Hardware/software covalidation

Hardware/software systems are embedded in devices used to enable all manner of tasks in society today. The increasing use of hardware/software systems in cost-critical and life-critical applications has led to the heightened significance of design correctness of these systems. A summary is presented of research in hardware/software covalidation. The general covalidation problem involves the verification of design correctness using simulation-based techniques. The focus is on the test generation process, the fault models and fault coverage analysis techniques, and the test response analysis techniques employed in covalidation. The current state of research in the field is summarised and future areas for research are identified.