Verification Series Part 3 : UVM Fundamentals from Udemy

Writing Verilog test benches is always fun after completing RTL Design. You can assure clients that the design will be bug-free in tested scenarios. As System complexity is growing day by day, System Verilog becomes a choice for verification due to its powerful capabilities and reusability helping verification engineers quickly locate hidden bugs. The System Verilog lags structured approach whereas UVM works very hard on forming a general skeleton. The addition of the configuration database Shifts the way we used to work with the Verification Language in the past. Within a few years, verification engineers recognize the capabilities of UVM and adopted UVM as a defacto standard for the RTL Design verification. The UVM will have a long run in the Verification domain hence learning of UVM will help VLSI aspirants to pursue a career in this domain.

The course will discuss the fundamentals of the Universal Verification Methodology. This is a Lab-based course designed such that anyone without prior OOPS or system Verilog experience can immediately start writing UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment, Test. Numerous coding exercises, projects, and simple examples are used throughout the course to build strong foundations of the UVM.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Fundamentals of universal verification methodology
Reporting macros and associated actions
Uvm object and uvm component
Uvm phases

Tlm communication
Sequences
Uvm debugging features
Building uvm verification environment from scratch

Fundamentals of universal verification methodology
Reporting macros and associated actions
Uvm object and uvm component
Uvm phases
Tlm communication
Sequences
Uvm debugging features
Building uvm verification environment from scratch

Syllabus

Working with Verbosity Level and ID

How to use IDE

Series Intro

Agenda

Traffic lights

Read about what's good

what should give you pause

and possible dealbreakers

Focuses on UVM, which has become a standard for RTL design verification, making it highly relevant for those seeking a career in VLSI

Covers building a UVM verification environment from scratch, providing a practical, hands-on approach to learning UVM

Includes numerous coding exercises and projects, which helps learners build a strong foundation in UVM through practical application

Explores UVM debugging features, which are essential for effectively identifying and resolving issues in complex verification environments

Requires some familiarity with IDEs like Vivado and Questa, which may require learners to spend time learning these tools separately

Teaches System Verilog, which lags a structured approach, but UVM works very hard on forming a general skeleton, which may be confusing to some learners

Reviews summary

Uvm fundamentals for verification careers

According to learners, this course provides a solid foundation in UVM fundamentals, essential for VLSI verification. Many appreciate the practical, lab-based approach and clear explanations from the instructor, noting that the hands-on labs are particularly effective for learning by doing. While some reviewers find the content challenging, especially without prior SystemVerilog or OOP experience, the course is widely considered highly relevant for those pursuing a career in this technical domain and a valuable starting point for mastering UVM.

Highly relevant for VLSI verification

"This course is highly relevant for anyone looking to work in VLSI verification."

"Learning UVM is crucial in the industry, and this course covers the fundamentals needed."

"A valuable course for advancing my career in hardware verification."

Explanations are clear and concise

"The instructor explains complex topics clearly and at a good pace."

"Lectures were easy to follow and well-structured, making dense material accessible."

"I found the teaching style very effective for learning UVM from the ground up."

Effective hands-on learning

"The lab exercises are incredibly helpful and solidify the concepts taught."

"Learning by doing in the labs was the best part of the course."

"I really liked the hands-on approach; it made UVM much easier to grasp."

Provides solid base for UVM

"Provides a very good foundation for anyone starting out in UVM verification..."

"I feel much more confident about UVM basics after completing this course."

"This course gave me the fundamental understanding I needed to approach UVM projects."

"Sets you up with the necessary understanding to start building UVM environments."

Can be challenging without prerequisites

"Requires some prior knowledge of SystemVerilog and OOP to keep up with the pace."

"Found it difficult at times, especially without a strong SystemVerilog background, but perseverance pays off."

"Be prepared for a steep learning curve if you're completely new to verification methodologies."

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 Verification Series Part 3 : UVM Fundamentals with these activities:

Review SystemVerilog Fundamentals

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Reinforce your understanding of SystemVerilog syntax and concepts, which are essential for writing UVM testbenches.

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Review SystemVerilog tutorials and documentation.
Practice writing simple SystemVerilog modules.
Complete online SystemVerilog exercises.

Read 'A Practical Guide to SystemVerilog'

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Gain a deeper understanding of SystemVerilog concepts and their application in verification environments.

View SystemVerilog for Verification: A Guide to... on Amazon

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Read the chapters related to verification and UVM.
Work through the examples provided in the book.
Take notes on key concepts and syntax.

Implement UVM Phases

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Practice implementing different UVM phases to understand their execution order and purpose.

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Create a UVM component.
Implement various UVM phases (e.g., build_phase, connect_phase, run_phase).
Add print statements to track the execution order.
Simulate and analyze the output.

Four other activities

Expand to see all activities and additional details

Show all seven activities

Create a UVM Cheat Sheet

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Summarize key UVM concepts, macros, and code snippets in a concise cheat sheet for quick reference.

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Identify the most important UVM elements.
Organize the information logically.
Include examples and explanations.
Share the cheat sheet with other students.

Develop a Simple UVM Testbench

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Apply your knowledge of UVM fundamentals by building a basic testbench for a simple design.

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Choose a simple RTL design to verify.
Create a UVM environment with components like generator, driver, monitor, and scoreboard.
Write sequences to stimulate the design.
Run simulations and debug the testbench.

Answer UVM Questions on Forums

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Reinforce your understanding by helping other students with their UVM-related questions.

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Find online forums or communities related to UVM.
Browse the questions and identify those you can answer.
Provide clear and concise explanations.
Share relevant code snippets or examples.

Explore 'Verification Methodology Manual for SystemVerilog'

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Deepen your understanding of the UVM methodology and its underlying principles.

View Putting Knowledge to Work on Amazon

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Read the chapters related to UVM architecture and components.
Study the examples and diagrams provided in the book.
Compare the concepts with the course material.

Career center

Learners who complete Verification Series Part 3 : UVM Fundamentals will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Verification Engineer

A verification engineer is crucial in the semiconductor industry, ensuring that integrated circuits function as intended through rigorous testing and validation. This role involves developing and executing test plans, identifying bugs, and working closely with design engineers to correct any issues before final production. This course helps build a foundation that includes constructing UVM components such as Transactions, Generators, Sequencers, Drivers, Monitors, Scoreboards, Agents, Environments and Tests. This course is an excellent choice for someone looking to become a verification engineer, as it specifically focuses on UVM, which is a standard for RTL design verification. The course's emphasis on hands-on coding exercises and building a UVM environment from scratch will be highly beneficial in this career.

See salaries and explore the career path for Verification Engineer

Hardware Verification Specialist

A hardware verification specialist focuses on the meticulous process of verifying hardware designs, often using advanced methodologies and tools to ensure the reliability and correctness of complex systems. The work in this role involves developing testbenches, creating test cases, and analyzing the results to identify potential bugs or design flaws. This course is an excellent resource for aspiring hardware verification specialists because it focuses on UVM. This course will aid specialists in mastering the creation of UVM components, such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, Monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment, and Test. The practical coding exercises contained within this course ensure specialists are well-equipped for real-world hardware verification challenges.

See salaries and explore the career path for Hardware Verification Specialist

Design Verification Engineer

A design verification engineer is responsible for ensuring the reliability and functionality of digital hardware designs. This work includes developing test plans, creating verification environments, and running simulations to identify bugs. Design verification engineers use tools and methodologies to thoroughly test the design under various operating conditions. This course in UVM provides an excellent background for any aspiring design verification engineer, as it focuses on the methodology adopted by many companies. The course will assist in building a strong foundation by focusing on the basics of building UVM components including Transactions, Generators, Sequencers, and Scoreboards. This is a great course for anyone looking to learn verification from the ground up.

See salaries and explore the career path for Design Verification Engineer

ASIC Verification Engineer

An application specific integrated circuit verification engineer focuses on ensuring the functionality and correctness of custom designed chips. This involves developing test plans, creating verification environments, and debugging issues within the ASIC design. This course will help an aspiring ASIC verification engineer to become proficient in UVM, a methodology widely used in the ASIC industry. The course work includes practice in creating UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, Monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment, and Test. Building a strong verification foundation from this course will be valuable for this career.

See salaries and explore the career path for ASIC Verification Engineer

Semiconductor Verification Engineer

A semiconductor verification engineer works to ensure that integrated circuits and other semiconductor components function as intended before being manufactured at scale. This job entails developing test plans, creating testbenches, performing simulations, and analyzing results to find design issues and ensure high quality. This course is useful as it goes through the fundamentals of UVM, the verification methodology used by semiconductor companies. The creation of UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment, and Test, which are covered in this course, will be especially helpful to semiconductor verification engineers.

See salaries and explore the career path for Semiconductor Verification Engineer

RTL Verification Engineer

The responsibilities of an RTL verification engineer include verifying the functional correctness of Register Transfer Level designs, a critical phase in the hardware development process. This work includes developing sophisticated verification environments using industry-standard methodologies, simulating designs, and identifying and debugging issues. The content of this course, which centers around the fundamentals of UVM, is directly applicable to the daily tasks of an RTL verification engineer. The rigorous practice in creating UVM components provided by the course, will be of great value. Learning how to build a verification environment from scratch through this course is beneficial.

See salaries and explore the career path for RTL Verification Engineer

Verification Lead

A verification lead is a senior role responsible for overseeing verification projects, guiding a team of engineers, and defining verification strategies. This role requires a deep understanding of verification methodologies, including UVM, and experience in managing complex projects. This course can help a verification lead or aspiring verification lead by developing their knowledge of UVM, with specific focus on UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test. A deep understanding of verification methodologies, such as UVM, is critical in this type of leadership role.

See salaries and explore the career path for Verification Lead

VLSI Engineer

A Very Large Scale Integration engineer works on the design, development, and testing of integrated circuits. This includes a variety of duties, including RTL design as well as verification. This course may assist a VLSI engineer by offering an understanding of UVM, a popular verification method used in the field. This course provides practical experience with UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test. The course can provide beneficial knowledge to VLSI engineers.

See salaries and explore the career path for VLSI Engineer

FPGA Verification Engineer

An FPGA verification engineer specializes in the verification of designs implemented on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays. This work includes developing test benches, simulating designs, and debugging issues to ensure the functionality of the system. This course provides important context and experience in the UVM, a methodology that can be of use to FPGA verification engineers. This course can provide skills in constructing UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test. The skills learned in this course may be useful for FPGA engineers.

See salaries and explore the career path for FPGA Verification Engineer

Verification Methodologist

A verification methodologist focuses on developing and improving verification methodologies and flows used in the design of complex integrated circuits. The work requires an in-depth understanding of verification techniques and the ability to implement new methodologies to improve verification efficiency. This course provides a deep dive into UVM, which is a widely adopted verification methodology. This course may provide a solid foundation helpful to verification methodologists in understanding UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test. This understanding can be extremely helpful to a verification methodologist's career, who may need to improve a design flow at a company.

See salaries and explore the career path for Verification Methodologist

System Verification Engineer

A system verification engineer is responsible for verifying the functionality and performance of complex systems, often involving both software and hardware components. They develop system-level test plans, create test environments, and analyze the results to ensure the system meets all requirements. This course may be useful for a system verification engineer since it provides an understanding of UVM which is frequently used in the industry. This course will aid in mastery of creating UVM components, such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment, and Test. A system verification engineer may find these skills to be advantageous in their career.

See salaries and explore the career path for System Verification Engineer

Hardware Test Engineer

A hardware test engineer develops and executes test plans for hardware systems and components, working to identify performance limitations and ensure reliability. This work involves creating and automating tests, analyzing results, and working with design and verification teams to address issues. This course may be useful for a hardware test engineer by providing solid background in UVM, the methodology employed in the verification industry. This knowledge of UVM, and the ability to make UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test, can be useful for test engineers as they interface with verification teams in their everyday work.

See salaries and explore the career path for Hardware Test Engineer

Embedded Systems Verification Engineer

An embedded systems verification engineer ensures the correctness of embedded systems which integrate software and hardware. The role includes developing verification plans, crafting test cases, and debugging complex systems to ensure proper functionality. This course delves into the fundamentals of UVM, a methodology that can be employed to test complex systems. The skills gained in this course on how to make UVM components like Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test may be useful for verification engineers working on embedded systems.

See salaries and explore the career path for Embedded Systems Verification Engineer

Digital Design Engineer

Digital design engineers create electronic components for various technologies, including microprocessors and memory devices. This role involves using hardware description languages like Verilog and System Verilog. Although primarily focused on design, a digital design engineer may benefit from understanding verification methodologies like UVM. This course may help provide background information beneficial to a digital design engineer, specifically in building basic UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test. Understanding verification may help the designer make more robust designs.

See salaries and explore the career path for Digital Design Engineer

Computer Engineer

Computer engineers design, develop, and test computer systems and components. This field encompasses both hardware and software aspects, requiring an understanding of computer architecture, operating systems, and digital logic. While this role is broad and this course focuses on a specific verification methodology, this course may provide some background knowledge beneficial to a computer engineer, specifically in methodologies relevant to hardware. This course provides knowledge of UVM, and skills in building UVM components such as Transaction, Generator, Sequencer, Driver, monitor, Scoreboard, Agent, Environment and Test.

See salaries and explore the career path for Computer Engineer

Verification Series Part 3

UVM Fundamentals

What's inside

Learning objectives

Syllabus

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Reviews summary

Uvm fundamentals for verification careers

Activities

Career center

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