May 14, 2012 -- This article is the final in a series of three offering the "top 10" tips for the successful use of formal analysis on IP and SOC projects. The previous article closed with a discussion on combining the results from formal analysis and simulation. Since verification leads and project managers are used to assessing progress based on simulation, the most logical approach is to translate formal results into simulation terms. This requires expanding the results reported to include proven assertions. Simulation cannot generate proofs itself but can benefit from proofs from formal analysis.

By Thomas L. Anderson and Joseph Hupcey III. (Anderson, is a technical marketing consultant who recently served as Product Management Group Director for Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and Hupcey is Product Management Director for Advanced Verification Systems at Cadence.)