Can I generate a number of SystemVerilog properties within a loop?

WestHamster picture WestHamster · Oct 17, 2012 · Viewed 12.5k times · Source

I have two packed arrays of signals and I need to create a property and associated assertion for that property that proves that the two arrays are identical under certain conditions. I am formally verifying and the tool cannot prove both full arrays in a single property, so I need to split it up into individual elements. So is there a way I can generate a properties for each element of the array using a loop? At the moment my code is very verbose and hard to navigate.

My code currently looks like this:

...
property bb_3_4_p; 
  @(posedge clk)
     bb_seq  
     |=>     
     bb_exp [3][4] == bb_rtl [3][4] ;
endproperty

property bb_3_5_p; 
  @(posedge clk)
     bb_seq  
     |=>     
     bb_exp [3][5] == bb_rtl [3][5] ;
endproperty

property bb_3_6_p; 
  @(posedge clk)
     bb_seq  
     |=>     
     bb_exp [3][6] == bb_rtl [3][6] ;
endproperty
...

...
assert_bb_3_4: assert property (bb_3_4_p);
assert_bb_3_5: assert property (bb_3_5_p);
assert_bb_3_6: assert property (bb_3_6_p);
...

This is sort of how I'd like my code to look like:

for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) 
  for (int j = 0; j < 8; j++) 
  begin   
     property bb_[i]_[j]_p;
        @(posedge clk)
           bb_seq  
           |=>     
           bb_exp [i][j] == bb_rtl [i][j] ;
     endproperty
     assert_bb_[i]_[j]: assert property (bb_[i]_[j]_p);
  end     

Answer

user597225 picture user597225 · Oct 18, 2012

You might try declaring the property with ports so you can reuse it for multiple assertions. Then declare your assertions using a generate loop.

module
...
property prop1(signal1,signal2); 
  @(posedge clk)
     bb_seq  
     |=>     
     signal1 == signal2 ;
endproperty
...
generate
for (genvar i = 0; i < 8; i++) 
  for (genvar j = 0; j < 8; j++) 
    begin : assert_array
    assert property (prop1(bb_exp[i][j],bb_rtl[i][j]));
    end
endgenerate
... 
endmodule

You could also inline the property in the assertion:

module
...
generate
for (genvar i = 0; i < 8; i++) 
  for (genvar j = 0; j < 8; j++)
    begin : assert_array
    assert property (@(posedge clk) bb_seq |=> bb_exp[i][j] == bb_rtl[i][j]);
    end
endgenerate
...
endmodule