Speeding Up Simulation by Emulation - A Case Study

The faster the scale of integration of digital circuits increases the more important is the acceleration of the verification. Based on a case study, this article explains a method of integrating hardware emulation into a simulation environment to speed up the verification. Therefore, we have developed an interface between the emulator and the simulation environment utilizing commercially available tools. An application shows, that this method empowers the verification process of integrated digital circuit up to three orders of magnitude depending on design level.