SystemC Verification

This page summarizes our activities around SystemC, a C++ class library standardized by IEEE for modeling hardware/software systems. The result are so-called Virtual Prototypes (VPs) which leverage Transaction Level Modeling (TLM) to achieve orders of mangitue faster simulation performance compared to RTL.

Besides our VP-based approaches, please also watch out for our activites around our Constrained RAndom Verification Environment (CRAVE). For the full list on our work around RISC-V, please visit: https://ics.jku.at/research/risc-v.

New: Our virtual prototype RISCV-VP++ is available now at our ICS GitHub. RISCV VP++ allows very fast Linux bootup, VNC, Vector Extension (RVV), 3D-game demos, and more! Take a look at the GUI-VP Kit to get a quick and easy-to-use starting point for experimenting with RISCV-VP++, Linux and interactive graphical applications.

VP Model

• A RISC-V “V” VP: Unlocking Vector Processing for Evaluation at the System Level (to appear at DATE 2024)
• GUI-VP Kit: A RISC-V VP meets Linux graphics - enabling interactive graphical application development (GLSVLSI 2023)
• Adaptive simulation with Virtual Prototypes in an open-source RISC-V evaluation platform (JSA 2021)
• RISC-V based virtual prototype: An extensible and configurable platform for the system-level (JSA 2020)
• Extensible and configurable RISC-V based virtual prototype (FDL 2018)

VP Model & Cross-Level Verification

• Verifying SystemC TLM peripherals using modern C++ symbolic execution tools (DAC 2022)
• An exploration platform for microcoded RISC-V cores leveraging the one instruction set computer principle (ISVLSI 2022)
• Efficient cross-level processor verification using coverage-guided fuzzing (GLSVLSI 2022)
• Efficient cross-level testing for processor verification: A RISC-V case-study (FDL 2020) (Received Best Paper Award)
• Early verification of ISA extension specifications using deep reinforcement learning (GLSVLSI 2020)
• Fast and accurate performance evaluation for RISC-V using virtual prototypes (DATE 2020)
• Verifying instruction set simulators using coverage-guided fuzzing (DATE 2019)

Software/Firmware Verification

• Verifying embedded graphics libraries leveraging virtual prototypes and metamorphic testing (ASP-DAC 2024)
• RVX - a tool for concolic testing of embedded binaries targeting RISC-V platforms (ATVA 2020)
• Verification of embedded binaries using coverage-guided fuzzing with SystemC-based virtual prototypes (GLSVLSI 2020)
• Early Concolic Testing of Embedded Binaries with Virtual Prototypes: A RISC-V Case Study (DAC 2019)

Compliance Testing

• Towards RISC-V CSR Compliance Testing (ESL 2021)
• Closing the RISC-V compliance gap: Looking from the negative testing side (DAC 2020)
• Towards specification and testing of RISC-V ISA compliance (DATE 2020)

Security

• Dynamic information flow tracking for embedded binaries using SystemC-based virtual prototypes (DAC 2020)
• Detection of hardware trojans in SystemC HLS designs via coverage-guided fuzzing (DATE 2019)