Transaction-Based Communication-Centric Debug

Abstract— The behaviour of systems on chip (SOC) is complex because they contain multiple processors that interact through concurrent interconnects, such as networks on chip (NOC). Debugging such SOCs is hard. Based on a classification of debug scope and granularity, we propose that debugging should be communication-centric and based on transactions. Communication-centric debug focusses on the communication and the synchronisation between the IP blocks, which are implemented by the interconnect using transactions. We define and implement a modular debug architecture, based on NOC, monitors, and a dedicated high-speed event-distribution broadcast interconnect. The manufacturing-test scan chains and IEEE1149.1 test access ports (TAP) are re-used for configuration and debug data read-out. Our debug architecture requires only small changes to the functional architecture. The additional area cost is limited to the monitors and the event distribution interconnect, which are 4.5% of the ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: NOCS
• Authors: Kees Goossens, Bart Vermeulen, Remco van Steeden, Martijn T. Bennebroek
• Keywords: Computer Networks, Debug, Debug Architecture, Event Distribution Interconnect, NOCS 2007