Simulation-based verification of floating-point division

Abstract

Floating-point division is known to exhibit an exceptionally wide array of corner cases, making its verification a difficult challenge. Despite the remarkable advances in formal methods, the intricacies of this operation and its implementation often render these inapplicable. Simulation-based methods remain the primary means for verification of division. FPgen is a test generation framework targeted at the floating point datapath. It has been successfully used in the simulation-based verification of a variety of hardware designs. FPgen comprises a comprehensive test plan and a powerful test generator. A proper response to the difficulties posed by division constitutes a major part of FPgen's capabilities. We present an overview of the relevant verification tasks supplied with FPgen and the underlying algorithms used to target them. © 2006 IEEE.