METHODS TO TEST A LARGE, COMPLEX VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN SOFTWARE SYSTEM

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS PART OF A PLAN TO COMMERCIALIZE UNIVERSITY VLSI CAD TOOLS. IN ORDER TO COMMERCIALIZE THE SOFTWARE, THE RELIABILITY MUST BE IMPROVED THROUGH TESTING. TO FACILITATE MAINTENANCE, A REGRESSION TEST METHODOLOGY MUST BE ESTABLISHED. THE TESTING METHODS WE DEVELOP FOR THIS TOOLSET MAY VERY WELL BE USEFUL TO REVITALIZE AND COMMERCIALIZE OTHER UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE AND COMPLEX CAD SYSTEMS. THE OBJECTIVE OF PHASE 1 IS TO DEVELOP A TESTING METHODOLOGYWHICH CAN BE APPLIED TO THE ENTIRE TOOLSET IN PHASE 11. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, OUR PHASE 1 OBJECTIVES WILL BE AS FOLLOWS: 1) DEFINE THE FORM OF THE FUNCTIONAL (INPUT/OUTPUT) SPECIFICATIONS. 2) FORMULATE TESTING GOALS AND SELECT TESTING STRATEGIES. 3) IDENTIFY TESTING TOOL REQUIREMENTS. 4) PROTOTYPE THE TEST METHODOLOGY FOR REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF THE VLSI CAD TOOLS. 5) DEVELOP A DETAILED PLAN FOR TESTING THE ENTIRE VLSI CAD TOOLSET IN PHASE 11.