plan and interacting with the designer to get more clarity on a particular feature to be validated.
  • Tracking and reviewing the features to be validated.
  • Development of code in Embedded C, for all features to be validated.
  • Participated in silicon bring up and executed tests on silicon with a series of versions like A0, A1, A2, and A3, etc.
  • Developed test cases for regression testing and stress testing.
  • Filed JIRA tickets and tracked the issue till it gets resolved.
  • Took complete ownership of IPs that Faststream is responsible for.
  • Troubleshooting hardware issues.
  • Coordination with the entire  Software Team of Faststream Technologies.
  • Debugging SOC issues with Oscilloscope.

Key Services

Functional validation

FUNCTIONAL VALIDATIONS

 

  • Core blocks – CPU, GPU, VPU, DMAC, etc
  • IO interfaces – USB, HDMI, SPI, I2C, CAN, Ethernet, etc
  • Subsystem-level functional validation exercising multiple core & IO interfaces.

Power and performance validation

POWER AND PERFORMANCE VALIDATION

 

  • Lower costs by not overcooling your environment.
  • Specify usage limits by room to prevent overuse.
  • Track historical energy use and easily export the data.
  • Reveal what’s happening INSIDE the unit to optimize performance.
  • Control costs by setting temperature limits and hours of use for every room.

Board bring-up and automation

BOARD BRING-UP & AUTOMATION

 

  • Test case automation and regression
  • Bare metal driver development for IO and core blocks & Board Bring-up
  • OS-integrated functional, performance, and power validation
  • Data acquisition, analytics, and reporting
  • Bring up boards for silicon validation and wake-up
  • FPGAs with stress vectors for stress testing and measurements
  • Trials for agency certification and compliance testing
  • Analysis and suggestions based on thermal and SI data
  • Software development evaluation boards

Test Engineering Services for IC

OUR EXPERIENCE SNAPSHOT

 

Tool Expertise:

 

  • Measurement tools – CRO, LA, Spectrum Analyzer, Protocol Analyzer
  • Automation tools/environments – Labview, PYTHON, PERL
  • Emulators – Cadence Palladium, Mentor Veloce
  • Debuggers – ARM DS5, Lauterbach
  • IDEs – Keil, GNU, CCS
  • RTL Simulators – Mentor Questa, Cadence NCSim, Synopsys VCS
  • Verification, test vector creation, and performance increases are all possible with FPGA design
  • Verilog and C are two behavioral models
  • Bring-up software, diagnostics, performance monitoring, and OS porting are all part of the firmware
  • Silicon bring-up and reference boards are included in the board design
  • Performance tuning, verification & validation

 

Pre-Silicon Environments:

 

  • Emulators (eg. Veloce, Palladium)
  • Off-the-shelf FPGA-based prototyping boards (eg. HAPS, Dini)
  • Custom-built FPGA-based prototyping boards

 

Post-Silicon Environments:

 

  • Silicon evaluation boards – (with extra connectors, debugger-ports, test points, current. measurement circuits)
  • Form-Factor-ready Silicon evaluation boards

 

As a part of Post Silicon Validation, we have executed the following projects:

 

  • Post Silicon Validation of UART IP
  • Post Silicon Validation of TWI
  • Post silicon validation of USB 2.0

 

We have experience and knowledge in the following areas of PSV:

 

  • Board bring-up
  • Characterization
  • Signal Integrity
  • Benchmarking
  • System-Level Testing (SLT)
  • VIRTIO
  • ZEBU
  • Test content development
  • Automation

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