Invariant Sharing for Formal Verification Speed
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Solution Overview
Problem
Formal verification systems often struggle to efficiently prove or disprove large and complex circuit designs, leading to performance issues in ensuring the correctness of integrated circuits.
Innovation Solution
The method involves sharing inductive invariants between formal verification engines to speed up the verification process by treating determined inductive invariants as assumptions for other properties, allowing for parallel processing and iterative resource optimization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If formal verification systems prove multiple properties independently for large and complex circuit designs, then each property can be thoroughly verified, but the verification process becomes extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by determining inductive invariants for certain properties before using them as assumptions in proving other properties. This preliminary determination of inductive invariants reduces the search space for subsequent property proofs, thereby decreasing verification time while maintaining thoroughness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters by transforming the verification problem into a different parameter space where inductive invariants serve as fixed assumptions. This parameter transformation allows the verification engine to work with reduced complexity for subsequent properties, balancing thorough verification with acceptable time consumption.
2Measurement precision
If formal verification systems use comprehensive search methods to prove properties, then verification accuracy is maintained, but the computational resources and time required increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
By determining inductive invariants in advance and using them as assumptions, the system performs preliminary action that reduces the search space for subsequent property proofs. This maintains verification accuracy by using mathematically sound inductive invariants while improving productivity through reduced computational effort.
Solution Approach 2:
Inductive invariants serve as intermediaries between the circuit model and the properties to be proven. These intermediaries capture essential behavioral characteristics that can be used as assumptions, thereby reducing the complexity of property proofs while maintaining verification accuracy through the mathematical properties of inductive invariants.
3Device complexity
If formal verification systems prove all properties using the same verification engine sequentially, then resource management is simple, but the overall verification process becomes slower
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines inductive invariants in advance as preliminary action, which can then be shared across multiple verification engines. This approach enables parallel processing of multiple properties without requiring complex inter-engine communication, maintaining simple resource management while improving verification throughput through concurrent execution.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatuses are described for sharing inductive invariants while performing formal verification of a circuit design. Specifically, some embodiments assume at least an inductive invariant for a property to be true while proving another property. According to one definition, an inductive invariant of a property is an inductive assertion such that all states that satisfy the inductive assertion also satisfy the property. According to one definition, an inductive assertion describes a set of states that includes all legal initial states of the circuit design and that is closed under a transition relation that models the circuit design.