Enabling Visual Design Verification Analytics - From Prototype Visualizations to an Analytics Tool using the Unity Game Engine

Abstract

The ever-increasing architectural complexity in contemporary ASIC projects turns Design Verification (DV) into a highly advanced endeavor. Pressing needs for short time-to-market has made automation a key solution in DV. However, recurring execution of large regression suites inevitably leads to challenging amounts of test results. Following the design science paradigm, we present an action research study to introduce visual analytics in a commercial ASIC project. We develop a cityscape visualization tool using the game engine Unity. Initial evaluations are promising, suggesting that the tool offers a novel approach to identify error-prone parts of the design, as well as coverage holes.