Some Examples of Verilog testbench techniques.
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Generating Periodic Signals
3.0 Generating and Receiving Serial Characters
4.0 Memories
5.0 Bus Models
1.0 Introduction
A testbench is a verilog program that wraps around an actual design.
The testbench is typically not part of the design and does not result
in actual circuitry or gates. Verilog code for testbenches may be
much more "free style" than Verilog code that must be
synthesized - anything goes. Here are some tidbits from various
projects I've worked on. The code is not completely general nor
perfect, but hopefully may provide ideas for designers just starting
out with testbench design. Oh, and the names have been changed
to protect the innocent. I hope I haven't introduced error in
doctoring up these examples. Again, none of the following code
is intended to be synthesizable!
2.0 Generating Periodic Signals.
Say you have a period signal. Try tossing in a little random fluctuation
on where the edges occur - you may catch a an unexpected bug!
But, be careful about using random because if you move on to
manufacturing test, then your testbench may not be deterministic.
Often, for the sake of the tester, you must enforce transitions to
occur in specific periods. In this case, you may need to add
statements that delay changes to fall in these periods. Anyway,
let's drive the foo1in signal. We'll add in some random, count
the transitions and print out a message.
initial begin
#1 foo1in = 0;
forever begin
#(`PERIOD/2 + ($random % 10)*(` PERIOD/20)) foo1in = 1;
foo1_input_count = foo1_input_count + 1;
$display ("#Foo1 rising edges = %d", foo1_input_count);
#(` PERIOD/2 + ($random % 10)*(` PERIOD/20)) foo1in = 0;
end
end
Here's another code snippet - a task that generates a period message..
task generate_syncs;
event send_sync;
begin
syncdata = SYNC_START;
syncstb = 0;
fork
// Generate periodic event for sending the sync
forever #(1000000000.0 * RATE) ->send_sync; // convert RATE to nanoseconds
// Wait on send_sync event, and then send SYNC synchronized with clk
forever begin
@(send_sync);
syncdata = syncdata + CMTS_FREQ * CMTS_RATE;
$display ("... SYNC = %h at time %0t, Local Time = %h", syncdata, $time, local_time);
@(posedge clk) #1;
syncstb = 1;
@(posedge clk) #1;
syncstb = 0;
end
join
end
endtask
3.0 Generating and Receiving Serial Characters
Say your design inputs or outputs serial characters. Here is some
code for both. First, some defines:
/* Serial Parameters used for send_serial task and its callers. */
`define PARITY_OFF 1'b0
`define PARITY_ON 1'b1
`define PARITY_ODD 1'b0
`define PARITY_EVEN 1'b1
`define NSTOPS_1 1'b0
`define NSTOPS_2 1'b1
`define BAUD_9600 2'b00
`define BAUD_4800 2'b01
`define BAUD_2400 2'b10
`define BAUD_1200 2'b11
`define NBITS_7 1'b0
`define NBITS_8 1'b1
Here's how you call it:
send_serial (8'hAA, `BAUD_9600, `PARITY_EVEN, `PARITY_ON, `NSTOPS_1, `NBITS_7, 0);
Here's a task that sends a character.
task send_serial;
input [7:0] inputchar;
input baud;
input paritytype;
input parityenable;
input nstops;
input nbits;
input baud_error_factor;
reg nbits;
reg parityenable;
reg paritytype;
reg [1:0] baud;
reg nstops;
integer baud_error_factor; // e.g. +5 means 5% too fast and -5 means 5% too slow
reg [7:0] char;
reg parity_bit;
integer bit_time;
begin
char = inputchar;
parity_bit = 1'b0;
case (baud)
`BAUD_9600: bit_time = 1000000000/(9600 + 96*baud_error_factor);
`BAUD_4800: bit_time = 1000000000/(4800 + 48*baud_error_factor);
`BAUD_2400: bit_time = 1000000000/(2400 + 24*baud_error_factor);
`BAUD_1200: bit_time = 1000000000/(1200 + 12*baud_error_factor);
endcase
$display ("Sending character %h, at %0d baud (err=%0d), %0d bits, %0s parity, %0d stops",
(nbits == `NBITS_7) ? (char & 8'h7f) : char,
1000000000/bit_time,
baud_error_factor,
(nbits == `NBITS_7) ? 7 : 8,
(parityenable == `PARITY_OFF) ? "NONE" : (paritytype == `PARITY_EVEN) ? "EVEN" : "ODD",
(nstops == `NSTOPS_1) ? 1 : 2
);
// Start bit
serial_character = 1'b0; // Start bit.
#(bit_time);
// Output data bits
repeat ( (nbits == `NBITS_7) ? 7 : 8) begin
serial_character = char[0];
#(bit_time);
char = {1'b0, char[7:1]};
end
if (parityenable == `PARITY_ON) begin
parity_bit = (nbits == `NBITS_7) ? ^inputchar[6:0] : ^inputchar[7:0];
if (paritytype == `PARITY_ODD)
parity_bit = ~parity_bit; // even parity
serial_character = parity_bit;
#(bit_time);
end
serial_character = 1'b1; // Stop bit.
#(bit_time);
if (nstops) // Second stop bit
#(bit_time);
end
endtask
Here's a task that receives serial characters. This particular task was
a bit messy in that it set some global variables in order to return a
status, etc. By all means - fix this up the way you like it!
reg [7:0] receive_serial_character_uart1; // Global that receives tasks result
// **** SERIAL CHARACTER LISTENER Task for UART1
//
//
task receive_serial_uart1;
input baud;
input paritytype;
input parityenable;
input nstops;
input nbits;
reg nbits;
reg parityenable;
reg paritytype;
reg [1:0] baud;
reg nstops;
integer bit_time;
reg expected_parity;
begin
receive_serial_result_uart1 = 0;
receive_serial_character_uart1 = 0;
case (baud)
`BAUD_9600: bit_time = 1000000000/(9600);
`BAUD_4800: bit_time = 1000000000/(4800);
`BAUD_2400: bit_time = 1000000000/(2400);
`BAUD_1200: bit_time = 1000000000/(1200);
endcase
receive_serial_result_uart1 = `RECEIVE_RESULT_OK; // Assume OK until bad things happen.
@(negedge uart1out); // wait for start bit edge
#(bit_time/2); // wait till center of start bit
if (uart1out != 0) // make sure its really a start bit
receive_serial_result_uart1 = receive_serial_result_uart1 | `RECEIVE_RESULT_FALSESTART;
else begin
repeat ( (nbits == `NBITS_7) ? 7 : 8) begin // get all the data bits (7 or 8)
#(bit_time); // wait till center
// sample a data bit
receive_serial_character_uart1 = {uart1out, receive_serial_character_uart1[7:1]};
end
// If we are only expecting 7 bits, go ahead and right-justify what we have
if (nbits == `NBITS_7)
receive_serial_character_uart1 = {1'b0, receive_serial_character_uart1[7:1]};
#(bit_time);
// now, we have either a parity bit, or a stop bit
if (parityenable == `PARITY_ON) begin
if (paritytype == `PARITY_EVEN)
expected_parity = (nbits == `NBITS_7) ? (^receive_serial_character_uart1[6:0]) :
(^receive_serial_character_uart1[7:0]);
else
expected_parity = (nbits == `NBITS_7) ? (~(^receive_serial_character_uart1[6:0])) :
(~(^receive_serial_character_uart1[7:0]));
if (expected_parity != uart1out)
receive_serial_result_uart1 = receive_serial_result_uart1 | `RECEIVE_RESULT_BADPARITY;
// wait for either 1 or 2 stop