MicroTESK

MicroTESK is a reconfigurable (retargetable and extendable) model-based test program generator (TPG) for microprocessors and other programmable devices (such kind of tools are also called instruction stream generators or ISG). The generator is customized with the help of instruction-set architecture (ISA) specifications and configuration files, which describe parameters of the microprocessor subsystems (pipeline, memory and others). The suggested approach eases the model development and makes it possible to apply the model-based testing in the early design stages when the microprocessor architecture is frequently modified.

The current version of the tool supports ISA specification (in nML) and manual development of test program templates (in Ruby). It also implements lightweight methods for automated test program generation, including random-based and combinatorial techniques. Facilities for describing memory management units and microprocessor pipelines (microarchitectural networks) are under development, and so are the methods for advanced test program generation. The framework is applicable to a wide range of microprocessor architectures including RISC (ARM, MIPS, RISC-V, etc.), CISC (x86, etc.), and exotic ones (VLIW/EPIC, DSP, GPU, etc.).

The main MicroTESK concepts can be found in Wiki and Datasheet.

Related Projects¶

• nML Lighter is a plugin for IntelliJ IDEA that provides a code editor for nML.

Contacts¶

Office	25 Alexander Solzhenitsyn st., Moscow, 109004, Russia
E-mail	microtesk-support [at] ispras.ru

Social Media¶

Licensing and Distribution¶

The MicroTESK package (consisting of MicroTESK core and sample ISA models) is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, which implies the freedom to use the software for any purpose (to distribute it, to modify it and to distribute modified versions of the software) under the terms of the license, but requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer.

The package can be downloaded from the Files page.

If you are looking for an industrial-level TPG/ISG for a particular architecture, contact us. We have a number of predefined ISA models as well as test engines for microprocessor verification. We also provide commercial services on developing MicroTESK-based specifications and generators.

Available ISA Specifications¶

ISA	Subset	Open/Closed	# of Instructions
ARM	v8, AArch64	Closed (Demo)	~1200 instructions
MIPS	Release 6	Open	~250 instructions
Power	PowerISA v.2.06	Open	~120 instructions
RISC-V	Version 2.2	Open	~250 instructions
SPARC	v8	Closed	~120 instructions

Project Dependencies¶

Project	License	Description
TestBase	Apache License, 2.0	Storing/retrieving test situations
Fortress	Apache License, 2.0	Representing expressions and solving constraints
Castle	Apache License, 2.0	Developing translators and code generators
Java SoftFloat	Apache License, 2.0	Performing IEEE 754 floating-point operations
ANTLR3	BSD License	Parsing nML/mmuSL specifications
Commons CLI	Apache License, 2.0	Parsing command line options
JRuby	Ruby License	Processing test templates
JUnit	Eclipse Public License, 1.0	Testing project classes