A bitstream readback-based automatic functional test and diagnosis method for Xilinx FPGAs

• A bitstream readback-based test and diagnosis method for Xilinx FPGAs is presented.
• The method includes a bitstream parsing algorithm and a fault test algorithm.
• The method can be applied to both CLB and IR in all Virtex and Spartan series FPGAs.
• Configuration numbers can be reduced with achievable good diagnostic resolution.
• Testing is independent of FPGA array size and high fault coverage can be achieved.

In this paper, a novel bitstream readback-based test and diagnosis method including a bitstream parsing algorithm as well as a corresponding bitstream readback-based fault and diagnosis algorithm for Xilinx FPGAs is presented. The proposed method can be applied to both configurable logic block (CLB) and interconnect resource (IR) test. Further, the algorithm is suitable for all Virtex and Spartan series FPGAs. The issues such as fault coverage, diagnostic resolution, I/O numbers, as well as configuration numbers not addressed well by some previous works can be solved or partly relieved. The proposed method is evaluated by testing several Xilinx series FPGAs, and experimental results are provided.

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