A Roundtrip: From System Requirements to Circuit Variations and Back

Abstract:
This paper presents an approach to the hierarchical verification of analog/mixed-signal (AMS) systems. The approach provides means for monitoring constraints and how they are satisfied across the whole development process, from left (requirements, constraints) to right (system integration). A novelty is that we propagate constraints continuously downwards towards implementation, and characterization results upwards back into constraint models. This has the advantage that inconsistencies and over-specification can be recognized earlier, which permits a more suitable resource partitioning. The approach is demonstrated by a multi-stage operational amplifier and a tire pressure monitoring system.