A Python based Design Verification Methodology

While the UVM-constrained random and coverage-driven verification methodology revolutionized IP and unit-level testing, it falls short of SoC-level verification needs. A solution must extend from UVM and enable vertical (IP to SoC) and horizontal (verification engine portability) reuse to completely handle SoC-level verification. To expedite test-case generation and use rapid verification engines, it must also provide a method to collect, distribute, and automatically amplify use cases. Opting a Python-based Design Verification approach opens the door to various such merits. Cocotb is a very useful, growing methodology which can be used for the same. This paper elaborates on the application of cocotb, an open-source framework hosted on Github which is based on CO-routine and CO-simulation of Testbench environment for verifying VHDL/Verilog RTL using Python. It employs equivalent design-reuse and functional verification concepts like UVM, however is implemented in Python, which is much simpler to understand and that leads to faster development and reduces the turnaround time.