Soft-core embedded processor-based Built-In Self-Test of FPGAs: A case study

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a case study which investigates the use of an embedded soft-core processor to perform Built-In Self-Test (BIST) of the logic resources in Xilinx Virtex-5 Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). We show that the approach reduces the complexity of an external BIST controller and the number of external reconfigurations, making it particularly appealing for in-system testing of high-reliability and fault-tolerant systems with FPGAs. However, the overall test time is not improved due to an increase in the size of the required configuration files as a consequence of the inclusion of the softcore embedded processor logic, whose relative irregularity results in less effective compression of configuration data files.