Glossary comparison
Power-aware simulation vs Power verification: what is the difference?
The difference
Power analysis estimates how much power a design consumes from its activity. Power-aware simulation checks that the design behaves correctly when its power state changes.
Power-aware simulation checks that power domains switch on and off correctly. Power analysis estimates how much power is consumed.
The two terms
Power-aware simulation
RTL or gate-level simulation that reads a UPF or CPF description and models power-down effects, corrupting outputs of unpowered logic, applying isolation clamps and honouring retention.
Power verification
Estimating and checking dynamic and leakage power against budget using switching activity captured from simulation or emulation, often in SAIF or FSDB form. Emulation-driven power analysis lets real workloads rather than short synthetic tests set the numbers.
Side by side
| Field | Power-aware simulation | Power verification |
|---|---|---|
| Stands for | Not an abbreviation | Not an abbreviation |
| Type | Process | Process |
| Domain | Verification & Validation | Verification & Validation |
| Group | Low-power & performance verification | Low-power & performance verification |