I talked to some verification engineers and they said that property coverage always gives better results than functional coverage. Is it true? If it is, are there any other factors that make functional coverage more attractive?
I agree that property coverage can give better results than functional coverage, but at higher cost. Let’s review what those two methodologies have in common, and what makes them different. Common things:
both require addition to your code (bin definitions, properties, etc.)
to get good results, you must be well prepared (poorly prepared coverage yields useless results)
Key differences:
property coverage requires better knowledge (you must know PSL subset to write it)
property coverage requires more expensive version of the same simulator than functional coverage with OS-VVM
functional coverage requires better understanding of the design to define bins properly (property coverage is based on design specification)
To sum up: functional coverage in majority of cases can match quality of property coverage and save you some money.
Jerry Bear
I talked to some verification engineers and they said that property coverage always gives better results than functional coverage. Is it true? If it is, are there any other factors that make functional coverage more attractive?
Jerry Kaczynski
I agree that property coverage can give better results than functional coverage, but at higher cost. Let’s review what those two methodologies have in common, and what makes them different.
Common things:
Key differences:
To sum up: functional coverage in majority of cases can match quality of property coverage and save you some money.