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The ARM Cortex-A8 Microprocessor IEEE Std 1500 Wrapper
This article describes the test wrapper implementation of a popular embedded microprocessor, along with an automated approach for verifying the wrapper's compliance to the standard.


[ The complete article is available online in the IEEE's Computer Society Digital Library at http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MDT.2009.19 ]


IEEE Std 1500 and Its Usage

The ARM Cortex-A8 Microprocessor IEEE Std 1500 Wrapper

Teresa McLaurin
ARM

Stylianos Diamantidis and Iraklis Diamantidis
Globetech Solutions


Editor’s note:

This article describes the test wrapper implementation of a popular embedded microprocessor, along with an automated approach for verifying the wrapper’s compliance to the standard.

Erik Jan Marinissen, IMEC


Abstract

Adopting IEEE Std 1500 for core-based manufacturing test can lead to significant improvements in test planning, IP integration, and vector management. The ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessor is one of the first commercial microprocessors to incorporate a IEEE-1500-compliant wrapper, providing a fast track to a core-based test strategy.This article focuses on the design methodologies used to build and validate the ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessor wrapper. It discusses the wrapper architecture, components, and circuits, and describes the implementation of IEEE 1500 from a core provider perspective. Because interoperability is a primary concern for core providers, we also describe the compliance verification methodology that we applied to the IEEE 1500 wrapper, along with some important issues and their respective solutions.

References 

[1] T. McLaurin and R. Kapur, "Wrap Your Cores to Enable SOC Test," EE Times,24 Nov. 2004, http://www.design-reuse.com/articles/9228/ wrap-your-cores-to-enable-soc-test-arm-synopsys.html.
[2] IEEE Std. 1500-2005, IEEE Standard Testability Method for Embedded Core-Based Integrated Circuits, IEEE, 2005.
[3] F. da Silva, T. McLaurin, and T. Waayers, The Core Test Wrapper Handbook: Rationale and Application of IEEE Std. 1500, Springer, 2006.
[4] IEEE Std. 1450.6-2005, IEEE Standard Test Interface Language (STIL) for Digital Test Vector Data-Core Test Language (CTL), IEEE, 2006.
[5] I. Diamantidis, T. Oikonomou, and S. Diamantidis, "Towards an IEEE P1500 Verification Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Approach," Proc. 3rd IEEE Int'l Workshop Infrastructure IP (I-IP 05), IEEE Press, 2005, pp. 25-30.

Index Terms

ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessor, test, IEEE Std 1500, wrapper, compliance, verification

Citation:
Teresa McLaurin, Stylianos Diamantidis, Iraklis Diamantidis, "The ARM Cortex-A8 Microprocessor IEEE Std 1500 Wrapper," IEEE Design and Test of Computers, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 44-51, Jan./Feb. 2009, doi:10.1109/MDT.2009.19




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