Verification-Driven Interface Convergence: Methodology for Validating Functional Interoperability And Accelerating Subsystem Design for Concurrently Developed Compute and Component IPs in Coherent Subsystem

Modern compute subsystems have evolved into complex architectures where custom Compute-IPs interface directly or downstream with a mix of in-flight 1st-party IPs (1PIP), stable legacy components, and pre-verified 3rd-party IPs (3PIP). These connections—whether coherent, non-coherent / configuration, for custom use-cases utilizing in-house protocols, etc—often require concurrent development of both the compute tiles and their integration logic to meet aggressive time-to-market goals. However, this parallel approach introduces a critical bottleneck: the subsystem cannot be verified until both the Compute-IP and the 1PIPs reach maturity. Consequently, fundamental functional misalignments—such as protocol handshaking deadlocks, clock and reset sequencing issues, and architectural assumption mismatches—often remain hidden during IP development phases, resulting in a high-risk discovery tail where "integration-killer" bugs are uncovered only when RTL rework costs and schedule impacts are prohibitive. To break this deadlock, we present a verification-driven methodology that utilizes a silicon-proven Golden Proxy, Direct-Execution Traffic Profiles, and Programmable Sequencers to provide a functional proof of concept and pre-pull critical inter-IP interaction mismatch discoveries months prior to traditional integration milestones.

• Hardware and Architecture