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Cristian Slav

Master UVM Library & Create a Verification Environment: Comprehensive Course Overview

In this course, you'll delve into two crucial areas:

  1. UVM Library: Uncover all its features, secrets, and how they can be applied effectively in verification environments.

  2. Verification Environment Creation: Learn the step-by-step process of building a robust verification environment from the ground up using UVM.

Course Objectives:

Read more

Master UVM Library & Create a Verification Environment: Comprehensive Course Overview

In this course, you'll delve into two crucial areas:

  1. UVM Library: Uncover all its features, secrets, and how they can be applied effectively in verification environments.

  2. Verification Environment Creation: Learn the step-by-step process of building a robust verification environment from the ground up using UVM.

Course Objectives:

Throughout this course, we'll guide you through the development of a verification environment, meticulously designed using the UVM library. Each tutorial will introduce new functionalities, demonstrating the UVM features necessary for each phase of our comprehensive project.

We'll leverage the EDA Playground platform to develop our verification environment. By the end of the course, our final project will encompass over 5000 lines of code, providing a substantial showcase of your acquired skills and knowledge.

By the end of this course, you will master:

  • Building UVM agents and understanding their roles

  • Modeling design registers using the UVM library

  • Setting up a Device Under Test (DUT) within a verification environment

  • Verifying the outputs of a DUT to ensure accuracy and functionality

  • Implementing functional coverage in SystemVerilog to achieve thorough verification

  • Writing and executing random tests to cover a wide range of scenarios

  • Employing advanced debugging techniques to identify and resolve issues

  • Exploring and utilizing hidden features of the UVM library to enhance your projects

The skills you gain from this course will not only prepare you for entry or junior-level verification engineer job interviews but will also ensure you are productive and effective from day one in your new role.

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What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Module level verification using systemverilog and uvm library.
  • Build agents in systemverilog/uvm to drive and monitor communication interfaces.
  • Build the model of the registers using uvm and connect it to the apb interface in order to let uvm perform its automatic checks on the register accesses.
  • Build the functional model of a device under test (dut) and use it to predict the correct response expected from the dut.
  • Build a scoreboard to verify automatically all the expected outputs of a dut.
  • Build the coverage model and all the logic necessary to collect that coverage.
  • Build random tests to verify all the features of a dut.
  • Learn how to deal with synchronization issues in the model.

Syllabus

Introduction
What is Design Verification
Device Under Test (DUT)
Environment Architecture
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Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Provides skills that prepare learners for entry or junior-level verification engineer job interviews, ensuring they are productive from day one
Uses the EDA Playground platform, which allows learners to practice coding and verification in a collaborative, web-based environment
Covers building UVM agents, modeling design registers, setting up a Device Under Test, and verifying outputs, which are essential for thorough verification
Explores advanced debugging techniques to identify and resolve issues, which is crucial for efficient verification and problem-solving in complex designs
Requires learners to build a verification environment with over 5000 lines of code, which may be time-consuming for some learners
Focuses on SystemVerilog and UVM, which are industry-standard languages and methodologies for hardware verification, making it highly relevant

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Reviews summary

Deep dive into systemverilog uvm verification

According to learners, this course offers a comprehensive and practical deep dive into SystemVerilog and UVM for design verification. Many students found the content highly relevant and directly applicable to industry practices, making it particularly valuable for career advancement and job preparation in the field. The use of hands-on practice on EDA Playground was frequently highlighted as a strength, allowing for practical application of concepts. While largely positive, some reviewers noted that the course assumes a basic understanding of SystemVerilog, and the pace can be challenging for absolute beginners to verification, suggesting it's best suited for those with some foundational knowledge. Overall, it is considered a highly effective resource for mastering UVM.
Detailed exploration of the UVM library.
"Goes into significant detail on various aspects of the UVM library, covering agents, sequences, registers, and coverage."
"The course covers the UVM library thoroughly, explaining features and their effective application in verification environments."
"Provides a robust understanding of building complex UVM environments step-by-step."
Effective use of labs and coding exercises.
"The hands-on practice sessions using EDA Playground are invaluable for reinforcing the concepts learned."
"Loved the practical labs; they helped solidify my understanding of UVM implementation."
"Working through the coding exercises was essential for truly grasping the material."
Prepares learners for professional roles.
"The course provides practical skills and knowledge directly applicable to verification engineering roles in the semiconductor industry."
"Highly recommend this course for anyone looking to get into chip verification. It's very practical and industry-relevant."
"Learned valuable techniques that I could immediately apply to my work projects."
"This course does an excellent job of teaching industry-standard verification methods using UVM."
May be challenging or fast-paced for some.
"The course is quite intensive, and the pace can be fast if you are not already familiar with some of the concepts."
"Found the material challenging at times, requiring dedicated effort outside of lectures."
"While thorough, the density of information might feel overwhelming to absolute beginners in verification."
Needs basic SystemVerilog knowledge.
"Assumes you have a basic understanding of SystemVerilog already. Not for complete beginners to the language."
"While excellent for UVM, prior exposure to SystemVerilog fundamentals is highly recommended."
"Felt a bit challenging initially because I was new to SystemVerilog; needed to brush up on basics first."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Design Verification with SystemVerilog/UVM with these activities:
Review SystemVerilog Fundamentals
Reinforce your understanding of SystemVerilog syntax and semantics, which are essential for UVM-based verification.
Show steps
  • Review SystemVerilog syntax and data types.
  • Practice writing simple SystemVerilog modules.
  • Study SystemVerilog constructs for testbenches.
Read 'SystemVerilog for Verification' by Chris Spear
Gain a deeper understanding of SystemVerilog verification techniques and UVM through a comprehensive book.
Show steps
  • Read the chapters related to UVM and verification methodologies.
  • Work through the examples provided in the book.
  • Compare the book's approach with the course's teachings.
Build a Simple UVM Agent
Solidify your understanding of UVM agents by building one from scratch for a simple protocol like SPI or I2C.
Show steps
  • Define the protocol and its signals.
  • Create the UVM components: driver, monitor, sequencer, and agent.
  • Implement the data transfer logic in the driver and monitor.
  • Write sequences to stimulate the agent.
  • Verify the agent's functionality with assertions and coverage.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
UVM Coding Exercises
Reinforce UVM concepts through targeted coding exercises focusing on specific UVM components and functionalities.
Show steps
  • Practice creating and configuring UVM sequences.
  • Implement UVM monitors with protocol checking.
  • Develop UVM drivers for different bus interfaces.
  • Build UVM scoreboards for result comparison.
Document Your UVM Agent
Improve your understanding and communication skills by documenting the UVM agent you built, explaining its architecture and functionality.
Show steps
  • Describe the agent's architecture and components.
  • Explain the data flow and signal interactions.
  • Document the configuration options and their impact.
  • Provide examples of how to use the agent in a testbench.
Explore 'A Practical Guide to Adopting the Universal Verification Methodology (UVM)'
Deepen your understanding of UVM best practices and real-world applications through a practical guide.
View Melania on Amazon
Show steps
  • Read the chapters on UVM adoption strategies.
  • Analyze the case studies presented in the book.
  • Compare the book's recommendations with your own experiences.
Contribute to an Open Source UVM Project
Enhance your UVM skills and collaborate with other engineers by contributing to an open-source UVM project.
Show steps
  • Find an open-source UVM project on GitHub or similar platforms.
  • Understand the project's architecture and contribution guidelines.
  • Identify a bug or feature to work on.
  • Implement the fix or feature and submit a pull request.
  • Respond to feedback and iterate on your contribution.

Career center

Learners who complete Design Verification with SystemVerilog/UVM will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Verification Engineer
A verification engineer confirms that hardware designs meet specifications and function correctly. This role involves creating test plans, writing test cases, and debugging issues. The course teaches how to build verification environments from the ground up using UVM, including building UVM agents, modeling design registers, and verifying outputs. Learning how to implement functional coverage in SystemVerilog and employing advanced debugging techniques through this course helps those aspiring to work as a verification engineer. This is because the course walks through the creation of a verification environment, meticulously designed using the UVM library. By the end of the course, the final project will encompass over 5000 lines of code.
IC Verification Engineer
An integrated circuit verification engineer ensures the quality of IC designs through rigorous testing and validation. The course is directly relevant, as it covers core concepts like UVM library usage and verification environment creation, which are key to the IC verification engineer's daily tasks. You will learn how to implement functional coverage in SystemVerilog to achieve thorough verification, a crucial aspect of IC verification. The course also covers how to write and execute random tests to cover a wide range of scenarios. With the knowledge of advanced debugging techniques gained from the course, you will be well-prepared to excel as an IC verification engineer.
ASIC Verification Engineer
An Application-Specific Integrated Circuit verification engineer specializes in verifying the correctness and performance of custom integrated circuits. This role requires expertise in hardware verification languages and methodologies. This course ensures that you master building UVM agents and understanding their roles, which are critical to success for an ASIC verification engineer. By guiding you through the development of a verification environment meticulously designed using the UVM library, this course helps you become a capable ASIC verification engineer. The practical experience gained developing over 5000 lines of code gives one a good edge.
RTL Verification Engineer
A register transfer level verification engineer specializes in verifying the functional correctness of RTL code. The course teaches how to build a scoreboard to verify automatically all the expected outputs of a Device Under Test. This makes this course very useful for those looking to become an RTL verification engineer. You will learn how to implement functional coverage in SystemVerilog to achieve thorough verification. Furthermore, you will learn how to deal with synchronization issues in the model.
Digital Design Engineer
A digital design engineer is responsible for designing and implementing digital circuits and systems. This involves using hardware description languages (HDLs) like SystemVerilog. This course will be helpful to digital designers because they will learn module level verification using the SystemVerilog and UVM library. The modules in this course cover building agents to drive and monitor communication interfaces, which is highly applicable to the challenges faced by a digital design engineer. Knowledge of building a scoreboard to verify all the expected outputs of a Device Under Test is also helpful.
Design Verification Manager
A design verification manager leads a team of verification engineers and is responsible for the overall verification strategy and execution. This role requires strong technical and leadership skills. A design verification manager should know how to build agents in SystemVerilog and UVM to drive and monitor communication interfaces. The course teaches you to build random tests to verify all the features of a Device Under Test. You will learn how to deal with synchronization issues in the model, which is a useful skill for a design verification manager.
Verification Architect
A verification architect defines verification strategies and architectures for complex hardware systems. This role often requires a master's or doctorate degree and extensive experience in verification. The course will be helpful to the verification architect as it helps one master building agents in SystemVerilog and UVM to drive and monitor communication interfaces. Furthermore, the architect will learn to build the model of the registers using UVM and connect it to the APB interface in order to let UVM perform its automatic checks on the register accesses. This course encompasses over 5000 lines of code, providing a substantial showcase of acquired skills and knowledge.
Hardware Engineer
A hardware engineer designs, develops, and tests computer systems and components. This often involves using hardware description languages to model and simulate circuits. This course may be useful to the hardware engineer as it helps one master building agents in SystemVerilog/UVM to drive and monitor communication interfaces. Understanding the UVM library and learning how to build and utilize a verification environment, as covered in this course, provides a foundation for those who want to be a hardware engineer, because the course covers the building of the functional model of a Device Under Test (DUT) and using it to predict the correct response expected from the DUT.
FPGA Design Engineer
An FPGA design engineer develops and tests digital circuits using Field Programmable Gate Arrays. SystemVerilog and UVM are often used for verification. This course helps those looking to be FPGA design engineers learn how to build functional models of a Device Under Test and use them to predict the correct response expected from the DUT. In particular, this course teaches you to set up a Device Under Test within a verification environment and to verify the outputs of a DUT to ensure accuracy and functionality. This course will be helpful to the FPGA designer, because it covers how to deal with synchronization issues in the model.
Firmware Engineer
A firmware engineer develops the low-level software that controls hardware devices. This role often requires understanding of both hardware and software principles. The course focuses on verification environment creation using UVM and SystemVerilog. Learning how to build a coverage model and all the logic necessary to collect that coverage through this course would equip someone hoping to one day be a firmware engineer. This is because this course teaches how to build random tests to verify all the features of a Device Under Test.
System on a Chip Designer
A System on a Chip designer integrates various hardware components into a single chip. This demands a broad understanding of digital design, verification, and testing. The course teaches how to build the model of registers using UVM and connect it to the APB interface. This is relevant because the learner can then perform automatic checks on register accesses. This course may be useful to the system on a chip designer, because the course covers topics such as device under test, environment architecture, and environment coding.
Electronic Design Automation Engineer
An electronic design automation engineer develops software used to design and verify electronic systems. This role requires a strong background in computer science and electrical engineering. The course focuses on the UVM library and building verification environments. Going through this course and learning how to build random tests to verify all the features of a Device Under Test can help one learn the building blocks of design automation tools. This is also a great course for those looking to become electronic design automation engineers, because you will learn how to deal with synchronization issues in the model.
Hardware Verification Consultant
A hardware verification consultant advises companies on best practices for verifying hardware designs. This role requires deep understanding of verification methodologies and tools. This course may be useful to the hardware verification consultant as it covers the UVM library and how they can be applied effectively in verification environments. Learning how to build a robust verification environment from the ground up using UVM through this course helps one learn industry practices related to hardware verification. Moreover, you will learn how to deal with synchronization issues in the model.
Emulation Engineer
An emulation engineer uses hardware emulators to verify complex designs. This role requires knowledge of hardware description languages and verification methodologies. As an emulation engineer, you will be tasked with building the coverage model and all the logic necessary to collect that coverage. The skills taught in the course will not only prepare you for entry or junior-level verification engineer job interviews but will also ensure you are productive and effective from day one in your new role. This is because the comprehensive project will encompass over 5000 lines of code, providing a substantial showcase of your acquired skills and knowledge.
Hardware Test Engineer
A hardware test engineer develops and executes tests to validate hardware products. This role focuses on identifying defects and ensuring product quality. The course explores and utilizes hidden features of the UVM library to enhance your projects. Therefore, this course may be useful to the hardware test engineer. You will learn to build the functional model of a Device Under Test and use it to predict the correct response expected from the DUT. This course is a great starting point for those wishing to become involved in hardware test engineering.

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Design Verification with SystemVerilog/UVM.
Provides a comprehensive guide to using SystemVerilog for verification, covering UVM concepts and methodologies. It serves as an excellent reference for understanding the practical application of SystemVerilog in building verification environments. The book is widely used by verification engineers and valuable resource for mastering UVM. It offers in-depth explanations and practical examples that complement the course material.

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