Flexible UVM Components: Configuring Bus Functional Models

by Gunther Clasen, Ensilica

Modern object-oriented testbenches using SystemVerilog and OVM/UVM have been using SystemVerilog interface constructs in the testbench and virtual interfaces in the class based verification structure to connect the two worlds of static modules and dynamic classes. This has certain limitations, like the use of parameterized interfaces, which are overcome by using Bus Functional Models. BFMs are now increasingly adopted in UVM testbenches, but this causes other problems, particularly for complex BFMs: They cannot be configured from the test environment, thus significantly reducing code reuse.
This article shows a way to write BFMs in such a way that they can be configured like any other UVM component using uvm_config_db. This allows a uniform configuration approach and eases reuse. All code examples use UVM, but work equally with the set_config_*() functions in OVM......

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