Current and future requirements for operational safety, energy efficiency and environmental performance of technical equipment and facilities can only be met by using modern electronic control and automation technology. For optimal regulation of technical processes in vehicles, machinery, buildings and supply networks in terms of their energy and resources consumption, their operating modes must be captured quickly and accurately, transmitted and be controlled using intelligent sensors, actuators and communication technology. The micro- and nanoelectronics play a central role as key technologies for the development of economically and ecologically efficient system solutions.
Integrated circuits for sensor, actuator and communication systems are characterized by particularly varied combinations of semiconductor manufacturing technologies and the functional principles of their assembly groups. In systems of this type extensive links of complex analog and digital blocks with high frequency and power electronic components are included. An ever-growing challenge in the design process for such mixed-signal system-on-chip (mixed-signal SoC) consists in ensuring the correct interaction of the system components under every possible operating conditions. This requires a guaranteed given test coverage (coverage) of all states of the whole system as part of quality management in the design process.
Therefore, the ANCONA project deals with the exploration of new methods for multilevel verification of mixed-signal circuits. The goal is to make the status and progress of mixed-signal verification quantitatively measurable by effective methodical use of specification, modeling, simulation and verification methods and thereby helps making the development of mixed-signal SoC technologically and economically manageable, which is important for Germany as an industrial base.
