TVS extends formal verification training to China

BRISTOL, UK: TVS, a leader in software test and hardware verification solutions, announced that following the successful delivery of a debut course, ‘Formal Verification* Bootcamp’, in conjunction with its local partner TopBrain Design Systems to hardware verification engineers in Shanghai, it has launched an on-demand formal verification training service in China.

This adds China to the countries already serviced including those in Europe, Asia and North America.

Formal verification is becoming more mainstream in hardware verification as the tools become more powerful and much more automated.  TVS’ training is aimed at getting engineers ready for ‘formal’ by explaining the fundamentals of the discipline. Engineers are then able to expand their understanding of formal through worked examples in class, before proving properties on their own designs.

The improved automation in formal is embodied in apps that are aimed at solving specific verification challenges such as superlinting, clock domain crossing and connectivity. Taking connectivity as an example, the user describes the signal connectivity between blocks at a subsystem or SOC level, and the tool performs the necessary connectivity checks automatically. These automated checks are able to reduce the need for large numbers of integration tests that are costly to write and simulate.

As a leader in software test and hardware verification solutions, TVS’ Formal Verification Bootcamp (2-day course) focuses on both the formal apps and the general-purpose verification capability.  TVS works closely with EDA vendors to deliver the course on whatever tool the course delegates have access to. This ensures that delegates are able to apply the techniques directly on projects after the course.

The final session of the course is usually spent writing properties and constraints (using System Verilog) on a real design. This avoids the ‘blank paper syndrome’ that delegates often face when returning from courses to learn new languages and techniques.

Mike Bartley, CEO and founder of TVS, commented: “Formal Verification has now come of age, and in some way it can be applied on most designs. It offers a real solution to the limitations of simulation-based verification. Our present course is designed, packaged and deployed to get engineers out of the starting blocks.  The successful execution of the course in China underpins and is a measure of how serious the company is in expanding its global operations.”